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How to: Defragmenting your hard drive

You can increase your systems performance by defragmenting your hard drive regularly. As applications and files are saved and deleted they gradually cause your hard drive to fragment. This simply means your files become scattered all over the drive instead of being optimized in logical locations.
Your PC frequently needs to call upon the hard drive to store files in virtual memory, and a fragmented disk makes that harder for it to do. By defragmenting your hard drive you can restore the speed at which your computer operates to its optimum level. Defragmenting may also save wear and tear on your hard drive and extend its lifespan.

1.  How Do I Know If I Need To Defragment?

A few signs of a hard drive that has become to fragmented include:

• Slowing or sluggish performance.
• Out of memory messages.
• Failure to complete tasks.
  

2. What Does Defragmenting Do?

You computer stores your files by hunting for the nearest free space. This isn't always optimal as groups of files linked by your applications can be spread far and wide on your system. Defragmenting your hard drive on a regular basis groups these files in a logical order. Ideally, you should check weekly to see if your system needs defragmented. Minimally, check once a month.

3. How Do I Defragment My Computer

In Windows 95 and 98, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools and choose Disk Defragmenter. Choose the drive you want to defragment and choose OK, follow the instructions. If your disk doesn't need defragmenting it will give you the option to continue or cancel.

4. Closing Tip

Defragmenting, especially on a greatly fragmented drive, can take a good while. For this reason, try starting it when you don't need to use your computer, like on your lunch break or before you go to bed. If you use your computer during the defragmentation process it has to keep starting over and can take all day that way, so do it when you can let it work without the interferrence from having to perform other duties. Close all programs and turn off any screen saver or power saver settings. Your computer should not have anything else going on when you defragment. Happy computing!

That's it!

Hopefully this tip will help you get the most out of your computer. Good luck and if you have any questions or comments, check out our forums or contact us here.