Defrag Windows 10

When too many files in your hard disk are in different places or clusters in your hard disk, or “fragmented,” your computer slows down. When you defrag your drive, the pieces of files are moved to locations that are contiguous (beside each other). This makes it easier for your computer to read the files. There are at least two ways to open the Optimize Drives dialog box—by using Cortana and by using File Explorer—and from there, you defrag your hard disk. Note that you must sign into an Administrator account in order to defrag your hard drive.

Steps

Accessing the Optimize Drives Menu

Using Cortana

  1. Type “defrag” in the Cortana search box. You will find the Cortana search box at the lower left side of the desktop beside the Start button shown as a magnifying glass icon. As you type, a list of search results will appear on the Cortana search window. When you finish typing “defrag,” the Defragment and Optimize Drives (Desktop app) option will appear at the top of the search window.
  2. Click/tap “Defragment and Optimize Drives (Desktop app).” This will open the Optimize Drives dialog box. If you are not signed into an Administrator account, right-click (press and hold) “Defragment and Optimize Drives (Desktop app)” and choose “Run as administrator” when the pop-up menu appears.
  3. Highlight the drive you want to defrag. In the Optimize Drives window, you will see a box labeled “Status” inside of which is a table where the rows list all the drives in your device as well as all storage media connected to the device. The columns have the following headings (from left to right): “Drive,” “Media type,” “Last run,” and “Current status.” Highlight the drive you want to optimize by clicking/tapping on it.
    • For each drive listed, you will see its Current Status in the last column, which tells you how fragmented your drive is and advises you on what to do (“OK,” meaning “no need to defrag,” or “Needs Optimization”).

Using File Explorer

  1. Open File Explorer. Click/tap the Start button which is located at the bottom left-hand corner of your desktop to open the Start menu. Hitting the Windows key on your keyboard has the same effect as clicking the Start button.
    • Click/tap the File Explorer button, which can be found at the lower portion of the Start menu. This opens the File Explorer window.
    • In the left pane of the File Explorer window is the directory tree. Under the “This PC” directory, you will find the the main directory entries as well as the hard drives and other drives connected to your PC.
  2. Choose the drive you want to defragment. If your hard drive is not partitioned, you will find only the system drive C:. Other drive letters will appear if your hard drive is partitioned, you have another hard drive installed, or if you have other drives or storage media connected to your device.
    • Click/tap the drive you want to defragment. When you click the drive you want to defragment, the Drive Tools/Manage tab will be added to the ribbon on top of the File Explorer window. The Application Tools/Manage tab appears only when specific options are available.
  3. Open the Optimize Drives dialog box. Click/tap the Application Tools/Manage tab then click/tap the “Optimize” button from the Manage group of the Application Tools/Manage tab. This will open the Optimize Drives dialog box in a different window.
    • Another way is to right-click (or press and hold) the hard drive you want to defrag. Choose “Properties” from the pop-up menu that appears. Clicking “Properties” opens the Properties dialog box in a separate window. You will see several tabs, one of which is labeled Tools. Click the Tools tab then click the “Optimize” button in the Tools tab.

Defragging

  1. Click/tap the “Analyze” button on the Optimize Drives window. This will analyze the extent of fragmentation of the drive. After a few minutes, the Current Status column opposite the drive you are testing will show you (in percentage) how fragmented the drive is. It is recommended that you optimize your drive only if it is 10% or more fragmented.
    • If the fragmentation is less than 10%, click/tap the “Close” button at the bottom right side of the window to exit Optimize drives. It is not advisable to defragment your drive too often as this will contribute to the wear and tear of your hard drive.
  2. Click the “Optimize” button to start defragmenting your drive. The defragmentation will take some time (several minutes or even hours) depending on how large the capacity of your hard drive is, how many files are in your hard drive, and how fragmented these files are. The Current Status column will give a real-time report on the progress of optimization.
    • You will know if the defragging process is finished when the running progress report stops and the entry in the Current Status column becomes “OK.” Enclosed in parentheses beside “OK” is the percentage of defragmentation (0% if your hard drive is not too full).
    • If your hard disk is large and there are many files and many of these files are fragmented, the defragging process may take hours to complete. In this instance, it would be better to start the defragging process and do some other things: read a book, do housework, take a nap, etc.
  3. Exit the menu when you’re done. When the defrag process is finished, click the “Close” button at the bottom right hand of the window to exit Optimize Drives.

Tips

  • You can still work on your device while defragging, but your computer will slow down while defragging is ongoing, so it is better to let the defragging finish before working on your computer.
  • Windows 10 will automatically optimize and defragment your drives on a weekly basis.

Warnings

  • You should make sure that your device is not jostled or moved abruptly while the defragging process is ongoing as your hard disk may be damaged by any sudden movement.
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