Does Defragging Speed up Computer?

Does defragging help speed up computer?

If you ask this question several years ago, the answer might be “Yes”. However, the later computer and new tech PC components make the answer to this problem equivocate. So here we’ll give you some details about defragment.

▶ If you’ve changed all your disks to SSD, you don’t need to defrag your computer:

1. The number of erasing and writing of SSD is limited
The storage unit of the SSD is electronic storage based on flash memory particles, and the limited number of erasing and writing is determined by its storage characteristics. So, the seek time of the SSD is almost 0. The seek time will not change theoretically because it depends on the technology of the main control chip and flash memory particles. Defragment will increase the erasing times of SSD, so it even shortens the lifespan. To improve SSD performance, you can make SSD 4k alignment.

2. Trim feature
When the OS deletes a file, it does not write 0 to the content, but marks the index and file storage space as invalid. But SSD does not know this, it considers that file storage space is useful data. Until the system writes file E in the original location, SSD will mark C1 and C2 as junk files (“GC” means “Garbage Collection”). Garbage collection will increase extra erase, so too frequent garbage collection will affect the life of SSD.

However, the Trim command changes this case efficiently. The OS will use Trim order to tell SSD which files are junks immediately and mark them to stop SSD to move them, then waits for the right time to run garbage collection. This greatly reduces the number of erasing and improves the service life of SSD.

▶ If you have an HDD on your computer, then you need to defrag it regularly.

Many files will be saved in various locations on the drive as a result of utilizing the computer. They are dispersed and are not continually kept in disk clusters. After a lengthy period, disk fragmentation will develop. So the hard drive will need more time to seek all necessary files to run a program, users will feel the computer become slower.

The defragment is to rearrange the fragments and messy files generated during the long-term use of the disk via the system software or professional disk defragmentation software, thereby improving the overall performance and operating speed of the computer.

Is it good to defragment your computer? Now you know the answer.

How to defrag your Windows computer

If you want to improve the performance of your HDD, let’s move to the new part: how to defrag HDD.

As we mentioned above, there are system programs and professional defrag software to help you, we’ll show you how to defrag disk with two tools from Windows: CMD, Defragment and Optimize Drives, and professional defrag software.

1. Use CMD to defrag once

CMD is more suitable for users who just wish to defrag once.

Step 1. Press “Windows”+ “R” to open the “Run” window.

Step 2. Enter “cmd” and click OK.

Step 3. In this window, please type in “defrag C:” and press “Enter”. You can change to another drive letter to defrag other drives.

Wait for a while, you can see the result of defragmentation.

2. Use the built-in tool to defrag

“Defragment and Optimise Drives” is a system application from Windows to help users defrag disks. It has schedule options to allow computers to automatically defrag disk regularly.

Step 1. Please type “Defragment” in the search bar. And click the “Defragment and Optimize Drives” to open it.

Step 2. Then the “Optimize Drives” window will appear. In the Status box, you can see all readable drives that are allowed to optimize and defragment.

Step 3. Select the drive you want to defragment. You can choose according to the “Current status” column.

Step 4. Click “Optimize” to defragment the selected drive. You need to wait for a while.

To use the schedule defragment function, you need to click “Change settings”.

Step 1. Once you click the “Change settings”, you’ll see a pop window. In this window, select the “Frequency” and the drives you wish to defragment regularly.

Then your computer will defrag your disk automatically.

3. Use a third-party tool to schedule defrag

The reason why people may like to choose professional defrag software might be the maximum flexibility of the schedule settings. AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is what we’d like to recommend to you. The “Disk Defrag” function allows users to not only set frequency but also specific time and date. Thus, you don't have to be concerned that the defragment application may impair the functionality of your devices when working or playing games. Furthermore, you can choose a fragment rate at which to begin the defragment.

The operations of this software are quite simple.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro, select the target disk or partition, and choose “Disk Defrag” or “Defrag Partition”.

Step 2. In the pop window, you can see all your used drives. Because we need to set a schedule, you need to click the button “Schedule”, but you can also directly defrag the disk or partition if you want.

Step 3. In the schedule settings, you can select a drive and the mode of frequency. Each mode has its setting options.

Step 4. After you set frequency and time, tick the “Conditions” box and click “Define” to set the fragment rate.

Then you’ll be back to the defrag interface. The drives you set defragment schedule will show your plan in the list. If you don’t need to defrag other drives immediately, you can close the window.

Ending

Defragmenting is a useful operation for improving the performance of your hard drive. AOMEI Partition Assistant can do this work to assist you in maintaining the health of your hard drives. It is compatible with Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP/Vista, so you can manage your new or old system effortlessly.