Previously, defragmentation hard drive was a completely ordinary procedure, even if it was not clear how to do it. The only thing everyone knew was that it somehow speeds up the computer. In the past, I have written many articles about defragmenting the hard drive, page file, and registry. During the popularity of Windows XP, defragmentation was important and it made significant changes to performance.

Over time, many companies began selling third-party defragmenters that supposedly did the job faster and more thoroughly. Some programs were quite good, but for the most part, they did everything the same as the built-in Windows defragmenters or even worse. Sometimes, after installing a third-party defragmenter, there was no need to be surprised that the computer was running slower than before.

Third party defragmentation procedure

The only time I could really recommend using third-party defragmenters is when your computer is completely loaded with different data stored in different places. For example, if you have four different hard drives installed on the computer, each of which contains different types data such as music, video, operational system files etc. In this case, third-party programs allow you to defragment each disk in a specific way.

If one disk contains a large number of small files that are frequently used, you can use third-party programs to defragment the disk so that all files are sorted according to the last date they were used or the date they were created. For drives that have huge music and video files that are not frequently used, the drive can be sorted according to folder size or file size.

Optionally, you can also defragment only certain files or folders instead of the entire disk. Obviously, as you can see, only individual cases are beneficial, and the time and effort spent on this do not lead to serious consequences.

Another case where a third-party defragmenter would be useful is a client who has HDD was almost full. I needed to use third party program in order to move all data to the beginning of the disk. This helped free up some space and speed up the computer.

The built-in Windows defragmenter is the best

For 99 percent of the people reading this article, the built-in Windows defragmenter is ideal for a good work hard disk.

A group of people went through the trouble of testing various defragmenters such as Defraggler, MyDefrag, etc., and found that in Windows 7 and above, these programs do not speed up reading and writing data on the hard drive by a noticeable amount.

This happens because modern hard disks much larger and thus have more free space. Because of the extra space, Windows does not fragment files in large quantities.

In addition to large hard drives, modern computers and hard drives allow you to access data much faster than before. Thus, if your hard drive is partially fragmented, you will not feel much difference in the speed of data access. Only if your hard drive is highly fragmented will you see some slowdowns, but this is almost impossible to track due to Windows' built-in defragmenters.

In Windows 7 it is called Disk Defragmenter, and in Windows 8 and above it is now called Optimize Drives. By default, it automatically runs this program once a week, trying to keep your disk close to 0% fragmentation.

Solid State Drive (SSD) does not need to be defragmented

The days of automatic defragmentation are gone thanks to the SSD (Solid State Drive). This type of drive does not read or write data like a traditional hard drive and does not need to be defragmented. Apparently Windows automatically disables disk defragmentation on SSDs because defragmentation wears out the drive.

If you are looking for a performance boost when reading and writing data, you need to purchase an SSD. Even the cheapest and slowest SSD is much faster than a traditional hard drive.

My Windows 7 computer took over 40 seconds to boot up and now takes less than 5 seconds after I upgraded my 7200 rpm hard drive to a 256GB Samsung SSD. SSDs are usually smaller in size due to high price, but boot only operating system on an SSD may show a big difference, even if you store all other data on a separate slow hard drive.

Conclusion

I hope that everything I said above is clear, but if not, then I will summarize what I said. If you're using Windows XP on an old computer, you really need to upgrade. If you are deprived of this opportunity, then manually enable the built-in defragmentation. If you are using Windows Vista or higher, you don't need to upgrade anything because Windows will automatically defragment any traditional hard drive and eliminate SSD defragmentation.

If you are a tech freak and want to squeeze the last drop out of your computer, then install a decent third-party defragmenter and set the settings accordingly. Otherwise, relax and enjoy your already optimized hard drive. Another way to improve your computer's speed is to uninstall unused or unlicensed software.

One of the ways to increase the efficiency of a modern computer is a disk defragmentation program - an application that rationally distributes data across a storage device.

With its help, even an inexperienced user can speed up the computer.

And, if their size has increased, it may turn out that the new information will be placed not in the adjacent sector, already occupied by other data, but in another part of the hard drive.

As a result, the file takes longer to access and the overall program startup time increases.

All this happens gradually, but if the disk has not been defragmented for a long time, the operating speed may drop by 10–20 percent or even more.

Defragmentation is a process that allows you to move parts of files so that they are located contiguously.

This simplifies access to programs by reducing the distance traveled by the read heads of the hard drive. The best programs for defragmentation

Helpful information:

Defraggler

IObit SmartDefrag

The high-speed Russian program ensures that files are placed in one of the best ways, because it uses the most effective scripts.

Data is placed on the fastest sections of the disk, and the system runs much faster.

The main advantages of the application include a high degree of file security, which is not threatened even by a sudden accidental shutdown of the computer while SmartDefrag is running.

In addition, defragmentation can be carried out in three modes(simple, deep and with optimization).

O&O Defrag

A well-known program is, if not the best, then at least one of the most popular.

It is often used by advanced users to move parts of files to places where they can work with maximum efficiency.

With the help of O&O Defrag, the performance of a desktop computer, laptop, and workstation can be restored.

The advantages of a defragmenter are:

1. Special installers for embedding a custom script;
2. Automatically configure defragmentation mode;
3. High speed of analysis and optimization;
4. Process charts;
5. Expanded functionality when working on the network;
6. Availability of a multilingual interface (there is also a Russian version);
7. Supports all types of Windows, ranging from XP and Vista;
8. Automatic selection of bit depth (32 or 64) for better performance in the corresponding operating system;
9. Special mode for mobile PCs (netbooks and laptops).

Windows Tools

If for some reason (for example, there is no Internet access, Windows is protected from installing third-party applications, or there is a possibility of infection with a virus), you cannot download the defragmentation utility, you can use standard program, which is built into operating systems.

To access it you need:

1. Open the Start menu;
2. Start typing the word “defragmentation” in the search bar;
3. Go to the corresponding utility that appears in the search results;
4. Run disk defragmentation.

The same can be done if in the “Start” menu you first find the “standard” item and then “utilities”.

This method is suitable for Windows 7 and XP. And for Windows 8 and 8.1, you can open the search bar even faster by pressing the Win + Q combination.

Then the defragmentation utility is located in the same way and the process starts.

The need for manual defragmentation

Manual defragmentation is not always practical on some operating systems and modern hard drives.

For example, SSD media not only do not need optimization, but even wear out from frequent use of this process.

Moreover, such disks will not work faster even after defragmentation.

In Windows 7 and later, the ability to defragment SSDs is disabled by default, and standard utility runs automatically from time to time, which is quite enough to optimize the system.

Old versions of Windows require mandatory manual defragmentation. Although this problem can be solved by updating the system.

If this is impossible to do, you will have to use either built-in software or a third-party one - preferably one from the list of the most popular and free ones, since paid applications do not provide any advantage.

Auslogics Disk Defrag – free program-hard drive defragmenter personal computer. Using Auslogics Disk Defrag in Russian, you literally revive the hard drive of your PC. The program will independently restore order to the computer’s file system, organize all data, and optimize work with it. This, in turn, will affect the operation of the operating system as a whole. You will notice that programs run faster, and the number of errors when working with files will noticeably decrease.

Comparing Auslogics Disk Defrag with its standard Windows counterpart, you can see real advantages. Auslogics Disk Defrag creates a separate fragmented block into which all system files and folders are transferred. Such a procedure, in the future, will allow quick access to these files, which will have a beneficial effect on the operation of the system. If you decide to defragment your computer's hard drive, you can run a preliminary scan of the hard drive and issue a full report on the state of the disk, the so-called disk map. Also Auslogics Disk Defrag latest version allows you to run a process in the background or program it to defragment automatically. If you do not need to do a complete defragmentation of the HDD or SSD, you can perform this operation with individual files and folders. This will significantly save your time.

Main features of Auslogics Disk Defrag for Windows 7, 8, 10:

• Defragmentation of a hard drive in a short time;
• Ability to run defragmentation in the background;
• Ability to configure defragmentation automatically;
• Ability to pre-analyze the hard drive;
• Possibility to get a full report, create a disk map;
• Ability to create a separate fragmented block;
• Consumes few system resources;
• Simple, intuitive interface.

Disk Defragmenter on Windows 7, 8, 10 it happens almost unnoticeably; the program does not affect the performance of the computer in any way, since it consumes few system resources.

Good day!

Despite the fact that Windows has a built-in disk defragmenter, there are hundreds (if not more) of similar programs (that do it ten times better!).

The fact is that, in my opinion, Microsoft added it to Windows to have it, and its work is far from ideal (the algorithms are imperfect, there is no detailed schedule and settings, you cannot manually specify specific folders and files, etc.) ...

Addition!

If you don't know what defragmentation is and how to do it, I recommend reading this help article:

The best utilities for HDD defragmentation

❶

IObit Smart Defrag

A very powerful disk defragmenter, which, thanks to its unique algorithms, is capable of maximizing the performance of your disk subsystem!

The program not only defragments the files themselves, but also distributes them on the disk in a special way: according to how often they are used. All operations can be configured to be performed automatically (which means you won’t be distracted and waste time optimizing the system every time).

Smart Defrag is the main window of the program: there are options for disk cleaning, game optimization, etc.

Advantages:

1. unique defragmentation algorithms (according to the developers, they are among the best in the World);
2. can be defragmented separate folders or files;
3. game optimization;
4. it is possible to work according to a schedule;
5. high safety during operation (if suddenly the electricity goes out during defragmentation, everything will be fine with your data);
6. there is an option to defragment the disk before booting the system;
7. thoughtful and user-friendly interface;
8. The utility is free, and entirely in Russian (even the most “distant” menus with high-quality translation).

Defraggler

Defraggler is a simple, free program for quick evaluation and defragmentation hard drives. The utility has everything you need in its arsenal: assessing the state of the disk, analysis, defragmentation of individual files (it’s convenient to optimize folders with games), etc.

By the way, the utility automatically determines the type of media (HDD, SSD), which is very convenient if you have several media connected - there will be no need to remember which one is “which” (note: because SSD drives It is not recommended to defragment).

Peculiarities:

1. defragmentation of individual files (many similar programs allow you to optimize only the entire disk);
2. there is a portable version that does not require installation (the program can be copied to a flash drive/external HDD and used on any PC);
3. the utility supports all the latest versions of Windows (including Windows 10);
4. NTFS and FAT32 file systems are supported;
5. automatic disk type detection;
6. After analysis, the utility shows a list of fragmented files (convenient when you do not want to defragment the entire disk).

Auslogics Disk Defrag

This defragmenter differs from others in its compactness and high speed. The program is rightfully considered one of the best in the World - more than 11,000,000 users have recognized this product!

Peculiarities:

1. it is possible to defragment both individual files/folders and free space;
2. allows you to defragment system Windows files(which affects overall performance);
3. it is possible to work in the background, as unnoticeably as possible for the user (so your system will always be in optimal condition);
4. the program is free for home users;
5. Supported by all popular OS Windows 7/8/10 (32, 64 bits).

Disk SpeedUp

This utility is from the famous Glary Soft PC optimization set. The utility optimizes disks for maximum system performance. Disk SpeedUp can work automatically and according to a schedule, without distracting the user (by the way, you can set at what CPU load the defragmenter will turn off background operation. This option is not found in most other utilities of this kind).

Peculiarities:

1. automatic mode and work according to a predetermined schedule;
2. there are options to turn off the PC after defragmentation is complete;
3. setting the PC load level (CPU and hard drive) to disable background defragmentation;
4. support for all the most popular file systems: FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5, NTFS EFS;
5. the program has pre-configured templates for work (suitable in most cases);
6. regular updates and improvements to the program;
7. support for everyone Windows versions 7/8/10.

MyDefrag (old name: JkDefrag)

Despite the fact that this program was created not by any company, but by a single programmer, it is rightfully considered a leader in its segment.

Judge for yourself: it can work both in simple mode (for ordinary users) and provide complex and detailed settings for advanced ones. MyDefrag supports various scripts you can create or edit them yourself), can work according to a pre-configured schedule, analyze the HDD and defragment not only occupied space, but also free space.

There are silent settings - they are suitable for those users who do not want to deal with all this multi-functionality of the utility. By the way, it works in all versions of Windows (XP/7/8/10), fully supports the Russian language.

O&O Defrag

A very powerful and multifunctional utility for optimizing hard drives. Can work with many file systems (FAT, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5), Volume/Stripe Sets arrays, supports background mode, scheduled work, etc.

Peculiarities:

1. There are 5 defragmentation modes: STEALTH (note: invisible in the background), SPACE (note: free space), COMPLETE/Name, COMPLETE/Date and COMPLETE/Access;
2. there is an option to start defragmentation when a certain percentage level of fragmentation is reached;
3. the ability to defragment system files that affect the performance of your system (swap file, registry, MFT, etc.);
4. availability of a schedule;
5. pleasant and intuitive interface (even completely novice users can figure it out);
6. support for all Windows file systems: FAT, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5;
7. support for Russian and all modern OS Windows 7/8/10.

Puran Defrag

Free defragmenter India. It is distinguished primarily by its high-speed operation (it uses its own unique PIOZR algorithm). As for defragmentation, Puran Defrag can defragment the entire disk, as well as individual folders and files (including setting a schedule, with the ability to limit work during CPU load with extraneous tasks, prioritizing system files).

Puran Defrag - main program window

It will save those users who have little time to maintain the system (or for those who constantly forget about it). So to speak, once you configured Puran Defrag, your system will always be responsive and fast. Comfortable!

Peculiarities:

1. your own unique algorithm (high-speed and high-quality work);
2. separate priority for defragmenting system files;
3. command line support;
4. the ability to turn off the PC after completing the HDD optimization process;
5. it is possible to set a schedule for automatic and background defragmentation;
6. compressing directories to increase system boot speed;
7. you can defragment individual folders/files from context menu conductor;
8. support for all popular versions of Windows XP/7/8/10 (32 and 64 bits).

That's all.

For additions on the topic - a special merci!

Defraggler (Russian: Defragler) is a free program for defragmenting a hard drive, which will be equally useful for optimizing SSD drives. This utility can work both with entire partitions and with individual files and directories.

Why do you need to defragment?

Defragmentation can improve performance when performing file operations, which, as a rule, gradually decreases over time due to file fragmentation.

Fragmentation is a process in which a single file is split into several parts (fragments). If there are many such fragments, then the hard drive takes more time to search for all the parts, and its performance drops accordingly. In addition, a significant number of fragmented files can negatively affect the resource of the hard drive.

In turn, performing defragmentation (i.e. the reverse process), on the contrary, helps to increase performance and extends the service life of the drive, so it is recommended to do it regularly - about once a month.

How to defragment

This procedure can be performed using standard Windows tools or use one of the special defragmenter programs, in this case we will talk about Defraggler.

To do this, in the program menu, select one of the partitions, provided that there are several of them, and then initiate the analysis procedure to determine the number of fragmented files by clicking the appropriate button; if the number of such files does not exceed 10%, then defragmentation can not be carried out (percentage indicator fragmentation is not significant). But if this value is significantly higher, then this procedure should definitely be performed.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that the defragmentation process is by no means a momentary matter, and depending on the size of the HDD, it can take more than one hour, involving significant system resources PC. Therefore, it is optimal to perform defragmentation at a time when the computer is not in use.

By the way, Defragler, like other software products from the Piriform company (,), is distinguished by ease of use and a pleasant, intuitive interface in Russian.

Download Defraggler for free, without registration.

Defraggler is a free program for hard drive defragmentation and SSD optimization.

Version: Defraggler 2.22.995

Size: 6.1 MB

Operating system: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP

Russian language

Program status: Free

Developer: Piriform

What's new in version: List of changes