Everything you need to know about defragmenting your hard drive. Disk defragmentation: all typical questions from A to Z

There comes a time when a computer owner begins to notice that his assistant is starting to work slowly and ineffectively. The desire to fix this inevitably arises. It is possible to increase performance by almost 65%. And this is not fantasy. Developers software have already provided for this. For this you need defragmentation hard drive . Let's figure out together what it is and why it is needed.

Hard drive fragmentation

The new computer is empty HDD data is recorded. They are of different sizes, but the recording proceeds in order - from file to file. The moment comes, and several files are erased, for example, located in the middle. Where to sign up new file, especially if he bigger size, than for the vacated space. It is clear that the old size will not be enough. Of course, you can write it at the end of the queue, and the empty space remote file leave unused. But the system is configured in such a way that subsequent recordings use any free space located closer to the beginning. If a big data piece does not fit into the empty space, it is moved to the end of the full space.

The operating system of any computer itself analyzes the free space and divides the new large volume into logical parts. Actually, the process of dividing data into separate parts is called fragmentation.

If the data on your hard drive is highly fragmented, your computer needs certain period time to find the individual pieces and put them back together. It is this process that slows down the operating system.

Databases, protocols (logs) of programs and films recorded on a computer are the most severely fragmented. The film itself is not damaged, but all the parts are scattered across different sectors. As a result, reading is slowed down due to the fact that the hard drive head makes multiple movements to “read” the entire file. And this has a negative impact on overall performance systems.

Defragmentation brings the system in order

Under defragmentation This refers to the process of collecting individual parts into one designated place. In this case, fragments of one file scattered across the hard drive are collected. In addition, all recorded data appears at the beginning, and free cells at the end of the disk. This allows:

speed up data access;
load programs and files faster;
increase performance in resource-intensive programs;
increase disk writing speed.

Experienced users have appreciated the performance gains in their system. Because disk defragmentation when proper configuration improves performance. Usually everyone sets this process to use it on a schedule. For example, once a day when the machine is not in use. On servers large companies this process is performed on the fly as the file structure continually changes.

How to get the system in order

All versions of Windows have a built-in disk defragmenter program. And starting from Windows versions XP, it is stable and works well.

IN Windows Explorer, in order to start defragmentation, just click right click mouse over the icon of any disk. In the context menu there is a tab " Properties" When it opens, you need to go to the “ Service"and select the button there Run defragmentation....

After this, the program window will open.

If this program has never been launched or it was done a very long time ago, you need to select the button Analyze disk.

It will be better if these actions are performed with administrator rights. Otherwise, you may be required to enter a password.

When the system completes the analysis, then in the line “ Last launch» data will appear in percentages that characterize the fragmentation of the selected disk. If they exceed 10%, you need to defragment the disk.

If before analysis in the section " Disk» required disk is not displayed, it means there is some kind of error in it. You will need to first restore it, then run the defragmentation program again.

Except software methods There is another one - copying. All information from the selected disk must be copied to third party media, for example, on portable hard disk, and then back. Then all data will no longer be fragmented. It seems simple. But there are problems:

You need media with a capacity no smaller than the selected disk.
This operation cannot be performed on the system disk.
On network folders this operation is not covered.

Defragmentation speed

The duration of the process is influenced by several factors:

Hard drive capacity. If it has only 10 gigabytes, then it will take 3 minutes to process it. On a terabyte disk, and even if it has never been cleaned, this may take all day.
Amount of RAM.
CPU frequency.

Also, due to the fact that different programs use different analysis algorithms, the time and quality of the process itself can also differ significantly.

Defragmentation will fail if the file system is other than NTFS, FAT, or FAT32.

But on the other hand, if the process is running, work on the computer can not be interrupted.

So, a full cycle can take a significant amount of time, so it is better to defragment the disk on a schedule at night when it is not in use.

What are the advantages:

The divided data is combined into one partition and fills the empty partitions of the disk.
Improves computer performance due to faster reading/writing from the hard drive.

This is, in fact, why a complete disk defragmentation is needed.

Program launch frequency

IN Windows system 7 this process is already initially configured for automatic start on a schedule that occurs once a week. While the user is sleeping, the system itself defragments the disk. Well, what if Calculating machine is used to process a large stream of data that constantly makes changes, then the setting can be set to run daily.

Flash drives and solid state (SSD) drives

For flash drives This is not recommended at all. Since defragmentation occurs a large number of write/read cycles, and for flash memory the number of such cycles is strictly limited. That is why such a process can affect the service life of the flash drive, it will decrease.

Is it necessary to do this with SSD drives. Since SSD drives are based on the same technology as flash drives, it is better not to perform such an operation with them. And in Windows 7 it is already provided automatic shutdown defragmentation when the system recognizes the SSD drive.

If, when analyzing an SSD drive, you still observe large percentage fragmented files, it would be better to do the following:

Copy all data to third-party media.
Format the SSD drive.
Return all data to it again.

Conclusion

Now you are familiar with such a “complex” and incomprehensible process as defragmentation. It became clear why the system needed it and how to implement it correctly. Don’t forget to start this process in a timely manner, and the computer will only thank you!

Video on the topic

Disk defragmentation is a procedure for merging fragmented files, which is mainly used to Windows optimization. In almost any article on speeding up your computer you can find advice about defragmentation.

But not all users understand what defragmentation is, and do not know in which cases it is necessary to do it and in which it is not; what software should you use for this - is the built-in utility sufficient, or is it better to install a third-party program?

When doing disk defragmentation, many users don’t even think about or try to find out what it is all about. The answer can be found in the name itself: “defragmentation” is a process that combines files that were broken into fragments when written to the hard drive. The image below clearly shows that on the left, fragments of one file are recorded in a continuous stream, without empty seats and divisions, and on the right the same file is scattered across hard drive in the form of pieces.

Naturally, it is much more convenient and faster for the disk to read a continuous file than a divided one empty space and other files.

Why does HDD fragmentation occur?

Hard drives are made up of sectors, each of which can store a certain amount of information. If a file is saved to the hard drive big size, which cannot fit into one sector, it is divided and stored in several sectors.

By default, the system always tries to write file fragments as close to each other as possible - in adjacent sectors. However, due to the deletion/saving of other files, resizing of already saved files and other processes, there are not always enough free sectors located next to each other. Therefore, Windows transfers the file recording to other parts of the HDD.

How fragmentation affects drive speed

When you need to open a recorded fragmented file, the hard drive head will sequentially move to the sectors where it was saved. Thus, the more times he has to move around the hard drive in an attempt to find all the pieces of the file, the slower the reading will be.

The image on the left shows how many movements the hard drive head needs to make to read files that have been split into parts. On the right are both files, indicated in blue and yellow flowers, are recorded continuously, which significantly reduces the number of movements across the disk surface.

Defragmentation is the process of rearranging pieces of one file so that it decreases total percentage fragmentation, and all files (if possible) were located on adjacent sectors. Thanks to this, reading will occur continuously, which will have a positive effect on speed HDD operation. This is especially noticeable when reading large files.

Does it make sense to use third-party defragmentation programs?

Developers have created a large number of programs that deal with defragmentation. You can find both small defragmenter programs and find them as part of complex system optimizers. There are free and paid options. But are they necessary?

There is certainly a certain effectiveness of third-party utilities. Programs from different developers may offer:

Custom auto-defragmentation settings. The user can more flexibly manage the procedure schedule;
Other algorithms for carrying out the process. Third-party software has its own features that are more beneficial in the long run. For example, they require less interest free space on the HDD to run the defragmenter. At the same time, files are optimized, increasing their download speed. The volume's free space is also consolidated so that the level of fragmentation increases more slowly in the future;
Additional features, for example, registry defragmentation.

Of course, program functions vary depending on the developer, so the user needs to select a utility based on his needs and PC capabilities.

Is it necessary to constantly defragment the disk?

All modern versions Windows offers to automatically carry out this process on a schedule once a week. Overall, it's more useless than necessary. The fact is that fragmentation itself is an old procedure, and in the past it was really constantly needed. In the past, even mild fragmentation has had a negative impact on system performance.

Modern HDDs have more high speed work, and new versions of operating systems have become much “smarter”, so even with a certain fragmentation process, the user may not notice a decrease in operating speed. And if you use a hard drive with a large capacity (1 TB or more), then the system can distribute heavy files in an optimal way for it so that this does not affect performance.

Besides, constant start A defragmenter shortens the life of the disk - this is an important disadvantage that should be taken into account.

Because by default in Windows defragmentation is enabled, you must disable it manually:

Is SSD disk defragmentation necessary?

A very common mistake made by users using solid state drives is using any defragmenter.

Remember, if you have an SSD drive installed on your computer or laptop, do not defragment it under any circumstances - this greatly accelerates the wear of the drive. In addition, this procedure will not increase the speed of the SSD.

If you have not disabled defragmentation in Windows before, be sure to do so either for all drives or just for the SSD.

IN third party utilities A similar option is also present, but the configuration method will be different.

Features of defragmentation

There are several nuances for the quality of this procedure:

Despite the fact that defragmenters can work in background, for achievement best result It is best to launch them when there is no activity on the part of the user, or when there is a minimal amount of it (for example, during a break or while listening to music);
When carrying out periodic defragmentation, it is more correct to use quick methods, speeding up access to main files and documents, but a certain part of the files will not be processed. Full procedure in this case, you can do it less often;
Before complete defragmentation, it is recommended to remove junk files and, if possible, exclude files from processing pagefile.sys And hiberfil.sys. These two files are used as temporary files and are recreated with each system startup;
If the program has the ability to defragment the file table (MFT) and system files, then you should not neglect it. As a rule, this function is not available when the operating system is running, and can be performed after a reboot before starting Windows.

How to defragment

There are two main ways to carry out defragmentation: installing a utility from another developer or using the built-in operating system programs. In this case, you can optimize not only built-in disks, but also external drives connected via USB.

Our website already has instructions for defragmenting on Windows example 7. In it you will find instructions for working with popular programs and a standard Windows utility.

Don't defragment solid state drive(SSD).
Disable scheduled defragmentation in Windows.
Do not abuse this process.
First, do an analysis and find out whether there is a need to perform defragmentation.
If possible, use quality programs, whose efficiency is higher than the built-in Windows utility.

What is hard drive defragmentation? You've probably heard the expression - disk defragmentation? What is it and what is it for? As you know, all information on a hard drive is recorded in so-called clusters. A cluster is a cell of a certain size in which some piece of a file is stored. Just a piece, because... the cluster is very small size. Cluster size varies depending on hard dimensions disk and the type of file system used.

At hard formatting disk is divided into clusters. Without this procedure, you will not be able to install an operating system on it, which means you will also not be able to work with such a disk.

Each cluster also has sectors. If the file is large, then it is written to clusters in parts. If the hard drive is new or just formatted, then writing to it occurs in a chain (in order).

And if you have been working with this disk for a long time, installing programs or creating new files, and then deleting them, then the chain of clusters is broken. Where particles of a file have been deleted, holes (empty clusters) are formed.

Therefore the entry next file will be scattered throughout all these “holes”. One part of the file may be at the beginning of the disk, the second in the middle, and the third somewhere at the end of it. This state of the disk is called fragmentation .

Not only does fragmentation begin to slow down the computer, but the hard drive is also not used rationally.

In this case, when you open such a file, the hard disk head begins to intensively search for all parts of this file throughout the disk. Naturally, his work slows down, and Full time job in this mode leads to rapid wear of the read heads.

All this work resembles a turntable with vinyl discs. Only there the head goes in a spiral and the disc (they used to be called records) is played gradually from the outer edge to the inner.

And then the hard drive head jumps from one sector or turn to another, collecting the entire “song” in parts. And thus the head can move first to the beginning, then to the end, then to the middle of the disk until it collects the entire file in order.

And if all the pieces of the file were in order, then the work would be much faster, and wear on the head would also be minimal. It turns out that as we delete, write and rewrite, our hard drive wears out, which has a very bad effect on its “health”.

Is it possible to help the disk work faster and not get sick? Can! To do this, it is necessary to carry out preventive work with it at least once a month, i.e. defragmentation disk . When defragmenting, all parts of files are collected in order and moved to the beginning of the disk. Therefore, the heads will not have to search for them for a long time and strain.

How to defragment a disk

If you are a novice computer user, you can initially carry out this procedure using the utility built into Windows Defragmentation .

INWindowsXP it is located at: Start – Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Disk Defragmentation .

On Windows 7 this program is located at: Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Disk Defragmenter . In the seven it is possible to set the time for automatic defragmentation disk.

Open this program, select your hard drive and click at the bottom big button Disk Defragmenter . And wait for the result. If you have done a lot of bloat on your hard drive, the first procedure may last several hours. Still depends on the disk space and speed of your computer. It is better to start this procedure at night or when you do not need a computer for work. But this is at your discretion.

In the future, it is better to use third-party programs for defragmentation, because They “treat” your disc much better, which means it will “live” longer. There are a lot of such programs on the Internet. I can recommend Defraggler And O&O Defrag Free.

If you use third-party programs, you will be asked to indicate the cluster size. For file system NTFS is better specify size 4 kb.

It is forbidden!

Defragment flash media (flash drives), memory cards and SSD drives. This procedure is disastrous for them.

Video on the topic What is hard drive defragmentation:

I hope that I was able to convey to you the necessary information.

Hello, dear friends! Many people have probably heard more than once about such a thing as defragmentation computer disk

But on own experience I know that almost no one or very few users do it. The reason is simple - they don’t know why this long and tedious process is needed, that is, what determines the need to use it in general.

Today I will tell you why this defragmentation is needed and how (and with what programs) it can be performed, where and why.

So, let's get started.

Why is defragmentation of computer disks necessary?

How often should you defragment hard drives?

It all depends on how intensively you use the hard drive: copying, installing, deleting, transferring, etc., etc., information, but personally I recommend defragmenting it at least once a month.

Sometimes this process should be set to use on a schedule, that is, a script (or program) defragments on the fly, say, once a day. This may be necessary on systems where frequent work with files, for example, file servers large companies.

How to defragment a hard drive?

In the most Windows There is a built-in defragmenter, which, in general, can also be used. However, I do not recommend doing this for the simple reason that it copes with defragmentation rather poorly, which is why the final performance suffers. Therefore I recommend using third party programs, and there are quite a lot of them.

What is the difference between defragmentation programs?

IN different programs, different analysis algorithms and, accordingly, the quality of subsequent defragmentation. Due to sometimes weak algorithms, not all defragmenters (as well as the built-in one) are able to well identify the fragmentation of files, the location of fragments of these files, and also adequately put them in order, collecting them together.

In general, it's not a matter of third party capabilities programs (such as scheduled defragmentation, etc.), namely in quality itself.

Personally I use powerful defragmenter O&O Defrag Free, or, when you’re too lazy to install, something simpler, like Defraggler. I wrote about both in detail in the articles “Program for defragmentation” and “”.

Afterword

Now you know why defragmentation is needed and how to do it. I will touch on this topic more than once, telling you about good (especially Russian and free) defragmentation programs.

As always, if you have questions, additions, or anything else like that, please write in the comments to this article.

Stay with me ;)

Good afternoon! Whether you want it or not, in order for the computer to work faster, you need to carry out preventive measures from time to time (clean it of temporary and junk files, carry out defragmentation).

In general, I can say that most users very rarely carry out defragmentation, and in general, do not pay due attention to it (either out of ignorance, or simply because of laziness)…

Meanwhile, by doing it regularly, you can not only speed up your computer a little, but also increase the service life of the disk! Since there are always a lot of questions regarding defragmentation, in this article I will try to collect all the main things that I myself encounter quite often. So …

FAQ. Questions about defragmentation: why do it, how often, etc.

1) What is defragmentation, what is the process? Why do it?

All files on your disk, while being written to it, are written sequentially in pieces onto its surface, often called clusters (many have probably already heard this word). So, while the hard drive is empty, file clusters can be nearby, but when there is more and more information, the scattering of these pieces of one file also increases.

Because of this, when accessing such a file, your disk has to spend more time reading the information. By the way, this scattering of pieces is called fragmentation.

Defragmentation is aimed precisely at collecting these pieces compactly in one place. As a result, the speed of your disk and, accordingly, the computer as a whole increases. If you have not defragmented for a long time, this may affect the performance of your PC, for example, when opening some files or folders, it will begin to “think” for a while...

2) How often should you defragment the disk?

Enough frequently asked question, but it’s difficult to give a definite answer. It all depends on how often you use your computer, how it is used, what drives it uses, what file system it has. In Windows 7 (and higher), by the way, there is good analyzer which will tell you what to do defragmentation , or not (there are also separate special utilities that can analyze and notify you in time that it’s time... But about such utilities - below in the article).

To do this you need to go to control Panel, V search bar enter "defragmentation" and Windows will find the required link(see screenshot below).

3) Should I defragment? solid state SSD disks?

No need! And even Windows itself (at least new Windows 10, in Windows 7 - this can be done) disables the analysis and defragmentation button for such disks.

The fact is that an SSD drive has limited number recording cycles. This means that with each defragmentation, you reduce the life of your disk. In addition, in SSD drives there are no mechanics, and after defragmenting, you will not notice any increase in work speed.

4) Is it necessary to defragment the disk if it contains files? NTFS system?

In fact, there is an opinion that the NTFS file system practically does not need defragmentation. This is not entirely true, although it is partly true. It’s just that this file system is designed in such a way that defragmenting a hard drive under its control is required much less frequently.

In addition, the speed of operation does not drop as much due to strong fragmentation as if it were on FAT (FAT 32).

5) Is it necessary to clean the disk of junk files before defragmentation?

If you clean up the disk before defragmenting, then:

speed up the process itself (after all, you will have to work with fewer files, which means the process will complete earlier);
you will do more fast work Windows.

6) How to defragment a disk?

It is advisable (but not necessary!) to install a separate special. a utility that will deal with this process (about such utilities below in the article). Firstly, it will do it faster than the built-in Windows utility, secondly, some utilities can defragment in automatic mode without distracting you from work (for example, you started watching a movie, the utility, without disturbing you, defragmented the disk at this time).

But, in principle, even the standard one, built into Windows program, does defragmentation quite well (although it does not have some of the “goodies” that third-party developers have).

7) Should defragmentation be done not on system disk(i.e. on one that does not have Windows installed)?

Good question! It all depends again on how you use this disk. If you only store movies and music on it, then there is not much point in defragmenting it.

It's another matter if you install, say, games on this disk - and during the game, some files are loaded. In this case, the game may even begin to slow down if the disk does not respond to it in time. As it should be, with this option, it is advisable to defragment on such a disk!

How to defragment a disk - step by step steps

By the way, there is universal programs(I would call them “harvesters”) that can carry out complex actions to clean your PC of junk, remove erroneous registry entries, configure your Windows OS and defragment (for maximum acceleration!). You can talk about one of them .

1) Cleaning the disk from debris

Programs for Windows cleaning -

For example, I can recommend CCleaner. Firstly, it is free, and secondly, it is very easy to use and there is nothing superfluous in it. All that is required from the user is to click the analyze button, and then clean the disk from the found garbage (screen below).

2) Removing unnecessary files and programs

By the way, it is advisable to remove programs via special utilities: (by the way, you can use the same CCleaner utility- it also has a tab for uninstalling programs).

At worst, you can use standard utility, built into Windows (to open it, use the control panel, see screenshot below).

3) Start defragmentation

Consider running the built-in Windows defragmenter disk (because by default it eats me of everyone who has Windows :)).

First you need to open control Panel, then section system and safety. Next, next to the tab “ Administration" there will be a link " Defragmentation and optimization of your disks"- go over it (see screenshot below).

An alternative way to run defragmentation in Windows

1. Open “My computer” (or “This computer”).

3. Then in the disk properties, open the “Service” section.

4. In the service section, click the button “ Optimize disk"(everything is illustrated in the screenshot below).

Important! The defragmentation process can take quite a long time (depending on the size of your disk and the degree of fragmentation). At this time, it is better not to touch the computer, not to run resource-intensive tasks: games, video encoding, etc.

The best programs and utilities for disk defragmentation

Note! This subsection of the article will not reveal to you all the capabilities of the programs presented here. Here I will focus on the most interesting and convenient utilities (in my opinion) and describe their main differences, why I chose them and why I recommend trying them...

1) Defraggler

A simple, free, fast and convenient disk defragmenter. The program supports all new versions of Windows (32/64 bit), can work both with entire disk partitions and with individual files, supports all popular file systems(including NTFS and FAT 32).

By the way, regarding defragmentation of individual files - this is, in general, a unique thing! Not many programs can allow you to defragment something specific...

2) Ashampoo Magical Defrag

To be honest, I like products from Ashampoo- and this utility is no exception. Its main difference from similar ones of its kind is that it can defragment a disk in the background (when the computer is not busy with resource-intensive tasks, which means that the program is running and will not hamper or interfere with the user in any way).

What is called - once installed and forgotten this problem! In general, I recommend paying attention to it to everyone who is tired of remembering defragmentation and doing it manually...

3) Auslogics Disk Defrag

This program can carry system files(which need to provide the greatest performance) to the fastest part of the disk, due to which your Windows OS will run somewhat faster. In addition, this program is free (for ordinary home use) and it can be configured to run automatically during PC downtime (i.e., similar to the previous utility).

I also want to note that the program allows you to defragment not only a specific disk, but also separate files and folders on it.

The program is supported by all new Windows OS: 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits).

4) MyDefrag

Developer's website: http://www.mydefrag.com/

MyDefrag - small, but convenient utility for defragmenting disks, floppy disks, USB external hard drives, memory cards and other media. Perhaps that’s the only reason I added this program to the list.

The program also has a scheduler for detailed settings launch. There are also versions that do not require installation (it is convenient to carry with you on a flash drive).

5) Smart Defrag

This is one of the fastest disk defragmenters! Moreover, this does not affect the quality of defragmentation. Apparently, the program developers managed to find some unique algorithms. In addition, the utility is completely free for home use.

It is also worth noting that the program treats data very carefully, even if something happens during defragmentation. system error, a power outage or something else... - then nothing should happen to your files, they will still be read and opened. The only thing is that you will have to start the defragmentation process again.

The utility also provides two operating modes: automatic (very convenient - set it up once and forget it) and manual.

It is also worth noting that the program is optimized to work on Windows 7, 8, 10. I recommend it for use!