LET’S TALK ABOUT DISK CLEANUP, SYSTEM BACKUP AND DEFRAGMENTATION

What is system defragmentation?

System defragmentation is simply a process of removing fragments from a hard disk. When you defrag, the operating system removes the gaps between packets of data, moving it all closer to the middle of the disc. This in turn makes the hard drive more accessible and files open easier. You should note that every file in your system is not stored in one place on the hard disk but scattered around. Therefore defragmenting your Hard drive helps to gather these files together in one location and this helps the files to open easier. It will also improve the speed of your PC or laptop, even if it is by a little amount. Startup time will also be shortened.

Defragmentation is preferable for systems using a spinning hard disk, i.e. HDD not SSD. If you defrag an SSD hard disk you will only shorten its lifespan.

Always defragment your hard drive properly - clean up any unwanted files first, run disk cleanup and Scandisk, make a system backup, and then run your defragmenter.

To defragment a disk, defragmentation software (also known as a "defragmenter") can be used. This is an intensive operation and cannot be performed on a system with little or no free space. During defragmentation, system performance will be degraded, and it is best to wait till defragmentation is finished before using your system.

How to defrag Windows 7

Click the Start button. Select All Programs, then Accessories. Choose System Tools, and then select Disk Defragmenter.

Then hit Defragment Now button and it will start defragmenting.

Disk Defragmenter will take a while, possibly even hours, to complete, but you can use your computer throughout the process.

How to defrag Windows 8

Most Windows 8 systems are set to defrag by default every week. So if you haven't changed any settings, you shouldn't need to defrag. But to do it manually, open Search. Now type in 'Defragment'. One of the results will be 'Defragment and optimize your drives'. Select this.

You may also see a dialog box featuring a list of the hard drives in your computer, their media type, when they were last defragged, and how fragmented they are. You really need to defrag only if the drive is more than 10 percent fragmented.

If you can't see a figure in Current status, to find out if a particular drive needs to be optimized highlight it and hit Analyze. Then confirm your choice. This will update the Current status column.

Optionally you can use a third-party defragmenter, such as Auslogics Disk Defrag, rather than the inbuilt Windows utility. It works much faster and more effectively, shortening the time that your hard drive is working at maximum capacity.