Disk fragmentation is one of the common cause of slowing down of computer systems running Windows. As programs are installed and uninstalled, data files copied and deleted from the hard disk a “hole” is left on the disk. Meaning the sequential data arrangement on the hard disk are not anymore continuous as a result of the program or file deletion. The consequence of the data being fragmented is it would take time for the hard disk to read and retrieve the data as it will jump from one point to another.

A solution for this is to run a disk defragment program on the hard disk. There are commercial software that can defragment the disk, but disk defragment software is also a built-in Windows program.

How to Defragment a Hard Disk?

• Click Start
• Right click My Computer
• Click Open
• Right click on the Disk Volume to be defragmented
• Click Properties
• Click Tools tab
• Click Defragment Now… button
• Disk Defragmenter window will open
• Click Defragment button to defragment the highlighted disk volume

The impact of a fragmented data on the disk are very obvious in older systems running Pentium 256Mhz with Windows 9x. The performance of newer machines are also affected, but the effect is not very significant due to the faster CPU speeds.

Defragmenting a hard disk will take some time depending on the computer processor speed and the hard disk size. Defragmenting a hard disk around once in a week will be good as it will arrange all data in sequential order on the disk that will result in faster access time for the programs and other files. There are cases that if the disk is so fragmented the programs and other application software crashes.

Disk defragmenting is a way of keeping the computer running smoothly through well arranged bits of information on the disk.