Question to PC users: do you know what is disk defragmentation?

The computer user who owns his device for a while, sooner or later has to get more deeply acquainted with their important part - the hard disks on which the operating system is installed, as well as various data. In addition to the need to clean them from various "garbage", it often becomes necessary to find out what is disk defragmentation and apply this procedure. Let's try partially to fill this gap.

General explanations for defragmenting the disk

What is it? The hard disk of the computer consists of separate blocks / fragments, and during the process of recording information on it, it is distributed to different parts of the hard drive in the event that the file is more than one such block. This is called fragmentation. For this reason, the overall performance of the disk deteriorates and the speed with which information is taken off is reduced. To solve this problem, you must periodically collect different parts of one file in one place. This is the answer to the question about what is disk defragmentation. As a result of redistribution of fragments of the same file, the speed of your hard drive significantly increases.

In order to more or less understand this procedure, you need to give it enough time to study, read special literature, and watch video courses. We will not do this, but just stop at the various options for doing the operation we need so much.

Standard Defragmentation in Windows 7

The simplest way to defragment the disk is to use the standard program of the operating system Windows 7. You can find it by following the path: "Start" - "Standard" - "Service." Find the program there, which is called "Disk Defragmentation." If the operation is not performed on this computer, you can immediately click on the button that launches the process.If it's not the first time, it is recommended that you first analyze the fragmentation state of the disk. You can see whether you need a disk defragmentation.

Using the menu with the settings, you can select the frequency of the operation, the time, the day of the week, the drives that you want to service. It is recommended to perform it when using the PC at least once a month.

The best program for defragmenting the disk

According to many computer users, one of the best free programs are MyDefrag and Auslogics Disk Defrag. And if the first of them has been a leader for a long time, recently it loses its positions and is occupied by the second utility. Auslogics Disk Defrag is an excellent program, when using it, the analysis of the computer's disks takes only a few seconds, and the process itself, usually long, has been significantly reduced and now takes several minutes.

Despite the loss of positions, MyDefrag remains one of the best programs, although not in the first place. All the processes in it, despite a rather low optimization, pass quickly. Other utilities sometimes skipped some files, arguing that they can not be defragmented. So, MyDefrag does not notice such a problem and processes all the information available on the hard disk, which can significantly improve its performance.

What utilities can still be given the title of the best program? Disk defragmentation is perfectly performed by the free product of Piriform company called Defraggler, which successfully combines convenience, stability and, of course, excellent performance. Defraggler is easy to use, but at the same time has a full set of all the necessary functions.

And now consider a paid utility that has a bit of advanced functionality and capabilities.

Raxco PerfectDisk Professional

Considering the question of what disk defragmentation is, one should not forget about a number of other software that performs similar tasks. For programs that handle hard disks, for example, Raxco PerfectDisk Professional. Using it, you can observe the entire process in real time - on a changing graphical table. To start the operation, you just need to select the drive and press the start button. PerfectDisk optimizes the swap file, the MFT table and, most importantly, the physical location of the directories and files on the disk.

IObit SmartDefrag

Again, we return to the free software, since it is the one that is most in demand in the market.

How is this program different from itself? The fact that it works on a user-favorite principle of "installed and forgotten." Recommended for use by those who do not want to waste time on the maintenance of their device. Immediately after installation, it goes into automatic mode and independently, absolutely unnoticed by the owner of the device, defragments all files during the normal operation of the computer. Due to the fact that the files are not initially split into separate fragments, good system performance is achieved. To more quickly read the information from the disc, there is an additional ordering.

Useful tips for properly defragmenting hard drives

In conclusion, you need to stop on how to perform the maintenance of disks as correctly and efficiently as possible.

1. You do not need to defragment the garbage. It is recommended to clean the Recycle Bin, temporary folders, browser cache and registry before this. Some utilities can do this themselves, sometimes you need to install additional software.
2. You do not need to defragment everything, do it only with what you need. Cause: processing of some elements is completely inefficient and it is a waste of effort / time. In addition, excessive rewriting of information reduces the life of the disc. Therefore, files larger than 64 MB native Windows utility will be ignored. Other programs allow you to customize this size yourself.
3. Problems with recovery points. When defragmenting disks, they are lost because the files are moved and others are written on top of one. To prevent this, you need to go into the settings and set the Shadow Copy Service (VSS) compatibility mode . Now the recovery points will not be damaged.
4. It is not enough to know what a disk defragmentation is, you still have to figure out when to apply it, and when to abstain. When using solid state drives (SSDs), according to most experts, data is read from them and so quickly, so there is no sense in performing defragmentation. It is recommended to put SSD-disks in exceptions.
5. Files should be placed where they belong. That is, it is desirable to perform and consolidate free disk space in addition to optimization and defragmentation.
6. When you perform disk maintenance, you can continue to use your computer or laptop. This process does not interfere with normal work.