Why defrag hard drive

Disk Defragmenter in Windows rearranges fragmented data so your disks and drives can work more efficiently. Disk Defragmenter runs on a schedule, but you can also analyze and defragment your disks and drives manually. To do this, follow these steps:. Open Disk Defragmenter by clicking the Start button. In the search box, type Disk Defragmenter , and then, in the list of results, click Disk Defragmenter. To determine if the disk needs to be defragmented or not, click Analyze disk.

If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. Once Windows is finished analyzing the disk, you can check the percentage of fragmentation on the disk in the Last Run column. Click Defragment disk. Pick a date and time that the computer will be on but no one is typically using it. The computer can be asleep. Click OK. The report you get will indicate if you need to defrag your disk. If you need to manually defrag your disk, click Defragment disk.

After defragmenting, you should experience a performance increase from your computer. Windows can run hard drive defragmentation in the background so that it's unnoticeable.

You can run on-demand defragmentation or adjust background defragmentation frequency with the "Optimize Drives" program. Access "Optimize Drives" by searching for "Defrag" on the Charms menu search bar and selecting the "Defragment and optimize your drives" result.

Select the hard drive you want to defrag and click the "Change Settings" option. Check the box next to "run on a schedule" and select the "Weekly" or "Monthly" option. Defragmenting usually goes off without a hitch, but you might lose data if the computer loses power mid-process. Dan Stone started writing professionally in , specializing in education, technology and music. When you finish doing the laundry, you usually sort your clothing back into organized piles so they can go back into your closet or dresser.

When you defrag your hard drive, your computer is doing something similar. It's taking all of the data and reorganizing it so your computer can find things more easily and make the most of its available space.

Defragging your computer can both solve and prevent a number of problems.