Do You Defrag Your Hard Drive?

[Andy Dixon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.overclockers.com/defrag-frag/' target='_blank'>http://www.overclockers.com/defrag-frag/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"We have all heard that defragmenting a hard drive (HDD) can give you a boost in performance. Is this just a an old wive's tale or is it grounded in reality? Most of us, whether we are top-notch IT talent or just a regular Joe or somewhere in between know that taking care of a computer and doing some basic upkeep can keep it running at a decent clip. Defragmenting a HDD is one of those basics that we should all do and has been so since well, mechanical HDDs came into existence. However, is this just good housekeeping practice based on actual results, or is it just one of those myths about what to do with your computer to keep it running well?"</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1274471510.usr11334.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>I've always been a big advocate of defragging hard drives since I bought my first PC many many years ago.&nbsp; I always believed that it would help improve performance and keep my PC running at optimum speeds, but I've never actually tested it to prove that it does work.&nbsp; If I'm honest, I've never noticed a difference because I've always defragged the drive regularly. &nbsp;This article tests if it really does&nbsp;help, or if it's a myth, and it's good to see that it really can help improve performance if your drive is badly fragmented.&nbsp;</p>

[Hooch Tan]

From personal experience, I have seen quite noticeable differences when defragging a system. My choice is MyDefrag. I have seen boot times cut in half from defragmenting, even with systems that are fairly new. Plain defragmentation is no longer enough now either. File placement is also important. With frequently accessed files placed at the edge of the platters, the data transfer times go down.

Of course, I don't think that one should defragment every day though. Defragmenting does add to the wear and tear on a computer. But I find myself doing it every few months.

[freitasm]

I do, and not only my laptops and Media Center PC, but also servers and Hyper-V VM...

On a production virtual machine the number of logic IOs might impact on performance, even though it's not a reflection of actual physical IOs.

But I see that article doesn't test the heavy weight software in this area: Diskeeper and PerfectDisk.

[Hooch Tan]

But I see that article doesn't test the heavy weight software in this area: Diskeeper and PerfectDisk.

I suspect the choice in defragmentation programs was because of cost. The ones tested are free. In all honesty, I think that the free ones do provide a considerable value, and the more professional solutions may not be needed for a consumer. However, if I were thinking of a server, or corporate environment, I would probably favor the big guys.

[Tony Rylow]

I defrag all drives except my SSD's.

[David Tucker]

Its been a long time since I've bothered with defrag. After reading this I downloaded Defraggler onto this machine and let it do a full defrag (66% fragmented! This is a 5 month old install of XP)

Wow, what a difference. I tried launching Eclipse after let it run and while I didn't time it before/after, it is significantly faster to start up. I'll be running this on all of my machines regularly. I may run it on my work machine more often since I think it probably gets fragmented much faster than my personal computers.

[Reid Kistler]

Have always defragged on a regular basis - even before our first GIANT Micro-Science 60MB RLL drive (installed in a Northgate tower - !)... :D

But am also a believer in maintaining multiple HD partitions: potentially this can also speed things up (marginally), but doing so mainly helps keep fragmentation down, speeds up the defrag process when it is needed, and makes creating back ups easier... ;)

[sobann]

I have never skipped defragging (which is managed beautifully by Diskeeper) and I am definitely for defragging. I think it definitely helps to combat isssues like slowdowns and startup delays. Initially I never used to defrag, but after doing so I did notice that startup was faster as was file opening, even it may be by a few seconds.

[Jason Dunn]

I suspect the choice in defragmentation programs was because of cost. The ones tested are free.

Any company would have provided him with free copies for his review...unless they thought that their products weren't going to perform well.

[Hooch Tan]

Any company would have provided him with free copies for his review...unless they thought that their products weren't going to perform well.

That's the benefit of asking! Some of the big wigs, like DiskKeeper and PerfectDisk, I'm certain are confident of their product, and my experience is that they do work well. But maybe it was a sleeper review.

[Jason Dunn]

AUGGHHH!!!!! :mad::mad::mad: I had this great, long post about defragging, and Firefox crashed on me, so I lost the post. GRRR. :mad::mad::mad:

The basic points:

1) This Maximum PC article is worth reading - it debunks much of what people think about defragging:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/the_disk_defrag_difference

2) The Overclocker's article is inherently flawed because they generate 5.7 GB of fragmentation; no modern computer would get that fragmented, because...

3) Vista and Windows 7 defrag automatically. Windows defrag tells me my media computer is 0% fragmented. Boot time is 47 seconds. If you're running XP, sure, use a defrag tool. If you're running Vista or 7, you don't need to.

4) I installed and ran Defraggler on the same system. It said 9% fragmentation. I did a defrag, it took about two hours, and in the end, my boot time improved by 20% (38 seconds after the defrag). 20% is a nice boost? Yes. But I only reboot maybe 2-3 times a month...and the time required to start up Defraggler, run an analysis, then do the defrag (and not use the computer while it's defragging) outweighs the 20% boost in boot time.

Bottom line? Vista/Windows 7 does a better job than you might think at keeping your system in peak performance. Don't carry assumptions with you from 5+ years ago; always question whether what you're doing is really applicable any more. :)

[David Tucker]

My work machine is XP, is a laptop that gets rebooted daily, and my software development tends to be hard on it with files constantly being deleted and moved. It was 66% fragmented last week when I ran the defrag so it was really heavily fragmented. It can be useful advice ;)

[Hooch Tan]

Bottom line? Vista/Windows 7 does a better job than you might think at keeping your system in peak performance. Don't carry assumptions with you from 5+ years ago; always question whether what you're doing is really applicable any more. :)

Vista and Windows 7 do a good job with their scheduled defrags, however, I've been unable to determine if they deal with file placement. Defragmenting itself is fine, but in my personal experience, I have found that file placement does make a difference as well.

With regards to a modern computer getting really fragmented, it is true that it is unlikely that 5.7GB would get very fragmented, especially with NTFS, however, if the disk is almost full, I find that fragmentation does happen. :(

I guess what I'm saying is that if your system is running fine, there's no reason to mess with it, however, if you notice it running sluggishly, a full, proper, advanced defragmentation may help!

[Jason Dunn]

Vista and Windows 7 do a good job with their scheduled defrags, however, I've been unable to determine if they deal with file placement. Defragmenting itself is fine, but in my personal experience, I have found that file placement does make a difference as well.

Yeah, I tried to find that info myself, but couldn't. Here's why I don't think it matters though: both Vista and 7 are aggressive about using up available RAM to cache frequently used files/programs in RAM. So, in theory, if you're using Outlook frequently, the core files will already be cached in RAM - much faster than hard drive access.

The root problem here of course is that it's hard to test this stuff properly - people might "feel" their system is faster after a defragment, but feelings do not reality make. On the other hand, it's not like defrags hurt a regular hard drive, so if people want to defragment, go for it...