The best hard drive defragmenter for win 7. What is disk defragmentation

Disk defragmentation is a procedure for merging fragmented files, which is mainly used to optimize Windows. In almost any article on speeding up your computer you can find advice about defragmentation.

But not all users understand what defragmentation is, and do not know in which cases it is necessary to do it and in which it is not; what software should you use for this - is the built-in utility sufficient, or is it better to install a third-party program?

When doing disk defragmentation, many users don’t even think about or try to find out what it is all about. The answer can be found in the name itself: “defragmentation” is a process that combines files that, when written to hard drive were broken into fragments. The image below clearly shows that on the left, fragments of one file are recorded in a continuous stream, without empty spaces or divisions, and on the right, the same file is scattered across the hard drive in the form of pieces.

Naturally, it is much more convenient and faster for the disk to read a continuous file than one separated by empty space and other files.

Why does HDD fragmentation occur?

Hard drives are made up of sectors, each of which can store a certain amount of information. If a large file is saved to the hard drive, which cannot fit into one sector, then it is split and saved into several sectors.

By default, the system always tries to write file fragments as close to each other as possible - in adjacent sectors. However, due to the deletion/saving of other files, resizing of already saved files and other processes, there are not always enough free sectors located next to each other. Therefore, Windows transfers the file recording to other parts of the HDD.

How fragmentation affects drive speed

When you need to open a recorded fragmented file, the hard drive head will sequentially move to the sectors where it was saved. Thus, the more times he has to move around the hard drive in an attempt to find all the pieces of the file, the slower the reading will be.

The image on the left shows how many movements the hard drive head needs to make to read files that have been split into parts. On the right, both files, indicated in blue and yellow, are written continuously, which significantly reduces the number of movements across the disk surface.

Defragmentation is the process of rearranging pieces of one file so that the overall percentage of fragmentation decreases, and all files (if possible) are located on adjacent sectors. Thanks to this, reading will occur continuously, which will have a positive effect on the speed of the HDD. This is especially noticeable when reading large files.

Does it make sense to use third-party defragmentation programs?

Developers have created a large number of programs that deal with defragmentation. You can find both small defragmenter programs and find them as part of complex system optimizers. There are free and paid options. But are they necessary?

There is certainly a certain effectiveness of third-party utilities. Programs from different developers may offer:

Custom auto-defragmentation settings. The user can more flexibly manage the procedure schedule;
Other algorithms for carrying out the process. Third-party software has its own features that are more beneficial in the long run. For example, they require less percentage of free space on the HDD to run the defragmenter. At the same time, files are optimized, increasing their download speed. The volume's free space is also consolidated so that the level of fragmentation increases more slowly in the future;
Additional features, for example, registry defragmentation.

Of course, program functions vary depending on the developer, so the user needs to select a utility based on his needs and PC capabilities.

Is it necessary to constantly defragment the disk?

All modern Windows versions offer to automatically carry out this process on a schedule once a week. Overall, it's more useless than necessary. The fact is that fragmentation itself is an old procedure, and in the past it was really constantly needed. In the past, even mild fragmentation has had a negative impact on system performance.

Modern HDDs have a higher operating speed, and new versions of operating systems have become much smarter, so even with a certain fragmentation process, the user may not notice a decrease in operating speed. And if you use a hard drive with a large capacity (1 TB or higher), then the system can distribute heavy files in an optimal way for it so that this does not affect performance.

In addition, constantly running the defragmenter shortens the life of the disk - this is an important disadvantage that should be taken into account.

Because by default in Windows defragmentation is enabled, it must be disabled manually:

Is it necessary to defragment an SSD drive?

A very common mistake made by users using solid state drives is using any defragmenter.

Remember, if you have installed SSD drive on a computer or laptop, do not defragment it under any circumstances - this greatly accelerates the wear of the drive. In addition, this procedure will not increase the speed of the SSD.

If you have not disabled defragmentation in Windows before, be sure to do so either for all drives or just for the SSD.

Third-party utilities also have a similar feature, but the configuration method will be different.

Features of defragmentation

There are several nuances for the quality of this procedure:

Despite the fact that defragmenters can work in background, to achieve the best results, it is best to launch them when there is no activity on the part of the user, or when there is a minimal amount of it (for example, during a break or while listening to music);
When carrying out periodic defragmentation, it is more correct to use quick methods that speed up access to the main files and documents, but a certain part of the files will not be processed. In this case, the full procedure can be done less frequently;
Before complete defragmentation, it is recommended to remove junk files and, if possible, exclude files from processing pagefile.sys And hiberfil.sys. These two files are used as temporary files and are recreated with each system startup;
If the program has the ability to defragment the file table (MFT) and system files, then you should not neglect it. As a rule, this function is not available when the operating system is running, and can be performed after a reboot before starting Windows.

How to defragment

There are two main ways to carry out defragmentation: installing a utility from another developer or using a program built into the operating system. In this case, you can optimize not only built-in disks, but also external drives connected via USB.

Our website already has instructions for defragmenting using Windows 7 as an example. In it you will find guidance on working with popular programs and a standard Windows utility.

Don't defragment solid state drive(SSD).
Disable scheduled defragmentation in Windows.
Do not abuse this process.
First, do an analysis and find out whether there is a need to perform defragmentation.
If possible, use high-quality programs whose efficiency is higher than the built-in Windows utility.

06.04.2015

Greetings friends! The topic of this article will be defragmentation hard drive. Mostly beginners do not know about this process, which is what causes the hard drive to fill with fragments.

On each hard drive of each computer user, thousands of files are saved and the same number are deleted. In their place, thousands of files are again installed, and then deleted with the same number.

Let me now try to explain this process in understandable human language.

Let's say you have bookshelves in your room. On each shelf all the books are sorted by name i.e. from a to z.

The hard drive is in the same condition without fragments. But one day, all the books were mixed up, the sorting order was disrupted and, ultimately, a complete house. The hard drive containing fragments is in approximately this state.

The newly purchased computer works with high speed and performance. Over time, the computer begins to slow down over time. In such situations, if you observe that the hard drive begins to crackle and operate noisily, this signals one thing, the time has come to perform defragmentation (reverse fragmentation)

Defragmenting a hard drive on Windows 7 is done in two ways:

Let's look at the first way to use the built-in program. This method has significant disadvantages. The process does not defragment some system files and the process itself takes a very long time.

Let's go start open all programs, then move on standard choose official Select the one that opens from the list disk defragmentation

Basically, in all cases, this partition is the system partition (the partition where the Windows operating system is installed).

After selecting, click Analyze disk. Once the analysis is complete, click Disk Defragmentation.

Defragment your hard drive with Auslogics Disk Defrag Free

It's convenient free program, which will help defragment your hard drive, while at the same time increasing the performance of your computer, which improves your performance.

This program has a number of advantages over analogues:

Optimizes system files windows on your hard drive to increase system speed.

The developers have provided one feature that allows defragmentation of one folder or one file

The program has a very useful idle mode that works automatically

This program optimizes free space on your computer

Flexibility in setting parameters defragmentation of hard disk Convenient and intuitive interface

This program is being improved every month. In this article we will look at the version of the program

Auslogics Disk Defrag Free 5.4.0.0. The counter for this program has reached 11,000,000 users.

At the time of writing this article, this version of the program is only in English.

Auslogics Disk Defrag Free 5.4.0.0 can be downloaded from the official website.

When installing, no special knowledge or effort is required; we perform a normal installation. Launch the program

and preferably makes adjustments in the settings to improve the defragmentation result.

Let's go to settings(settings) open program settings(program settings) go algorithm ( algorithms ) . Next, insert a check mark in all items.

Delete temporary files before defragmentation - this function allows you to clean your hard drive of debris stored on it,
due to which it frees free space on disk. These files (garbage) are a sufficient number,
to slow down the hard drive defragmentation process.
Skip fragments larger than 10MB - fragments with such memory increases the reading time.
Defragmenting such fragments does not provide any benefit except that it will only waste time.
Move system files to the beginning of the disk - this function allows you to move those files forward
on which the speed of the process and time depend. The structure of the hard drive is such that it has the highest speed
readout is located at the beginning of the hard drive.
Defragment in VVS - compatible mode - this feature prevents the growth of the VVS saving area,
which occurs when moving files and reduces the risk of copying previous VVS data.

When setting these settings, the speed of the defragmentation process improves.

Hard drive defragmentation process

Open the program, select the partition, this is mainly the system partition (C), right-click and select Analyze (c).

After analysis, the program will reveal a map of the results and tell you whether defragmentation is necessary.

The red cubes on the map are fragments. If the message Advice defragment disks appears at the bottom of the results, this means that the program recommends defragmentation. And if there is no message, we leave everything as is; there is no limit on the number of fragments on the disk.

Basically if the result shows fragments less than 10% then state of hard disk is good.

The process takes from 5-15 minutes, it mainly depends on how many files are on your hard drive.

If you defragment your hard drive frequently, you will increase the wear and tear on the drive.

So I advise you to do defragmentation if necessary.

During the defragmentation process, leave the computer alone. Due to this, defragmentation time is reduced.

If for some reason you need a computer, you can use the program with the priority set to low.

To do this, go to settings, hover your mouse over defragment priority and select Low priority.

For the process to proceed normally, I recommend that the disk have 10% of the total memory free space

Scheduler defragmentation function.

There are times when your computer is always on. In this case, it is better to use a scheduler.

To enable the scheduler, go to settings(settings) click scheduler(Cluster Map).

Mark the section defragment automatic(Defragment automatically) ticked. Next we configure this function according to your conditions.

Example settings:

When selecting the When PC is idle mode, select the time.
Every day mode (daily) - set the time for daily checking.
Weekly mode - set the day for defragmentation.
Monthly mode - select the day and time to start the process.

If you install the scheduler on a laptop it will not work when using battery.

Attention: For the scheduler to work, the Auslogics Disk Defrag Free program must be in active mode, i.e. should be running.

In order for the program to start along with windows, go to settings(settings) select program settings(programm settings) and go to the tab general(general) check the box as in the picture.

That's all the question is: how to do it hard drive defragmentation reveal. If you have any questions, write comments. I hope the information was useful!

One way to improve work efficiency modern computer is a disk defragmentation program - an application that rationally distributes data across a storage device.

With his help even inexperienced user can speed up your 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

Useful 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 optimized).

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 O&O Defrag performance can be restored and desktop computer, and laptop, and workstation.

The advantages of a defragmenter are:

Special installers for embedding a custom script;
Automatically configure defragmentation mode;
High speed of analysis and optimization;
Process charts;
Expanded functionality when working on the network;
Availability of a multilingual interface (there is also a Russian version);
Support from everyone Windows types, starting from XP and Vista;
Automatic selection of bit depth (32 or 64) for better work in the corresponding operating system;
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) it is not possible to download the defragmentation utility, you can use standard program, which is built into operating systems.

To access it you need:

Open the Start menu;
Start typing the word “defragmentation” in the search bar;
Go to the corresponding utility that appears in the search results;
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 with 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 versions, the ability to defragment SSDs is disabled by default, and the 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.

To improve your computer's performance, you should periodically clean up your computer. hard drives. Defragmentation utilities allow you to move files within one partition so that the components of one program are located in sequential order. All this speeds up the computer.

The best disk defragmentation programs

Today, there are several popular tools for defragmenting a computer disk. Each has its own advantages.

Defraggler

One of the best free utilities for cleaning up computer hard drives. Allows you to optimize the operation of not only the entire disk, but also individual subsections and directories.

Smart Defrag

One more thing free application to defragment the disk. You can run the application during boot, which will allow you to move system files.

There is a free and paid version of the program. The latter has more advanced functionality. The tool allows you not only to put things in order on the storage medium, but also to check it for errors.

Puran Defrag

It has all the functions of the programs described above. At the same time, it allows you to program a disk defragmentation schedule.

Disk Speedup

A free utility that works not only with disks, but also with files and directories. It has advanced functionality that allows you to set certain settings for defragmentation.

Thus, you can move rarely used program components to the end of the disk, and frequently used ones to the beginning. This significantly speeds up the system.

A program that optimizes your hard drive several times faster than a regular OS application. After starting the program, just select the desired partition and start defragmentation.

An optimization system that includes many functions, including disk defragmentation.

The program has a simple, intuitive interface, as well as the usual functions for such an application, including the ability to check the disk for errors.

The tool allows both beginners and experienced users to work, depending on the program settings. In the latter case, advanced functionality allows you to perform complex operations to optimize the system.

MyDefrag

This is an almost complete analogue of the previous program, created by a single programmer for himself.

Disk defragmentation programs can optimize system performance and improve computer performance. If you want your device to work for a long time, then you should not neglect system utilities and applications. In addition, there are many options for both experienced users and beginners.

Surely every user at least once in his life has encountered the mysterious inscription defragmentation in the start menu and perhaps even thought about what it is needed for. More advanced users have some idea about it, but do not consider it necessary to use it.

So, disk defragmentation is a process during which, using special algorithms, the data on the hard disk is organized.

How does defragmentation occur and why is it needed?

Any user of a computer or laptop installs and uninstalls programs, as well as writes and erases various data, with a certain frequency. At the very beginning of use new hard disk, all data is saved sequentially, that is, the data of one program is located next to each other. After any changes on the disk, new data begins to be written chaotically, that is, something ends up at the beginning, something at the end, and something ends up somewhere in the center.

Thus, when reading this data, the entire disk is searched, which reduces performance and costs time. During the defragmentation process, the system finds pieces of one file and places them as close to each other as possible, in addition, it transfers all data to the initial sectors of the hard drive, which again reduces the time for reading information.

The defragmentation process takes a long time, especially if it is performed infrequently. But after its completion, you can notice the system speeds up, data is copied faster, and you can also see an increase in performance in powerful 3D games. This is because the system does not need to search for data throughout the entire hard drive, because it is in one place.

There are many defragmentation programs available - one of them is a built-in tool, others are created by third-party manufacturers.

Programs for defragmentation

In official Windows programs You can find a built-in defragmenter, which is quite suitable for use, but it has a significant drawback. It cannot be used to efficiently carry out the procedure on a hard drive that is actively used. The native Windows program has weak algorithms that will help only novice computer users, as well as those people who do not store a lot of data on their hard drive. This program is not able to detect all the fragments and put them as close to each other as possible, so, as a rule, no special effect from its use is visible.

Defraggler is a powerful free defragmentation utility. Has powerful algorithms for searching and transferring data. Allows you to work sequentially with different logical drives or defragment the entire hard drive. An additional advantage is the ability to work in the background, which allows the user to continue using the PC without compromising performance.

The program can be programmed to automatic shutdown after completion of work. Among other things, Defraggler provides the opportunity to conduct an analysis and draw conclusions about the feasibility of the procedure. Sometimes disk defragmentation is not at all necessary and the program will inform you about this. The defragmentation process is accompanied by a beautiful and visual graphic pattern in which multi-colored cubes form groups. The program has a simple and intuitive interface, so there should not be any problems using it.

O&O Defrag Free– shareware English-language utility. Free for home use. It is one of the most powerful at work. Conducts high-quality data defragmentation and does not take up a lot of resources. The program has a large number of settings and add-ons that are quite difficult to understand without knowledge English language. Able to work in the background. O&O Defrag Free is a great tool for confident users.

Small tricks related to disk defragmentation

In general, the need to defragment the disk arises due to the fact that most users operate their system incorrectly. Almost every hard drive is divided into at least two logical drives. Many believe that this is done so that if the system is reinstalled, important data remains intact, and this is partly correct. However, there is another reason for this division.

The user can fragment his hard drive quite independently without any programs. So, if it is known for certain that data will be stored on the hard drive for short-term use, frequent storage, and many programs will be installed, then it is best to make not two, but three or four logical drives.

The first, as you might guess, will be allocated for the system. You can install programs here, but it’s better to have a separate disk for them, because none of them are used forever, which means that old ones will be periodically deleted and new ones installed. It’s best not to touch the disk with the system at all, then you won’t have to do any defragmentation on it. The second disk should be reserved for long-term storage data, which will be added to but not deleted.

In this case, the data should be copied to it sequentially. For example, videos will come first, then music and then photos. File sizes also matter, because filling occurs from beginning to end, which means smaller size files should be placed at the end. In this case, this logical disk will also not require defragmentation.

The third disk will be reserved for programs and here sometimes you will have to use special programs. The last disk will be dedicated to temporary data. It can be combined with a software disc. This sequence was not chosen by chance. It turns out that permanent data will be recorded on the initial sectors, and those that are often deleted on the final ones.

If the hard drive is already full, then defragmentation can be done by copying everything from the hard drive, and then filling it back in, observing the order of the data and its size.

Watch the video for an even better description of the defragmentation process!