Disk defragmentation software

Disk defragmentation software comparison chart for 2024

Disk defragmentation software explained

Your computer hard drive doesn’t store data neatly. Single files are often split into small chunks and scattered across your hard drive. The more you use your computer, the more this data fragmentation occurs. It forces your computer to work harder to find the information it needs – so programs are slower to respond and it takes longer to load and save files.

Disk defrag software reorganizes the data by scanning your entire hard drive and moving information around so that the chunks which make up particular files are close together. This speeds up your system and can free up disk space, because it makes more efficient use of the available space.

Most computers come with disk defrag software as standard. Although this does the job, separate defrag software offers extra features to sort out your hard drive.

Getting started with disk defrag software

If you’ve never run disk defrag software before, allow a few hours for it to run the first time. With regular use, the process of defragmentation will be much quicker – the longer you leave it, the more disorganized your data becomes.

Some disk defrag software takes an active approach to defragmentation. Running constantly in the background, it monitors for data being saved to disk and works on the fly to defragment it.

This real-time defragmentation can itself slow your computer a little though, so if you prefer not to use it, look for software offering background defragmentation. This starts the defrag process when your computer isn’t being used for anything else. It keeps your data organized, without affecting how you work.

Fragmentation is unlikely to ever stop your computer functioning. But over time, it can become a real drag on system resources. Keep on top of it with disk defrag software – so your hard drive is always in a tip-top, organized state.