Defrag Your Hard Drive for Improved PC Speed
Most of us avoid shutting down our computer. Why? Because it often takes forever for a Windows computer to start up again.
Another annoyance is that it can also take a long time for programs such as Microsoft Word or your Internet browser to launch.
Saving files to your hard drive can also take longer than necessary.
When Windows moves at a snail’s pace it can get very annoying, especially when you have important work to do.
Speed Up Your Computer With Hard Disk Defrag
How to speed your computer? Try a technique called “hard disk defrag.”
Fragmentation of your hard disk memory can cause your system to slow to a crawl while your computer attempts to write commands.
What exactly is hard drive fragmentation?
First of all, the hard drive of your computer is where everything is stored. This includes your Windows operating system that your computer uses to run.
Other programs such as Outlook and Microsoft Word are stored on your computer. All of your files are stored on your hard drive.
Did You Know Your Computer Randomly Organizes Its Memory?
Although it may come as a surprise, the hard disk of your computer our hard disk stores data in randomly. While Windows organizes everything into folders that are easy to search, files are actually stored on your hard driver where there is space for them.
So a single file might be stored across several locations on your computer. This means individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order.
When you purchase and first start using your computer and your hard drive still has lots of space, this “random” method of storage and retrieval works fine.
However, over time, as your hard disk fills up and program data becomes “fragmented” as it is stored in different nooks and crannies of your hard drive.
This fragmentation makes it harder to retrieve the information quickly needed to run programs.
This slows down your PC.
This is where a hard drive defrag comes in handy.
Disk Defrag Helps Organize Your Computer Memory
Defragmentation reorganizes the contents of your computer’s hard disk. The computer looks at the best way to reorganize the different fragments of data, and then does so.
Files can then accessed in sequence. This means your computer doesn’t have to hunt around your hard drive to get everything ready to run a program like Windows.
Defrag also opens up more space on your computer. This makes it quicker and easier to store files.
Defrag Your Hard Drive At Least Once a Month
To speed up your PC, you need to run a hard drive defrag at least once a month. But remember: the longer you go between defrags, the longer a defrag will take. So it’s best to schedule a defrag about once a week.
Before you defrag your hard drive, keep in mind that defragmenting your hard disk may take at least an hour. You won’t be able to use your computer at all.