Defragmenting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Abel
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Abel

I was just wondering if it isn't good to defragment
often, like twice a week or even once a day. Right now I
am a student taking Computer Support and I would just
like to know these things. Thank you for your time.
 
Hello Abel,

Defragmenting the hard drive is a necessary part of computer maintenance.
The frequency depends on what you do with your computer. If you only use the
same program from day to day, without adding and deleting many files, you
will not need to defragment as often as someone who is continuously adding
and removing programs and files. It harms nothing to defragment every day if
you want. You will have to determine for yourself when to defragment.

The more often you defragment, the less time it takes. I defrag pretty much
daily because I am always changing and moving things around. Doing so, it is
not a nuisance because, it takes so little time, I start it and go get
another cup of coffee or something and, by the time I'm back, it's finished.

LOL JAX
 
Hi,

Defrag frequency is based on computer use. The heavier the user (and I'm not
talking about the force applied to the computer chair here), the more
frequent the defrag sessions should be. An average user who surfs and reads
email probably should defrag once/month, or even less. A serious gamer may
benefit from biweekly defrags. There is no hard and fast rule here, nor is
any one program's means of optimizing a disk (there are many schemes) more
correct than anothers.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
Did you know you can also defrag automatically (on a schedule). Came across
this little trick: Write a batch file and call it whatever you like. Mine
is called 'Defrag_All.bat'. Here are the contents:
DEFRAG C:
DEFRAG E:
DEFRAG F:
If you have more or less partitions, add or subtract drive letters. You
make the batch file by opening 'Notepad' and saving as Defrag_all.bat
(change file type to "All"). Then open Scheduled Tasks, Add Scheduled Task,
and point to your new batch file. No, it doesn't hurt anything to defrag
once a day (or night).

and schedule for
 
In
Abel said:
I was just wondering if it isn't good to defragment
often, like twice a week or even once a day. Right now I
am a student taking Computer Support and I would just
like to know these things. Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...


You should defrag when your drive is sufficiently fragmented to
slow down access to it. How often that is depends on your usage
patterns, but almost nobody needs to defrag as often a twice a
week.

Here's what I recommend. Pick some arbitrary interval--for
example once a month. Defragment on that interval a few times,
and assess whether the computer generally feels faster after
doing so. If the answer is yes, defrag more frequently. If the
answer is no, defrag less frequently.

Or if that's too much trouble, just defrag once a month, which
works well for most people.
 
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