Disk defragmenting?
Answers:
it puts all your files in order , so your PC can access them quicker. it is like if you had a book and all the page numbers were mixed up . it would take you time to read it quickly as you would have to look through the book to find the next page.
if they are in order you can read them more efficiently . well your hard drive is the same hope this is any good to you alec
Reorganizes the data so that all files of the same type are placed on the Hard Drive together. It's a bit like reorganizing a filing cabinet. It should make data retrieval times better - in other words, your computer will be a bit faster.
Defragmenting your hard drive or volumes (if you have split the drive up) will compact (not compress) your files, thus removing any unwanted space and putting all the parts into contigious space, ie: part 1, 2, 3, etc all one after another on the drive plater where it makes reading and writing faster.
Have a look at my article on my web site about defraging your drive and optimizing your system to make it faster.
When you install or delete files they leave blocks free space across the hard drive. When you install other files onto the drive, it will usually fill up any of these free blocks. Now, if the free blocks are scattered all over the drive, the disk head can take longer to search for the information. This can be worse if the swapfile is on you main drive also. Defragging keeps all related files together and the free space as continuous.
to defrag go here http://www.auslogics.com/ and download their defrag (it's free) utility. Way faster than windows defrag
When your computer is brand new all programs and any data you save are stored in the next available cluster on your hard drive. So, say you save a document in Word for example one day (and you have quick save on) then over the next few days you save more documents, could be in Word, Excel or any other program. They are then stored in next available cluster. Then one day you decide to open the original document and add something to it and save. What happens is that the bit you've added is saved in the next cluster which is not next to the clusters where the original part of the document was saved. Therefore, you have files which are stored in all different places and when opening them, it takes longer to find all the bits and put them together to open. What defragging does it to put all the files together, close up any gaps from where you've been deleting files and so speed up your computer. That's basically it in I hope easy to understand language.
As you delete files from you hard drive you create "holes" where data used to be. When you add new files back onto the drive these holes get plugged with the new information. Sometimes a hole isn't big enough for the entire file so the computer fills in what it can and then puts the rest of the data in other holes. This is what is called fragmentation. The file is scattered around your hard drive instead of being kept together.
This causes your machine to do what is called "thrashing" as it has to bounce all over the disk putting the file back together. Defragmenting puts the files back together again making it so your computer doesn't have to search for the missing pieces. In doing this it also closes any extra holes so that new files that are added are put on the disk in one piece. This makes your machine act faster. That is until you delete a bunch of files again.
It doesn't actually organize the files in any specific order or anything like that.
After a lot of use and files being added and removed, gaps will be left between files on your hard disk ( actually between sectors but that's just techy stuff ). When new files are written the try to use this space up but don't get written as one continuous file. A disc defragmenter basically collects all these bits of file together, moves the available space around and then puts it all back together in a nice neat order. This makes life easier on your hard drive and hopefully will improve its performance.
If it hasn't been done for a while i suggest leave it running overnight.
as you save files and instal games data is broken up and saved to different parts of the hard drive, defragmenting your hardrive groups them back together freeing up some space, it can also speed up your computer
disk defragmenting clears the disks in your system and therefore enables your computer to work quicker and better. You need to defragment your disks because fragmentation slows down your computer considerably, since Windows must find all the pieces of the fragmented file (which is spread all around the hard disk) in order to load it.
further info can be seen on the web, under 'disk defragmentation'
De-fragmentation (Depending on the software used) defragments in one of two ways...
Either alphabetically, 0-9-A-Z or how often the files used.
Although this can often be time consuming its recommended you defragment once a fortnight if your computer is used a lot. Otherwise once a month. That's just to keep it in top shape.
Once its done, you may notice a slight change in performance. (If done right, it will be faster, as the data is accessed more quickly)
Picture it like this;
Your Hard drive is a filing cabinet. You are the person accessing the hard drive (Or filing cabinet) your doing say 5 things at once, you pick up a file to read in your memory and you put it back (In the wrong place) then you pick up another one and another one putting them back in the wrong place. Now when you next go though that cabinet, nothing will be where its meant to be.
Some of the files can also split into several pieces. Defragmentation works also by putting the pieces together. Some files can split into 1 or 10,000 pieces, so you would be looking for a piece of paper in a cabinet full of paper, except your looking for all the pieces.
Basically, I recommend defragmenting.
During use the computer tends to scatter the program files all over the unused sectors of the hard drive causing longer file access times and a slower computing experience. Windows has a built defrag. tool, but it is pretty lame and you can't defrag the boot up sector of the hard drive whilst in Windows.
I use Raaxco Perfect Disc defragmentation tool. This excellent utility allows scheduled defrag. passes which will run automatically every day if you wish.Also you can defrag the boot sector of the hard drive. If this task is scheduled the Perfect Disk software calls for a shut down if the PC is running, and defrags the boot sector before Windows starts. I set mine to run at 2am. Also there is a Smart Placement function, which places files in the optimum place for the best performance, or you can defrag everything into the smallest volume possible, the choice is yours. Raaxco also market another utility called Perfect Disc Rx Suite, which does all the defrag tricks but has additional registry tweaks built in. Hope this is of interest.
it compacts the files,u shud check now an again if it needs defragin but it`ll probnot make much differance
What defragging does has been answered beautifully here for you by others.
If you haven't done it for some time you will notice an improvement in the speed of your PC after doing it.
It is good practise to defrag at least once a month.
You will prevent yourself having problems!
Go & watch tv or something till it's finished!
Puts all the files where they should be but in a neater stack instead of all over the place bit like when you mess up your bedroom and your mum tidy's it.
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