How do I know when to defrag?

Disk defragmenting should be performed every 6 months or so. This helps speed up your computer slightly.

How do I know when this needs to be done?

The last time I did a defrag, it took almost 10 hours. I left my computer running all night, and went to sleep. It was still doing it in the morning.

Defragging my laptop only took about an hour, though.

[francis511]

Some apps will tell you when it needs done and some are faster than others.

Originally Posted by francis511

Some apps will tell you when it needs done and some are faster than others.

My internet feels really slow, some pages will load indefinitely. I have 7MBps DSL.

[Mussels]

defrag wont help net speeds.

Originally Posted by Mussels

defrag wont help net speeds.

Photos take a while to load. Even folders with less than 100 photos in them.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Business

Photos take a while to load. Even folders with less than 100 photos in them.

might help, might need to clear your thumbnail cache (use CCleaner for that)

why dont you just defrag and find out?

[Kantastic]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Business

Disk defragmenting should be performed every 6 months or so.

How do I know when this needs to be done?

??????????????

Originally Posted by Mussels

might help, might need to clear your thumbnail cache (use CCleaner for that)

why dont you just defrag and find out?

It takes literally all day or night.

[entropy13]

In my case I defrag quite often, 3 times a week most of the time. I also do some "optimization" as well. I'm doing all that to always keep as much free hard drive disk space as possible.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Business

It takes literally all day or night.

then you're either doing something wrong, its been way too long since you defragged... it takes me less than an hour.

[slyfox2151]

... it only takes me 20 mins MAX! to defragment 3.2 TB of data.... both small and large files.(constantly writing and deleteing files... mostly deleting larger files and writing small.)


i have it set to defragment once a week witch seems to workout nicely....




maybe you need to format and reinstall your OS?

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by slyfox2151

... it only takes me 20 mins MAX! to defragment 3.2 TB of data.... both small and large files.(constantly writing and deleteing files... mostly deleting larger files and writing small.)


i have it set to defragment once a week witch seems to workout nicely....




maybe you need to format and reinstall your OS?

you'd be doing a 'quick' defrag that only defrags fragmented files.

Sounds like the OP is using a defragger that also shoves all his data to the start of the drive (compacts) as well

[Kantastic]

Start the defrag now, go to sleep, wake up, go to work, come home, and it's done.

[Mussels]

since i posted in this thread (the first time) it reminded me to defrag. using a custom defrag setup in ultimate defrag (OS + program files at start of C: partition, temp files n stuff at slow end) has completed, and a 'fragmented files only' defrag has finished on my D: partition.

i've defragged 500GB worth already, and not the 'fast' way - so it shouldnt take all night for the OP.

What program are you using anyway? not the windows one, i hope?

[dustyshiv]

I use diskeeper. It does it when the comp is idle...meaning it utilizes the idle cycles. Hey wt. a min...my comp is never idle...as i run WCG. Though i have set up a schedule for diskeeper to run every night.

Cleaning your cache and cookies might help ur pages to load faster. Also suggest u to get DNS server addresses from your ISP and put em on your lan. Also...powercycle your modem...
I hope u have an antivirus. If so run a full scan.

Lets know how it goes..

[BazookaJoe]

I second The Muss, The windows defrag tool is a horrible thing.

I would recommend using a 3'rd party app, there are some very good paid apps, but if that's not in the budget, there are also some great FREE options like "Defraggler"

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

[codyjansen]

i defrag once or twice a week.

[Hockster]

I have PerfectDisk on a weekly schedule.

[neoreif]

Ultimate defrag is an efficient and convenient tool to use for defragging drives since it places your frequently used files(OS, games, etc.) on the outer tracks of your hard disk and your least used files on the inner tracks. Meaning read/write speeds of files are more efficient and a bit faster compared to the conventional way of defragging your HDD! My license for Ultimate Defrag expired 4 months ago and right now I'm using Tune Up utilities and I can say that UD is still better and makes my HDD faster!

I usually do a defrag once every week just to make sure that files are kept in order!

[Black Panther]

I do it at least once a week.
That way it only takes like 15 minutes to 1 hour depending which defrag program I use.

[entropy13]

I use MyDefrag in my case.

[Black Panther]

I use Defraggler and "select all the files" to defragment. That way it doesn't defrag the freespace every time and takes only 10-15 minutes.

Then occasionally I use Ultimate Defrag and defrag "by most used files" making sure game files are selected. That will take around an hour or so.

[qubit]

I suspect there's an underlying problem with the OP's installation or a failing hard disc, making it take ages. I didn't do a defrag for months and months and when I finally got round to it, it only took about half an hour.

Before defragging, I recommend a thorough clean of all your temp files - you could have many megabytes of them. ATF Cleaner is fantastic for this and is free. Get it from www.atribune.org

[shevanel]

I like the auslogics degrag ap. I let it run every day at 9am, 12pm, 3pm or every 3 hours.

It usually finishes within 10-25 seconds each time.

[claylomax]

Originally Posted by entropy13

I use MyDefrag in my case.

Same here, it's very good.