Defrag Windows 7 ?

marossity · 06 Oct 2010

I haven't been able to locate a defrag application. Is there such an animal in Windows 7? If so, please help me find it. If not, please explain why not.

JDobbsy1987 · 06 Oct 2010

Yeah... its called Disk Defragmenter.

Just do a search for it in the start menu :)

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

JDobbsy1987 · 06 Oct 2010

There is also this guide you may fine useful - Disk Defragmenter - Open and Use

gregrocker · 06 Oct 2010

The defraggers I've found which work really great are free Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers.

I run them monthly after CCleaner to keep my disks perfectly clean and ordered.

Maxxwire · 07 Oct 2010

marossity- If you could use freeware defragmentation software that will both defrag as well as place files on the HDD in any order you choose check out My Defrag. You can even create your own optimization scripts if you like.

~Maxx~
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AbhishekS · 07 Oct 2010

Just do what JDobbsy1987 said. The inbuilt "Disk Defragmenter" should be trusted above any other third party softwares. :)

marossity · 07 Oct 2010

Thanks to all. I did find the application. But now I see that some recommend only using the built-in program , while others think a third party app is better. I am wondering why one would be better than another. Also, is a weekly defrag enough?

Wishmaster · 07 Oct 2010

The built in defragmenter is just fine.

How often you defrag really depends on how fragmented your discs get. Weekly should be fine.
If Im not mistaken, the built in deframenter will only defrag if the disc/partition is 10% fragmented or more

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Many 3rd party defragmenters offer more features, better scheduling, and more File Placement options.

You will get many different opinions on what is best.

Personally, I like Perfect Disc the best. It is also capable of safely defragmenting SSD drives. Although this should not be done often, it does help if done in moderation.

You can also set the threshhold of when, how often, and how to defrag the HDs. (I/E Consolodate, Smart Placement, or even your own Custom Defrag/Performance Schemes for each drive or partition)

Its MS certified as well.

PerfectDisk | Best Disk Defrag Software

Its a paid software, but is one of the best IMHO.

Maxxwire · 07 Oct 2010

I have used many HDD defrafmentation and optimization programs such as O&O, Auslogics, Perfect Disk, IObit and JK Defrag which currently goes by the name of My Defrag and the one and only software that could both defrag and decrease start up and access time was My Defrag using its 'Sort by Last Access Script' which reorganized the random placement of programs on the disk and moved the most frequently accessed programs to the outside of the disk where access is fastest and incurs the least amount of wear to the disk's optical reader.

Many HDD defrag and optimization programs make claims regarding increased performance, but only after using My Defrag freeware could my computer actually start up and access programs faster as proven by numerous time comparisons.

~Maxx~
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madtownidiot · 07 Oct 2010

personally I use jkdefrag gui v1.15, (now called mydefrag) which works well in xp, vista, and 7.. It's freeware, not some neutered trial software.

I think most people either never defrag their HDD, or they do it way too often. I only defrag after doing one of the following:
Once about a week after installing windows for the first time, to rearrange start up files into the order they're most often used
After uninstalling a program that used a significant portion of the HDD
After doing a system restore or a major disk cleanup when files have been scattered throughout the HDD

Otherwise I don't worry about it unless the system starts to slow down noticeably.. usually after about 6 months. Fragmented files don't have nearly the detrimental effect some people think. It's only when files have been written to and deleted from every sector on the HDD that you end up with non-sequential fragments and it starts to slow down.