Disk Defragmenter

Disk Defragmenter 

Defragmenting your hard drive is a long process but it is also a very important one since it can speed up your computer and gain disk space by reorganizing the files on your drive.

Why use it?

When you save files or add programs to your disk, the file system finds the first available space that is large enough to hold the files. When you delete programs or files they are taken out of wherever they may be on the drive. So what happens is that as time passes and files are created, saved, and installed - as well as erased - deleted gaps of various sizes appear on your disk. 


Defragging will compact the files on your disk to fit better at the front of the drive. When the disk defragmenter is done, it’s easier and quicker for the computer to access the files, and you save all of that space that was in little tiny bits here and there on your disk. In other words, your computer will run faster!

How often?

It is recommended that you run this program once a month. If the drive does not need to be defragmented the system will inform you that the task does not need to be run at that time.

To defragment:

1.    Stop all programs that are running (including disabling anti-virus and screen savers). By having programs running while you try to defragment, the defragmenter will restart over and over again.

2.    Open My Computer by double-clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop. My Computer window will open and then right-click on your C: drive.

OR

1.    Click on Start and click on My Computer in your Start menu. My Computer window will open and then right-click on your C: drive.

2.    Select the Properties option.

3.    Choose the Tools tab.

4.    Click on Defragment Now…

5.    Click the Analyze button. The system will analyze the drive and recommend whether or not you need to defragment.

6.    If Yes, start running the program by clicking on Defragment.

When the defragmentation has started you will see a graphical interpretation of you disk in the area labeled ‘Estimated disk usage before defragmentation.

Note: Once you defragment you will come across free space, configious file, unmovable files, and fragmented files.

Defragging is a good thing to do overnight or when you know you won’t be using your computer for an hour or two. The first time you defragment will be the one that takes the longest, if you do it every month thereafter it will take a much shorter amount of time.

Free Space: This tells you the free space on the disk or displays the free space in the disk.

Configious Files: These are neighboring files that destroys or disturbs the system e.g virus infected files.

Unmovable files: These are files that cannot be moved in the disk system.

Fragmented File: These are scattered files in the disk.