How Often Should I Run Defrag?

How Often Should I Run Defrag?

Computers

Disk Defragmentation is the process by which files that have been moved across a hard drive are placed in sectors that are easier for the computer to access; thereby speeding up performance and reducing strain on the processor. Defgragmenting your hard drive should be part of your normal computer maintenance, but knowing when to do it will depend largely on your personal computing habits.

Mild Computer Users

1.      If you are a mild computer user, and use your computer for occasional Internet Browsing, word processing, or look at pictures for less than ten hours a week, then it would benefit you most to defragment your computer once a month. Since a mild user is not on the computer very much and does not modify large amounts of data, fragments will not be very persistent, and defragmenting once a month will keep the computer in peak performance.

Moderate Users

2.      If you use your computer for more intense tasks, like video/music editing or playing video games, then you probably fall into the moderate category if your usage is less than 10 hours per week. Although the computer is not being used more than the mild category, the use of such data-intensive programs will create many fragmented files. If you are a moderate user, it is best to defragment your computer at least twice a month, preferably bi-weekly. This will ensure that all the fragments created by your favorite programs will be dealt with before they can affect the performance of the computer.

Heavy Users

3.      If you use intensive programs and/or are on the computer for more than 10 hours a week, it is best to defragment your computer once a week. Frequent use of a computer, even for something as simple as web-browsing leads to fragments, and if you are also using data-intensive programs, then the potential for large-scale fragmentation is particularly eminent. However, making sure to defragment your computer at least once a week will help ease the strain of fragmentation from heavy use, and will help even the most punishing program run smoother.

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