as you add and delete files on your hard drive the individual files end up being stored in a large number of fragments wherever there is free space on the drive. This slows down the process of reading the file. To resolve this we need to defragment the drive.
Slang for the act of defragmenting a hard drive. When you defragment a hard drive you use a software utility to arrange the order of your files so that...
Microsoft defrag, or disk defragmenter, is a software utility designed to help chronologically order the data on the hard disk drive. The theory behind defrag is to place each program together instead of scattered throughout the hard disk drive, allowing the read-write head to access the data faster on the hard disk drive.
To use a program that puts related files close together and/or moves all files to the front of the hard drive to remove any empty space.
Over time, files become fragmented on the hard drive. This means that data becomes scattered across many segments of the drive. This happens especially if a computer crashes, or is not shut down properly. This will slow down the operation of the computer, as it has to search for all the parts. By running a defragging program, such as the Disk Defragmenter found in Windows System Tools, files can be grouped together again (i.e. change from a fragmented to contiguous state). This makes it quicker for applications to find the files they need and frees up disk space, making the computer run more efficiently.