Do I need to defragment drive d. All about defragmentation. Why does HDD fragmentation occur?

Hello!

Defragmenting a disk is very simple and it, of course, does not cost 1000 rubles. But not every disk needs to be defragmented. First things first...

Which disk should be defragmented:

It is necessary and possible to defragment only the HDD drive. Now new computers are equipped with disks made using a different technology - SSD. It is strictly prohibited to defragment SSD drives! If you are using Windows 8 or a newer version, the system itself will detect the SSD drive (it will be written “Solid State Drive”). If you are using Windows 7 and older versions, determining that an SSD drive is not so easy without special software. Download and run a special utility (download, no viruses). In the program window you will immediately see what kind of disk you have. If it says SATA, such a disk can be defragmented, if it is SSD, under no circumstances can it be defragmented!

How to defragment a disk:

Well, defragmenting a disk is very simple. The only problem is that this can take a long time, so start the procedure when you do not plan to use the computer.

1. Click on the "Start" button, write "Defragmentation" in the search bar, click on "Disk Defragmentation".

2. In the window that appears, select a disk from the list and click “Disk Defragmentation”; the process may take a long time. If it says “Fragmented - 0%” next to the disk, then defragmentation is not needed. You can also do a disk analysis before defragmentation; this is a quick procedure and allows you to accurately determine whether defragmentation is needed. To start the analysis, click on the "Analyze disk" button.

If you need clarification, I will be happy to help! Good luck to you!

Defragmentation is a process for combining different fragments of files located on a computer's hard drive.

During prolonged use of the computer, some files on the hard drive are subject to severe fragmentation- dividing one file into several parts located in different sectors of the disk partition. For this reason, the computer has to spend much more more time to find and launch the program the user needs. This results in a strong performance drop systems, brakes and freezes of computer games or programs and other problems in the operation of a personal computer.

To properly sort files on the hdd, defragmentation is used, during which the files are distributed over more evenly on the disk partition, which will greatly speed up access to the necessary files, because the magnetic head of the hard drive will no longer have to jump madly across the surface of the drive.

How long does the process take?

This process takes an impressive amount of time, which depends on volume, fullness and speed Winchester. Some half-empty hard drive with a capacity of 500 gigabytes will undergo complete defragmentation in a couple of hours, or maybe even faster.

Filled disks with a huge volume of several terabytes will take a very long time to undergo the procedure (in some cases it takes over ten hours). It takes such an impressive amount of time due to the fact that in the process there is constantly transfer files and rewrite literally the entire hard drive, which for obvious reasons takes a very long time.

The more free space there is on the hard drive, the faster and better the process will be completed. That is why before starting this process recommended release at least 15 percent of the drive, because in this case, defragmentation will take place much faster than on a full drive.

Is it possible to defragment the C drive?

Defragment the system partition (or drive C) Can. This process is absolutely safe in terms of the risk of damaging system files or directories. Firstly, the process does not delete any files, they are simply moved to another location on the disk. Secondly, the procedure does not affect system files or directories; they do not change at all during the hard drive optimization process.

So don’t be afraid to defragment the partition of the hard drive on which the operating system is installed. The exception is drive C, located on a solid-state drive, but more on this in the next paragraph.

Is it worth defragmenting an SSD?

Solid State Drives not subject to fragmentation. Due to the absence of moving parts, SSDs work with any files at the same speed, no matter how they are located on the partition.

SSD defragmentation is not only useless, but also destructive for a drive of this type. The reason for this lies in the type of memory used in SSDs. Unlike standard hard drives, SSDs use flash memory that has limited cycles rewriting, after which it will no longer be possible to write new files to the disk. Carrying out the procedure will greatly reduce the overall service life of the SSD, so do it categorically Not recommended.

Disk Defragmenter

Operating systems have a built-in utility for defragmenting and optimizing partitions, so installing third-party applications is not required. There are several ways to enter this program, but first things first.

Using standard operating system tools

• After this, all that remains is to wait for the process to complete.

Using a Schedule

In Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, you can configure hard drive optimization on a schedule. To do this, in the previously familiar utility you will need to click on the menu button “ Change settings»;

After this, all you have to do is choose when to perform automatic defragmentation and the necessary data for this procedure. hdd.

Attention! Before enabling the scheduled process, you should make sure that the checkboxes for SSD drives are unchecked in the settings, otherwise they will very quickly become unusable!

Defragmentation via the command line

Those who like something more complicated can try to run the process exclusively through command line.

To go to the command line, press the key combination “ Windows» + « R", and in the window that appears enter " cmd».
To get a list of required commands, you should type in the window that appears “ defrag /?" After this, the command line will display information about all teams, allowing you to defragment your hard drive.
Defragmentation via the command line is needed solely to use additional functions that are not available through standard utilities. If you do not have sufficient knowledge of personal computers, it is better not to use this method again.

Hello dear readers, there is a very useful thing that serves to speed up and comfortable work in the Windows environment. In addition to , there is another interesting operation called system defragmentation. In this article I will tell you what it is and show you how Right carry out this operation without wasting extra time!

What is defragmentation and how does it improve computer performance?

Every hard drive has and every file system consists of having different sizes depending on the type of file system. To be placed on a hard disk, not one, but several clusters are required. When a file is written to disk, the file system produces free clusters, but they are not always issued sequentially. Because of this, videos, music, games begin to slow down, because... the file system begins to search for files throughout the hard drive, and consequently the disk resource is reduced.

That's why defragmentation The disk is used to organize the contents of clusters, which speeds up the work of programs.
For a clear example, I will give the following example. Each of us listens to music and when a song is played, the player begins to search for the desired song, and if the clusters were ordered, the player would find it three times faster! Interested? Then let's see how to do it more correctly!

We will defragment the hard drive using two special free utilities Defraggler And Norton Utilities. And then I will tell you a few secrets for high-quality defragmentation.

How to defragment a computer

Free Defraggler program, how to use?

One of best free disk defragmentation programs is Defraggler. When you launch it, this window opens.

Its interface is very simple, it is completely in Russian, so you should not have any difficulties. It's very easy to use. Select the disk and click analyze to find out whether defragmentation is needed or not. Then the defragmentation button. The utility can also check the disk for errors.

Norton Utilities

I noticed this program a long time ago, probably in 2004. It was much simpler then. The most important thing that pleased me about this program This is defragmentation. When you launch it, you can select the disks you want to defragment.

There is also a program Contig to defragment individual files, but I don’t see the point of this, so I advise you to use the above utilities.

Secrets of proper defragmentation.

1. Defragmentation must be done when moving files extensively, as well as after installing and updating widows. If you are a quiet user and you do almost nothing on the computer, then defragmentation is enough to do once a month.

2. When defragmenting, you need 15% of free disk space, otherwise it will be partial.

4. To speed it up, you can remove junk on your computer in advance.

5. Close all possible programs.

Hello.

In order for your computer to work quickly and stably, from time to time, you need to give it a little attention - carry out small preventive measures ☺. This article will talk about optimizing the operation of the hard drive (HDD), in particular about such an operation as.

In general, I’ll tell you from experience, most users don’t do it, and don’t even realize that it exists...

Meanwhile, if you regularly perform this operation, your disk will work faster (reading and writing speed will increase), there will be fewer waits and freezes (for example, in games), and responsiveness will improve.

And so, first things first...

Addition!

In this article you will find the best programs for disk defragmentation -

What is it: type. questions

What kind of process is defragmentation?

In general, the files that you write to your hard drive are not located on it in one piece, but are divided into small ones (they are called clusters (maybe someone remembers from the computer science course) ). When you access a file on disk, the system needs to read information from all these pieces. And the problem here lies in the fact that these pieces (as you work on your PC) will not be nearby, but scattered throughout the disk (this scatter is called fragmentation), and collecting them takes time.

Defragmentation is a process that allows you to organize all these pieces on the disk, placing them close to each other. As a result, the speed of reading files from the disk increases, which speeds up the performance of both your PC and, in fact, your work.

How often should I defragment, and in general, how do I know if I need it now?

A difficult question... The fact is that it is hardly appropriate to talk about any specific period here, it all depends on how and how much you work on your PC (the more often and the more information you record/delete, the more often you need to do this), what file system is on the disk (for example, on NTFS fragmentation does not have such a strong impact on the speed of operation, and therefore defragmentation can be carried out much less frequently than on FAT 32).

I will also add that SSD drives (which have become very popular lately) you don’t need to defragment - you won’t get any performance gains, and you’ll also shorten its “life” somewhat.

To analyze disk , it is best to use a special utility (the details of working with it will be discussed below). Within a minute it will give you a different result: in my case, for example, the fragmentation was about 6.8% - and it recommends a quick defragmentation. Well, I have to agree...

Do I need to defragment an NTFS drive?

In general, if you compare the FAT 32 and NTFS file systems, then the disk with the first file system needs to be defragmented more often than with the second (it’s just that the structure of the file systems is different, and on one of them fragmentation affects the speed of operation, on the other the effect is much less) .

However, no matter what, after defragmenting the HDD with NTFS, it will still work somewhat faster and more responsive. Therefore, this operation makes sense. Especially when it comes to discs with Windows and computer games (where the well-known glitch with a slight “freezing” for a moment while reading information from the disk can infuriate you) .

Do all drives need to be defragmented, or just the one with Windows on it?

The one on which Windows is highly desirable (if you have several disks with the OS, then of course they are worth it). I will also add that this also applies to those disks on which programs, games, etc. are installed (note: some simply divide the disk into 2-3 logical partitions and install some programs not on the partition with the system).

Perhaps you shouldn’t defragment disks on which you have regular movies, music, or some rarely used files.

Note!

How to defragment

What to do before defragmentation!

1. firstly, deleting all unnecessary files (programs, games, movies, etc.);
2. secondly, clean the disk from “garbage” and empty the recycle bin (the best utilities for auto-cleaning garbage are here:).

What does this give: because. There is less information on the disk, and defragmentation will be faster (since there will be no need to transfer extra “pieces” of information from one place to another). In addition, cleaning out “excess junk” has a positive effect on the responsiveness and performance of your system as a whole.

Using Smart Defrag

IObit Smart Defrag

This is a relatively small utility that has won the trust of millions of users around the world. By the way, one of the best utilities for disk defragmentation! Its main advantages:

• unique algorithms for ultra-fast disk defragmentation (by the way, you can separately defragment large files or free space, optimize games, or perform defragmentation when the system boots);
• you can manually specify specific folders and files to defragment;
• the main options in the utility are free;
• supports Russian language;
• good interface: everything is in its place, convenient, many tips, everything is designed for an untrained user;
• improves hard drive performance;
• automatic operation possible;
• There are also additional options for cleaning the disk from debris.

And so, I will assume that you have the Smart Defrag utility (the program installation is standard). After starting the program, you will see all your disks in the main window. First, check the boxes of all the drives that you want to analyze (I also recommend checking the boxes in the settings next to the “Cleaning” item). The screenshot below shows how this is done ☺.

The Smart Defrag program will begin its work: within 1-2 minutes it will analyze your disk and assess the degree of fragmentation. What is most captivating about it is that it will also give a recommendation on the advisability of defragmentation (in my case, Smart Defrag recommends not to do it).

Note: if Smart Defrag recommends defragmentation, simply select the recommended action and click on the “Smart Defragment” button (see screenshot below).

As an example, here is a screenshot after optimizing my other disk: the program assessed the degree of fragmentation before and after optimizing the disk.

Evaluation "before" and "after" defragmentation

By the way, please note that Smart Defrag has an option to defragment individual folders and files. If you are concerned about the low performance of some individual games, try adding their folders to special. window and defragment them regularly (this should have a positive effect on the speed of access to game files).

Standard Windows tools

All popular versions of Windows (XP, 7, 8, 10) have a built-in defragmenter. It is, of course, far from ideal (and does not have as many options as the previous utility), but nevertheless, it accomplishes its task...

To launch it, press the button combination WIN+R, in the "Run" window that appears, enter the command "dfrgui" (without quotes), see the example below.

Disk analysis, is defragmentation necessary // Windows 10

After analysis, the optimizer will tell you which disks need defragmentation (see screenshot below “Optimization required”). Then simply select this disk and click the “Optimize” button, and wait for the operation to complete. Good Job! (good job)

We optimize the disk with a standard program // Windows 10

Summary (what to remember)

1. It is highly advisable from time to time to run defragmentation of the disks on which you have Windows, programs and games installed - this way your system and software will work faster and more responsively;
2. Do not defragment SSD drives;
3. The standard defragmenter built into Windows is far from the best choice (it is advisable to use third-party utilities);
4. before defragmentation, remove all unnecessary files from the disk, clear “garbage” (browser cache, temporary files, etc.), empty the recycle bin;
5. if your PC is slow and no defragmentation helps, check out this article:

That's all I have.

Good luck!

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 to 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.