How to Defrag a Disk Drive

A fragmented hard disk drive can severely degrade your system performance. As files become fragmented, your computer must search through your hard disk drive to piece these fragments back together. This takes time, which slows down your system. Windows 7's Disk Defragmenter rearranges these fragments so they occupy a single location. Because your computer no longer needs to locate fragments, your overall system performance improves.

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button and select "Computer" to launch Windows Explorer.

2. Right-click your hard disk drive, such as "C" for your primary drive, and select "Properties."

3. Click the "Tools" tab in the "Properties" windows.

4. Click "Defragment now..." in the "Defragmentation" section.

5. Click your hard disk drive in the list of drives and click "Defragment disk" to defrag the hard disk drive.

References

• Microsoft: How to Make a Computer Faster
• Tech Republic: Take Advantage of Windows 7's Disk Defranmenter to Get Detailed Drive Data
• Microsoft: Improve Performance by Defragmenting Your Hard Disk