When using computers, we often feel that computer performance is getting worse. When reading data, computers that are not regularly maintained will appear to have slow performance. As you use your computer, it's very natural for your computer to show signs that it's experiencing a decline in performance.
This is caused by activities performed such as installing or uninstalling programs, creating or deleting documents, and other tasks. The location of the file is not infrequently fixed, resulting in file fragments that have moved locations on the hard disk.
In searching or reading data, the computer will work to find the requested data until it is found. Unfortunately, some of the requested data sometimes fragments or gets split and moves to another location. This is what makes computer performance slower when the data you are looking for has moved so that the computer will take longer to search again.
Therefore, one way that can be done to overcome this problem is to return the file fragments to their original place. You can defrag your hard drive to optimize your computer's performance again. Check out the following explanation.
2 Ways to Defrag Hard Drive in Windows
Computer performance that is getting slower over time can be overcome by defragmenting the hard disk. By regularly defragmenting the hard disk, the fragments formed from a file will be repaired and trimmed according to their location.
This is intended so that the stability of the operating system in searching for data will run optimally. There are 2 ways to defrag a hard drive, namely using the built-in Windows tools and using third-party software. Just follow the steps below.
1. Using Windows Built-in Tools
Windows operating systems usually have built-in tools that can defrag the hard disk. If you've never done a defrag before, you don't need to worry because the system defrag tool in Windows will automatically run according to the specified time. However, it doesn't matter if you want to defrag the hard drive manually.
Keep in mind, that this hard disk defrag does not need to be done too often. Windows' built-in tools will tell you whether the disk on your computer needs to be defragmented or not.
So, it is best to follow the instructions provided by your computer. The Windows operating system I use is Windows 10 Pro. However, you can also do the method below on other versions of Windows operating systems.
- Click the search icon or search on the taskbar >> then type defragment and Optimize Drives in the search field >> then select the Defragment and Optimize Drives desktop application.
- It will display the status of the drive on your computer. To determine whether your drive really needs to be defragmented, please select all drives >> then select Analyze All. Then look at Current Status. A drive that has an OK status, it is certain that there is no need to defrag. However, if the status of the drive listed is Needs optimization, then you can defrag.
- Select the drive to be defragmented >> then select Optimize. Wait until the defrag process is complete.
- You can also change the settings related to the defrag schedule on your computer by selecting Change settings.
- Next, please select a schedule in the Frequently section, namely daily (daily), weekly (weekly), and monthly (monthly). After that select the Drives you want to defragment according to the schedule by clicking on the Choose button. You can select a drive or all drives on your computer. When you have finished making changes to the settings, please press OK.
2. Using Third Party Software
In addition to using Windows default tools, you can also use third-party software to defrag your hard drive. The software that I use in this article is Defraggler. The advantages of this software are that Defraggler has a small size and light weight so it will not burden your computer's performance.
Apart from that, Defragger can also check drives, defrag with normal or fast options and is available in a wide selection of languages. However, this software only supports the Windows operating system.
- Download and install the Defraggler application on your computer.
- Next, please open the Defraggler application >> then you can check whether your drive needs to be defragmented or not by selecting the drive >> then selecting Analyze.
- A dialog box will appear about the notification of the defrag process that will be carried out. This app will delete the recycle bin before defragging so it will give you more free drive. Please press Yes.
- After that wait until the analysis process of the drive is complete. If it is necessary to defrag the disk, please select the drive and then Defrag. Wait until the defrag process is complete.
A few articles about how to defrag a hard drive in Windows. You can perform routine and periodic computer maintenance in this way. By defragmenting the hard disk, the computer can run properly.
Although the Windows 8 operating system and above have a system to automatically defrag, there is nothing wrong if you want to defrag your hard drive on your computer that is already getting slower.
Hopefully this article on how to defrag a hard drive is useful for you. Keep visiting erzedka.com for more useful articles.