Defragment a Hard Drive

From ITS Wiki - Information Technology Services - University of Rhode Island

What is "Defragging"?

As data is read from and written to a hard drive, fragmentation occurs; that is, information is written to different segments of the hard drive. This can slow down or even cause problems for the computer. To reduce the amount of fragmentation, users are urged to frequently (once a month) defragment (aka "defrag") their hard drive, which helps compress data into more manageable segments.

Windows XP Instructions

1. Click Start, then All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then Disk Defragmenter.
2. When the window loads, select the drive you wish to defragment.
3. Click the "Defragment" button to begin.

Windows Vista Instructions

1. Click the Windows icon in the start bar.
2. Type "defrag" into the search box at the bottom of the menu.
3. Click "Disk Defragmenter". When the window loads, click the "Defragment Now" button.

Related Links:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defragment