How to Defragment

What is defragmenting?

Files on your hard drive are not always stored in one continuous piece. Instead, parts are scattered all over the drive. This is natural and happens on all computers. Defragmenting decreases the number of pices and puts them in more strategic locations. Occasional defragmenting may have slight performance benefits.

How often should I defragment my hard drive?

How often you defragment is up to you and three different people will give you three different answers. XP will tell you if your hard drive doesn't need to be defragmented. If you get this message it usually wouldn't help to defragment.

How do I defragment my hard drive?

Before starting, make sure that you won't need your computer for a while because it takes a long time depending on the capacity and speed of the hard drive.

1. Open My Computer
2. Right-click the hard drive you want to defragment and click Properties
   
3. Go to the Tools tab and click Defragment Now
   
4. Choose the volume you want to defragment and click Analyze
   
5. If you get the message saying "You do not need to defragment this volume" then you can close the window since you don't have to defragment. Otherwsie, continue to step 6
   
6. Click the Defragment button to begin defragmenting
   

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