Defragmentation of a computer's hard drive. What is this? Defragmenting your hard drive, why is it sometimes harmful? What programs do disk defragmentation?

Defragmentation- few people use this procedure and there are even those who are reading about it for the first time now. Meanwhile, defragmenting disks can significantly improve the performance of the computer as a whole. Today we will talk in particular about disk defragmentation on Windows and what it is in general. If you want to give examples of using programs on Linux systems in the following articles, then write in the comments.

In this article you will learn: What is defragmentation and why is it needed?; What happens during defragmentation?; How often should you defragment your computer hard drive?; ; .
Let's start with terminology.
Defragmentation- the process of updating and optimizing the logical structure of a disk (partition), in which files (file fragments) in disk cells are redistributed so that they are stored in continuous sequence. When writing data to a hard drive, files are not always written to cells sequentially. If the disk is new, then, as a rule, data is written sequentially. If the disk does not have a sufficient number of sequentially free clusters (cells), then fragments of data from one file can be written to different areas. It is called fragmentation.
When a hard disk is fragmented, the speed of reading data from it decreases, since in order to read scattered (fragmented) data, the head has to move across the entire surface of the disk, which also takes time.

What happens when HDD defragmentation?

We learned that a highly fragmented hard drive significantly slows down the system. Defragmentation is intended to correct this situation. In its process, special programs try to rewrite fragmented data belonging to one file into clusters located one after another. Open the picture below by clicking on it and you will see an approximate defragmentation process. With this arrangement, the head does not have to move across the entire disk to search for the necessary fragments, which increases the speed of reading information. Defragmentation increases the speed of writing to the disk, improves the performance of some resource-intensive programs and games, etc.

Attention: Solid-state drives (SSDs) should never be defragmented. This can significantly shorten their lifespan.

How often should you defragment your disk?

Programs that perform defragmentation are able to determine the fragmentation of a partition in percentage terms. But the question is whether they define it correctly. Based on what is correct, defragmentation should be carried out if the fragmentation of the partition file system exceeds 12-15%
Judging by the time interval, I recommend optimizing once every 3-4 months, or even six months. Much depends on the intensity and nature of computer use. The more often you write and rewrite information to your hard drives, the more often you should defragment them.

How to defragment a disk?

Defragmentation of the hard drive can be done using a program from Windows itself. But the quality leaves much to be desired. Therefore, I recommend that you use third-party programs that cope with the task much better. I'll tell you about a couple of them below.

Disk defragmentation programs

There are many programs for defragmenting disks on Windows. There are both paid ones, which are suitable for large companies and people professionally involved in server maintenance and other things, and free ones, which are suitable for ordinary users. I will not write in detail about each of the programs in this article, but I will have to mention it.
In my subjective opinion, the best free disk defragmentation program at the time of writing this article is. I put it in first place not because of any functions, but precisely for the quality of defragmentation.
For quick defragmentation, you can use other programs Defraggler And Auslogics Disk Defrag Free. Both programs also do a good job with their main task. In one of the following articles I will definitely tell you in detail about some of them.

Results:
After reading this article, I hope that all users will run to check their hard drives for fragmentation of the data recorded on them. Do not ignore this information and use the acquired knowledge and the necessary programs and your computer will thank you.

Content

To speed up your personal computer, you don’t have to go to the store to purchase new expensive components - you need to defragment the disk using a special utility that will help bring each fragmented file to an orderly state, move important system components to a faster partition, and much more. Inexperienced PC users neglect the necessary maintenance, considering the hard drive to be a minor component, but the speed of access to various files, including Windows components, depends on optimization.

What is disk defragmentation

When deleting programs, games, movies and other large files, individual elements remain on the hard drive, occupying a certain space, i.e. fragmentation occurs. The next time a new file starts recording, part of it will be written in one place, then the occupied space will be skipped, another part will be recorded, skipped, and so on in a circle. This will lead to the fact that to gain access, the HDD head will have to move from the beginning to the middle, then to the end, and back, and this significantly slows down the work.

What is it for?

Performing the procedure is necessary to assemble the file together - the parts will follow strictly one after another, being in sequential clusters. So the read head only needs to read a small part, making a small movement to read the entire file. The use of such utilities is especially important for those users who often overwrite files, install games and programs, work with a large number of small documents, etc. Thanks to the sequential arrangement, the opening and starting speed will increase by up to 50%.

Why is it useful?

The closer to the initial part of the hard drive the elements of one file are, the faster the opening will occur, and, in some cases, this becomes very noticeable. The same applies to system files - when they are located on the initial clusters, system loading is accelerated, as is the startup of programs, and overall performance. An SSD drive does not need defragmentation, but rather the opposite - its service life will be greatly reduced, because There is a limit on the number of write-rewrite cycles.

How to defragment a disk

Windows OS has a built-in disk defragmenter, which does its job well. It is recommended to run it weekly to keep the hard drive of your personal computer in good condition and to prevent unnecessary clutter with small parts of files. You can set up an automatic start mode, when the computer itself starts the program at the right time. The speed of the program is directly affected by many factors, of which the following are worth highlighting:

• technical parameters of the hardware component of the computer;
• total hard drive capacity;
• amount of occupied space;
• number of write-rewrite cycles performed;
• period since the last defragmentation.

For Windows 7

The built-in utility defragmenter utility for Windows 7 defragments hard disk partitions, but only files, and free clusters remain untouched, although computer performance will still be increased. Automatic mode is present and configured by date, time and frequency. Before starting, it is recommended to clean local disks of residual garbage, for which you can use the system or one of the free utilities and check the system registry.

The function can be activated by following the path – Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools. The second method is Computer – right-click on the logical drive – Properties – Tools tab – Defragment. After clicking the start button, a program window will open where you can select one of the following:

• set up a schedule;
• analysis;
• defragmentation.

During the analysis, hard drive sectors will be checked for the presence of fragmented files, and a report will be provided as a percentage. It is recommended to have at least 15% free space on your hard drive, because... in its absence, defragmentation can take a very long time, and efficiency will be significantly reduced. It is always necessary to have some unoccupied space on the system disk used for storing information - if you fill it completely, you may encounter slower operation of the entire computer.

For Windows 8

The program in Windows 8 is practically no different in its functionality and capabilities from the previous version. There is also the ability to set up a schedule, and the process takes a lot of time, much more than when using third-party quick utilities. To access it, you need to press Win+E, left-click on the logical drive, select the Management tab at the top, and select Optimize.

For Windows 10

This operating system is installed on most modern laptops. The storage medium used here is either an SSD drive, which does not need to be defragmented, or a small HDD, where the situation is completely opposite. A small hard drive undergoes fragmentation much more quickly, which reduces the speed of performing any tasks. It is difficult to set up automatic defragmentation here, because the laptop turns off when it is not being used to save battery power, and the best option would be to start it manually each time.

To open Disk Optimization, you must do the following - Explorer - This Computer - right-click on the disk - Properties - Tools - Optimize. Here, again, you can analyze the disk for the presence of fragmented files and their percentage, start the optimization process itself, or set up a schedule. The more often defragmentation-optimization is performed, the less time subsequent runs will take.

Disk defragmentation programs

There are alternative programs with a clearer and more convenient interface and some additional functions. The utilities are free, and to use them you only need to download the file and install. Some will automatically replace the standard disk defragmenter, which is convenient because... you don’t need to disable it yourself through Windows Services, which not every beginner can do.

Defraggler

The utility can defragment not only the entire disk, but also individual folders and even files. This will help in cases where the speed of a specific application is important, and not the entire computer. The program works with any file systems. It is possible to automatically transfer large files closer to the end of the disk. The operating speed is very good, and all information about the hard drive is presented clearly.

Ashampoo Magical Defrag

The utility has a minimalist design - the elements are presented in a single window, with virtually no settings and with a small amount of information. There are no additional functions here, and work occurs in the background, turning on during those periods when the computer is idle, in sleep mode, etc. In some cases this is very convenient, because... The computer's resources are not always used 100%, for example, when watching a movie or working in office programs, you can use the HDD and processor to service the disk.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

The program has several key features that set it apart from other offerings. It not only defragments files, but also organizes the available free space, which takes a lot of time. It can optimize system files itself, speeding up access to them. It is possible to configure a schedule or work in the background without loading all computer resources.

MyDefrag

A distinctive feature of the program is that it replaces a screensaver, i.e., when the computer goes into standby mode, if the hard drive needs to be defragmented, the process begins. The work will be optimized as much as possible, and the files will be in an orderly state. The program requires only initial setup, after which it will function automatically.

Smart Defrag

IObit's product is able to always maintain order in the files on your hard drive. The utility uses a special algorithm that performs partial defragmentation at system startup, and the boot time increases slightly and only if Windows is installed on it. There is a smart distribution function, where frequently used files are distributed closer to the beginning and are accessed faster. The performance speed is good, even with a large number of files and their fragmentation.

Video

06.04.2015

Greetings friends! The topic of this article will be hard drive defragmentation. Mostly beginners do not know about this process, which is what causes the hard drive to fill with fragments.

On each hard drive of each computer user, thousands of files are saved and the same number are deleted. In their place, thousands of files are again installed, and then deleted with the same number.

Let me now try to explain this process in understandable human language.

Let's say you have bookshelves in your room. On each shelf all the books are sorted by name i.e. from A to Z.

The hard drive is in the same state without fragments. But one day, all the books were mixed up, the sorting order was disrupted and, ultimately, a complete house. The hard drive containing fragments is in approximately this state.

The newly purchased computer works with high speed and performance. Over time, the computer begins to slow down over time. In such situations, if you observe that the hard drive begins to crackle and operate noisily, this signals one thing, it is time to perform defragmentation (reverse fragmentation)

Defragmenting a hard drive on Windows 7 is done in two ways:

Let's look at the first way to use the built-in program. This method has significant disadvantages. The process does not defragment some system files and the process itself takes a very long time.

Let's go start open all programs, then move on standard choose official Select the one that opens from the list Disk Defragmenter

Basically, in all cases, this partition is the system partition (the partition where the Windows operating system is installed).

After making your selection, click Analyze disk. When the analysis is complete, click disk defragmentation.

Defragment your hard drive with Auslogics Disk Defrag Free

This is a convenient free program that will help defragment your hard drive, while at the same time increasing the performance of your computer, which improves your performance.

This program has a number of advantages over analogues:

• Optimizes Windows system files located on the hard drive to increase system speed.
• The developers have provided one feature that allows defragmentation of one folder or one file
• The program has a very useful idle mode that works automatically
• This program optimizes free space on your computer
• Flexibility in setting parameters hard drive defragmentation Convenient and intuitive interface

This program is being improved every month. In this article we will look at the version of the program

Auslogics Disk Defrag Free 5.4.0.0. The counter for this program has reached 11,000,000 users.

At the time of writing this article, this version of the program is only in English.

Auslogics Disk Defrag Free 5.4.0.0 can be downloaded from the official website.

When installing, no special knowledge or effort is required; we perform a normal installation. Launch the program

and preferably makes adjustments in the settings to improve the defragmentation result.

Let's go to settings(settings) open program settings(program settings) go algorithm ( algorithms ) . Next, insert a check mark in all items.

• Delete temporary files before defragmentation - this function allows you to clean your hard drive of debris stored on it,
• This frees up free disk space. These files (garbage) are a sufficient number,
• to slow down the hard drive defragmentation process.
• Skip fragments larger than 10MB - fragments with such memory increases the reading time.
• Defragmenting such fragments does not provide any benefit except that it will only waste time.
• Move system files to the beginning of the disk - this function allows you to move those files forward
• on which the speed of the process and time depend. The structure of the hard drive is such that it has the highest speed
• readout is located at the beginning of the hard drive.
• Defragment in VVS - compatible mode - this feature prevents the growth of the VVS saving area,
• which occurs when moving files and reduces the risk of copying previous VVS data.

When setting these settings, the speed of the defragmentation process improves.

Hard drive defragmentation process

Open the program, select the partition, this is mainly the system partition (C), right-click and select Analyze (c).

After analysis, the program will reveal a map of results and tell you whether defragmentation is necessary.

The red cubes on the map are fragments. If the message Advice defragment disks appears at the bottom of the results, this means that the program recommends defragmentation. And if there is no message, we leave everything as is; there is no limit on the number of fragments on the disk.

Basically, if the result shows fragments less than 10%, then the condition of the hard drive is good.

The process takes from 5-15 minutes, it mainly depends on how many files are on your hard drive.

1. If you defragment your hard drive frequently, you will increase the wear and tear on the drive.
2. So I advise you to do defragmentation if necessary.
3. During the defragmentation process, leave the computer alone. Due to this, defragmentation time is reduced.
4. If for some reason you need a computer, you can use the program with the priority set to low.
5. To do this, go to settings, hover your mouse over defragment priority and select Low priority.
6. For the process to proceed normally, I advise that the disk has free space of 10% of the total memory.

Scheduler defragmentation function.

There are times when your computer is always on. In this case, it is better to use a scheduler.

To enable the scheduler, go to settings(settings) click scheduler(Cluster Map).

Mark the section defragment automatic(Defragment automatically) ticked. Next, we configure this function to suit your conditions.

Example settings:

• When selecting the When PC is idle mode, select the time.
• Every day mode (daily) - set the time for daily checking.
• Weekly mode - set the day for defragmentation.
• Monthly mode - select the day and time to start the process.

If you install the scheduler on a laptop it will not work when using battery.

Attention: For the scheduler to work, the Auslogics Disk Defrag Free program must be in active mode, i.e. should be running.

In order for the program to start along with windows, go to settings(settings) select program settings(programm settings) and go to the tab are common(general) check the box as in the picture.

That's all the question is: how to do it hard drive defragmentation to uncover. If you have any questions, write comments. I hope the information was useful!

To improve the performance of your computer, you should periodically clean up your hard drives. Defragmentation utilities allow you to move files within one partition so that the components of one program are located in sequential order. All this speeds up the computer.

The best disk defragmentation programs

Today, there are several popular tools for defragmenting a computer disk. Each has its own advantages.

Defraggler

One of the best free utilities for cleaning up computer hard drives. Allows you to optimize the operation of not only the entire disk, but also individual subsections and directories.

Smart Defrag

Another free disk defragmentation application. You can run the application during boot, which will allow you to move system files.

There is a free and paid version of the program. The latter has more advanced functionality. The tool allows you not only to put things in order on the storage medium, but also to check it for errors.

Puran Defrag

It has all the functions of the programs described above. At the same time, it allows you to program a disk defragmentation schedule.

Disk Speedup

A free utility that works not only with disks, but also with files and directories. It has advanced functionality that allows you to set certain settings for defragmentation.

Thus, you can move rarely used program components to the end of the disk, and frequently used ones to the beginning. This significantly speeds up the system.

A program that optimizes your hard drive several times faster than a regular OS application. After starting the program, just select the desired partition and start defragmentation.

An optimization system that includes many functions, including disk defragmentation.

The program has a simple, intuitive interface, as well as the usual functions for such an application, including the ability to check the disk for errors.

The tool allows both beginners and experienced users to work, depending on the program settings. In the latter case, advanced functionality allows you to perform complex operations to optimize the system.

MyDefrag

This is an almost complete analogue of the previous program, created by a single programmer for himself.

Disk defragmentation programs can optimize system performance and improve computer performance. If you want your device to work for a long time, then you should not neglect system utilities and applications. In addition, there are many options for both experienced users and beginners.

The hard drive is one of the most important components of a computer, but not all users pay due attention to it. If the processor, video card, RAM and other components fail, they can be replaced quite simply, whereas if the drive breaks down, the computer owner will lose all his data, which obviously no one wants. To avoid hard drive failure, you need to carefully monitor it and defragment it regularly.

What is disk defragmentation

The defragmentation process is very simple and very important, but many people forget about the need for it. It is the organization of files on the hard drive in such a way that the operating system can access them more easily and quickly when requested.

While the hard drive is operating, new information constantly appears on it. The user downloads files from the Internet, installs programs and games, creates new documents and performs a number of other tasks. When information is stored on a hard drive, it occupies a certain number of free clusters on it. At the time of deleting, changing, copying files, the clusters are cleared, but free space is formed between one and another file on the hard drive. Disk defragmentation is necessary to organize the files on the disk so that they follow each other sequentially, and there are no free clusters left between them.

Disk defragmentation on Windows is necessary because:

Some users know about the need to defragment, but do not do it. This is due to the fact that this process is very lengthy, and organizing files on a large storage device can take up to ten hours. At the same time, the procedure time can be significantly reduced; to do this, it is enough to perform it monthly, as recommended by hard drive manufacturers. The more often you defragment, the less data on the drive will have to be moved, and therefore this process will happen faster.

Important: Defragmentation is only necessary on spinning head hard drives, while it is not necessary on SSD drives. The process of defragmenting a solid-state drive will only lead to a reduction in the number of rewrite cycles to it, but will not provide a performance increase.

How to defragment a disk

To defragment a disk, you need to run the corresponding process. The Windows operating system contains a special tool that allows you to defragment your hard drive. Unfortunately, it is not perfect, and in most cases it is more convenient to use third-party utilities. Different programs contain their own algorithms for defragmenting the drive. Below we will give an example of several such applications and tell you how to perform the work of organizing clusters using the system's tools.

Defragmenting a hard drive using Windows

If you're wondering how to defragment a disk in Windows 10 or earlier versions of the operating system, it's quite easy to do. To run the standard defragmentation tool you need to:

Please note that you can also configure “Schedule optimization” in this menu item. When selecting the appropriate item, you must specify the frequency of the process and the hard drive/drives that will be subjected to it. After this, the system will automatically defragment the drive according to the selected schedule.

Hard drive defragmentation programs

There are dozens of applications that allow you to defragment your hard drive. Each of them has its pros and cons. Some are better suited for large hard drives or drives that are installed on servers, while others are good for home use. Below we suggest considering a couple of free programs for defragmenting your hard drive.

The simplest and most convenient application for defragmenting a hard drive on a home computer is Defraggler. The free version of the program, which can be downloaded from the official website of the developers, does not have wide functionality, but it copes with its main task.

The application is officially localized into Russian, and it allows you to defragment not only the entire disk, but also an individual program or folder. The program also provides an option for quick disk defragmentation.

Auslogics Disk Defrag Free is a free version of the application of the same name from Auslogics. You can also download it from the official website of the developers. The application is slightly more functional than Defraggler, and it does not have a Russian language, which makes it more difficult to work with. At the same time, the program has a number of functions that are not available in the official Windows hard drive optimization tool and in the Defraggler application.