Disk Defragmenter on Windows 7

Disk defragmentation is a prerequisite for speeding up your computer and improving the performance of the Windows operating system. With this operation, the speed of reading information on the computer’s hard disk is increased.

In the Windows operating system, users save a large number of different files: images, videos, documents, music, and so on. In addition to user data, programs are installed on the PC with the help of which certain actions are performed.

All this information is stored on the computer’s hard drive. The physical hard drive can be divided into multiple partitions for more convenient use.

To work quickly and efficiently, you need to maintain optimal system performance. Among other activities that maintain high OS performance, it is recommended that you regularly defragment your hard drive.

Why you need to defragment your hard drive

First you need to understand why disk defragmentation is needed and how to defragment a hard disk.

While working on a PC, users add new information to the system, delete old data, move files and folders to a new location. All of these processes make records on the computer’s hard drive.

The new information is written to the free space on the hard disk. As you use your computer, the disk gradually fills up with data.

After deleting unnecessary files, unused parts remain on the hard disk, surrounded by recorded areas on the disk space. New data is written to these free disk spaces.

But the dimensions of the unoccupied area surrounded by the written information do not match the size of the new file. Therefore, this file is written to the disk in fragments: in the unallocated part in the place of deleted files and in another free disk space.

As a result, on the disk, one part of the file is in one place, the other part is in another location. It takes additional time for the Windows operating system to read and process this information.

If there is too much of such data on the disk space, the hard disk becomes fragmented. This has a negative impact on the optimal operation of the OS, because the system starts to work slower because of it.

To optimize the performance of the system, it is necessary to periodically defragment the disk. Defragmenting Windows 7 will solve the problem of fragmented files.

There are several ways to defragment a hard drive:

• using the built-in tool of the Windows 7 operating system;
• using third party software.

The user has the opportunity to choose a suitable defragmenter for Windows 7 to use it on his computer. In this guide you will find instructions on how to use the standard tool, and several free programs.

Disk defragmenter on Windows 7 – 1 way

The Windows 7 defrag tool is built into the operating system. The system tool is enabled in the default settings. But, on some PCs, defragmentation may be disabled, so it’s worth checking the current state of the system application.

You can get the necessary information in the following way:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. In the Explorer window, right-click on the computer drive.
3. In the context menu, click on “Properties”.
4. In the disk properties window that opens, open the “Tools” tab.
5. In the “Defragment Disk” section, click on the “Defragment…” button.
6. The Disk Defrag window displays information about the current state of optimization. In this case, scheduled defragmentation is enabled.
7. Click on the “Set up schedule…” button.
8. In the schedule settings window, set your preferences.

Here you need to select the frequency, day, time and disks, or leave the default settings.

When you use scheduled defragmentation, the computer runs automatic optimization. The Windows 7 operating system will defragment at the selected interval at the specified time, and if the PC was turned off, then the next time the system starts when the computer is idle.

Disk Defragmenter on Windows 7 – Method 2

Along with automatic defragmentation, there are options to manually run disk optimization. The user can independently perform this process on a PC at any time.

You can run the disk optimization utility using the above method or use other methods.

Do the following:

1. Enter the start button menu.
2. In the “Search programs and files” field, enter the expression “defrag” (without quotes).
3. In the search results, the built-in defrag.exe utility will open, which you need to click on.
4. In the “Disk Defragmenter” window, select the desired disk, and then click the “Analyze Disk” button.
5. After the analysis, the application window will display information about how many percent of the used disk space is fragmented.
6. Click on the “Disk Defragmenter” button.
7. The Windows 7 defragmenter will perform the necessary operations to optimize disk space in several passes.

The process of combining fragments takes some time, depending on the size of the disk and the number of fragmented files.

If you urgently need to turn off the PC during these steps, first click on the “Stop defragmentation” button, and only then shut down the operating system.

How to defragment on Windows 7 on the command line – 3 way

You can defragment your hard drive using the system tool – the command line. This method is suitable in a situation where the launch of the operation from the graphical interface fails due to various reasons. For example, defragmentation is scheduled to run by another program.

Go through the following steps:

1. Run Windows Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. In the command line interpreter window, run the “defrag” command (without the quotes).
3. The command line will display information about the syntax of the commands being executed (see the table).

Parameters	Description
/A	Analysis of specified volumes
/C	Performing an operation on all volumes
/E	Performing an operation on all volumes except those specified
/H	Run operation at normal priority (low by default)
/M	Run an operation simultaneously on each volume in the background
/T	Tracking an operation that is already in progress on the specified volume
/U	Displaying the progress of the operation on the screen
/V	Displaying Detailed Fragmentation Statistics
/X	Consolidate free space on specified volumes

Example commands in the table:

Executable command	Description
defrag /A /C /U /V	Analyzes the fragmentation of all sections, displaying the progress of the operation, and displays a detailed report
defrag C: /W /V	Performs a full defragmentation of the “C:” partition and then displays a detailed report
defrag C: /E /H /F	Performs defragmentation of all partitions except “C:”, with normal priority, regardless of the amount of free space on them

4. Run a defrag with the appropriate options.

For example, here is a command to defragment the “C:” drive, displaying the progress of the operation and displaying a detailed report on fragmentation statistics.

defrag C: /U /V

Disk defragmentation using third-party programs

If the system tool does not suit you, perform defragmentation using third-party software. To carry out this operation, there are quite a few solutions, both paid and free.

There are detailed articles about some applications on the site, which you can read after clicking on the links.

The free Defraggler program takes all the necessary actions in case of hard disk fragmentation. The main features of the application:

• Perform defragmentation of the entire disk, individual parts and files.
• Defragmentation of system files during Windows boot.
• Deeper analysis and optimization than built-in Windows tool
• Normal or batch defragmentation.

The site has a detailed article about all aspects of using the Defraggler program.

The free version of Auslogics Disk Defrag will help you defrag your computer disks. Key Features of Auslogics Disk Defrag Free:

• Deep analysis of the state of disks.
• High speed defragmentation.
• Defragmentation of folders and files.
• Automatic and scheduled defragmentation.

Read the article about the features of Auslogics Disk Defrag Free.

IObit Smart Defrag has a free version that you can use to optimize disks. The free IObit Smart Defrag Free program solves the following tasks:

• Using multiple modes – fast defragmentation, large file defragmentation, free space defragmentation, defragmentation and file priority.
• Defragmentation at boot time.
• Cleaning the disk from junk files.
• Windows Application Optimization.
• Defragment individual folders and files.

Check out the article on the website dedicated to the IObit Smart Defrag program

Article Conclusions

During active work on the computer, fragmented files appear on the hard disk, parts of which are located in different places on the disk space. A large amount of fragmented data slows down the Windows 7 operating system.

To solve the problem, you must regularly perform the defragmentation process in order to identify and combine fragments of files on the computer disk. The user can start defragmentation using the standard built-in Windows tool, or use third-party programs.