Defrag my harddrive

WHAT IS DEFRAG (DEFRAGMENTING), WHY DO I NEED TO DEFRAG MY HARDDRIVE?

Oh boy, this is a big one. OK, here we go. First thing you need to remember is to defragment your harddrive once in a while,I do this at least once a month. As files are deleted and written to the harddrive, the pieces get placed in different locations of the harddrive. So, as I delete a bunch of small files, this creates small gaps of free space all over the harddrive. Then when I finally write a big file to the harddrive, that big file will be distributed throught the harddrive and fill these little spaces of free-space. That means that if I need to access this big file again, the harddrive will need to jump to various places just to read the file. This is very inefficient, and a possible reason for a slow down. YOUR FILE IS NOW IN FRAGMENTS.


We want to DEFRAGMENT the files by re-arranging the files on the harddrive and making each individual file WHOLE again. That is the job of the Defrag tool, and will help in speeding up access to your files again.

Things to remember:

-Right click the drive you want to defrag,>Click on Properties>Click on the Tools Tab>Click on Defragmentation.

-Make sure you have disabled anything that might access the harddrive or interrupt the defrag; screensavers, sleep mode, hibernate, virus-protect, if any of these programs are running in the background, it might cause your defrag to start over and over.

-You need at least 15% of your harddrive free for a fully efficient defrag.

by Junior Buddings

Junior Buddings is an A+ Certified and MCP Certified Computer Consultant with over 7 years of experience.