what is disk defragmenter?

Each time you modify an existing file on your system, a separate copy of that file is stored on your hard disk. That means the no. of copies of a particular file a system contains is the no. of times you have modified and saved it previously.

You probably may not want all the previous versions of that file; instead you need only the finally last modified copy of that file. The memory manager is a part of OS dealing with efficient utilization of main memory performing functions like retrieve, save, replace, etc. The files are stored in memory in sequential memory locations. As the file size increases the memory manager will break the file into pieces and store them in different available locations.

Fragments are unused memory locations that can’t be allocated to any process. Then the system forms a FAT(File Allocation Table) to keep track of where the different pieces of the file are stored, when we access the file, the memory manager will query the FAT to retrieve all the previous copies and its pieces from the memory.

Now the Disk Defragmenter comes into picture, the three main functions of disk defragmenter are:

• It deletes previously saved copies of files that are no more needed.
•  It reclaims the space occupied by such unwanted files and the fragmented space, thus frees a considerable amount of disk space.
•   It will sequentially allocate memory to the files on disk, so that it could be accessed quickly as it won’t need to query the File Allocation Table to access the fragmented copies of the file.

           Disk defragmenter is utility software that comes inbuilt in the systems, and it is the easiest method to increase the system performance and speed without installing any bulky or space consuming diagnostic softwares.

To defragment hard disk, follow these steps:

1.    For win 7,8:

go to  Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Defragment & Optimize Drives

For Win XP:

    go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk    Defragmenter

2.    In the Disk Defragmenter window , Select the Drive and click the “Analyse” button to check whether that drive needs to be defragmented or not, then click “Defragment”.

3.    Repeat Step 2 for all other drives and restart the Computer.

Note:

• The time consumed to defragment all the disk drives is directly proportional to the extent to which the disk is fragmented.
• Forcibly stopping the defragmentation process before its completion will cause data loss.
• Start the Disk Defragmentation once in a month when you are sure that the system will remain idle until the defragmentation process is completed, to make maximum benefit out of it.