Hi Guys
Just wondering when I should defrag my computer?
For example when I open up the windows defrager I have 3 drives.
I have my C drive which is at 6% fragmented
My recovery drive which is at 0% fragmented
And then I have a WINRE drive which is at 6% fragmented.
I normally defrag when they get around to 10% but I don’t really notice any big difference if they’re fragmented or when they are defragmented!
So bottom line my quesition is that If I need to can I defrag all these drives? Because I’ve only ever defraged the C drive so can I defrag the others with out any problem?
And if so at what percentage should I defrag?
Any information on this would be great since I don’t want to be defraging too much!
Windows 8.0
Thanks a lot 
Why do it at all?
Modern hard drives don't benefit that much (or suffer that much if fragmented) because of their large caches and they way the disks are structured during manufacture (over on Compuserve I do support with a guy who was a top designer of hard drives until he retired a while back and this is what he says).
If it makes you feel good defrag every 6 months .....
Hi huwyngr
So even of my drives gets fragmented to around 30% you still think I should leave it?
And am I able to defrag all of those drives that are listed in my first post without having any problems?
Thanks a lot
Do they ever get defragged to that level?
As I said if it makes you feel good go ahead but for example the NTFS file structure used mostly these days instead of the earlier FAT actually breaks things up into bits as part of the way it operates ...
<<And am I able to defrag all of those drives that are listed in my first post without having any problems? >>
Not a questin anyone can answer, honestly, when dealing with computers, or anything else for that matter.
Thanks for treating it as a solution ..... <s>
Hi huwyngr
Thanks a lot for your help!
I will take your advice and defrag my drives a lot less!
Thanks
Regards
" My recovery drive which is at 0% fragmented
And then I have a WINRE drive which is at 6% fragmented"
Hi AA1,
You should never defragment System Reserved & Recovery, only your OS drive.
As for the first two, open Scheduled Defrag applet and uncheck the first 2 from the list.
Regards,
Hi Apostolos
I remember recovering my computer a few times using system restore and going back to restore points so I believe that’s why it may of fragmented a bit on these drives.
At the moment the WINRE drive is at 6% if it gets higher shall I just ignore it?
Thanks a lot
" At the moment the WINRE drive is at 6% if it gets higher shall I just ignore it?"
Hi AA1,
Nope, you used a manual or automatic scheduled defrag in the past for that particular partition and here are the results.
The more you defragment that partition, the more it will become fragmented, it's a paradox I know.
Leave it @ 6% and do not touch it anymore, as I said, disable the scheduled Windows defrag for that partition.
Only defrag C: drive partition if you have one drive or C & D if you have 2, but do not defrag any partitions labeled System Reserved, Recovery, WinRE etc.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Hi Apostolos
Thanks for the information!
I don’t have automatic disk defragmenter turned on to my knowledge!
I’ve had my computer for a while and I have only ever defragmented the C drive so I will keep it that way!
Thanks a lot for the help!
<< I don't have automatic disk defragmenter turned on to my knowledge! >>
I haven't checked this in Windows 8 (yet) but in 7 just type disk defragment in the search box and follow the link.
If you are on the Start Screen just start typing and it goes automatically to search .......
Otherwise Search is on the 8.1 Start button if you right mouse click on it.
This takes you in 7 to a screen with the results and a link to setting the schedule including turning it off in Custom settings.
Hi huwyngr
I’ve never really used windows 7 but I think the disk defragmenter is the same!
When I next boot up my PC I will follow these instructions to turn off automatic disk defragment!
Thanks a lot