Disk Defragmentation: All You Needed To Know

By: Andrew James

Much like an automobile, a computer needs a little bit of
maintenance every so often to keep it running smoothly. One of
the most overlooked of these tasks is defragmenting the hard
drive. Here are some frequently asked questions regarding
defragmentation.

What Is File Fragmentation? Think of your computer's hard disk
drive as a large warehouse for your data. Every bin in the
warehouse represents a file, and the boxes filling the bin
represent the bytes of data that make up the file.

In order to ensure fast access to your bins, you want to keep
the bins at the front of the warehouse full, so they can be
pulled from as quickly as possible. Let's say, however, that
when you get a new shipment of product, you completely fill up
the bin, have more boxes of product to store, and the bins next
to it are full as well. In most warehouses, the extra product is
moved to the back of the warehouse and a note left in the
original bin as to where the overstock is stored.

Your computer works in much the same way. Space is allocated on
the hard drive to keep each file. To keep your computer running
smoothly, files are often stored right next to each other in the
first available space. However, if you go back and add a few
pages to that story you were writing, the computer doesn't see
any space on the hard drive to store the new data. Therefore, it
moves the new data into the next available spot on the hard
drive and leaves itself a "note" of sorts as to where the rest
of your file is. This splitting of the file into separate pieces
is known as "file fragmentation".

Why Do I Need to Defragment My Hard Drive? As more and more
files get more and more fragmented, it takes the computer longer
to access these files, whether you're opening, editing, or even
deleting them. If we revisit our warehouse analogy, when someone
purchases the entire stock of a product, the warehouse employees
may have to visit 3-4 different bins to fill the order. This
same exact thing is happening on your hard drive.

What Does Defragmenting My Hard Drive Do? The disk
defragmentation process takes all the pieces of a file and puts
them back together in one single spot on the hard drive.
Additionally, your file is moved toward the front of the drive
so that it can be accessed faster.

How Often Do I Need to Defragment My Hard Drive? This is going
to depend on how you use your computer. If you access a lot of
large files on a frequent basis, chances are your files will
fragment more quickly than someone who only checks his e-mail a
few times a week. Generally speaking, the average home user
should defragment his or her hard drive 4-6 times per year
(which is every 2-3 months).

How Do I Defragment My Hard Drive? Your operating system should
have a built-in utility for performing this task. Check your
manual, help files, or favorite search engine for the full
procedure. Although the process can take a long time, depending
on the size of your files and how many files are fragmented,
starting the process is usually straightforward.

If it's been a while since you last defragmented your hard
drive, you should notice your computer running much faster and
more stably than it was before.

About the author:
Mr James started My Business Tips
Online in 2006 to provide business advice, etc and write
articles about his industry-full article here