Defragmenting a hard drive aims to group together all the segments of the individual files that are stored within it. This will make the memory unit more efficient, as it will take less time to retrieve all the data segments requested by the user or by a program. In Windows 8, defragmenting a drive is called "optimization" and can be accomplished using the "Optimize Drive" program. This article explains how to defragment or optimize a hard drive using Windows 8. Files are stored on your computer's hard drive divided into small data segments. With the passage of time and the normal use of a system, all these segments will no longer be contiguous to each other. For example, an MP3 file appears as a single item within the "File Explorer" window, but in reality within the hard drive it will consist of countless small segments of data that may have been stored anywhere on the drive. By defragmenting the disk (or optimizing it), all these segments will be merged into a single point so that they are contiguous. This will make it much easier and faster to recover the entire file when it needs to be played. In the scenario where the files on the computer's disk were to be extremely fragmented, the performance of the entire system would drop significantly due to the time it takes to retrieve the required data. Windows has a built-in defragmentation program and this article explains how to use it.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Launch the Optimize Drive Application
Step 1. Open the Windows search bar
Press the Windows + S key combination.
Step 2. In the search bar, type the keyword defragment and press the Enter key
Step 3. Click on the item "Defragment and optimize drives"
- The "Optimize Drive" program window will open.
- You can also access this feature from the "File Explorer" window, by clicking on the hard drive to be optimized to select it and then click on the Optimize button.
Part 2 of 3: Optimize a Hard Drive
Step 1. Analyze the memory drive
Click on the hard drive in question to select it, then click on the Analyze button. You may need to enter your computer's administrator account password.
- Windows will analyze the hard drive to detect the level of data fragmentation it contains.
- If you have more than one hard drive installed on your computer, you will need to perform this step for each.
Step 2. Choose the drive to optimize
Select a hard drive that is not solid state and is at least 10% fragmented. Click on the drive name to select it, then click the Optimize button.
- If a hard drive shows a data fragmentation level of less than 10%, you won't need to defragment it, but you can still do it if you want.
- If your computer has a solid state drive, you won't need to optimize it. Defragmenting a solid state drive could damage it.
Step 3. Click on the name of the hard drive to optimize to select it
Step 4. Click on the Optimize button to start the defragmentation process
This phase can take several hours to complete.
While the disk defragmentation process is in progress, you can still use your computer, but only if you need to use files or programs that are not stored on the drive you are optimizing
Step 5. After the disk optimization phase is complete, click the Close button to close the "Optimize Drive" dialog box
Part 3 of 3: Plan for Drive Optimization
Step 1. Check your hard drive optimization schedule
By default, Windows 8 optimizes the memory units on your computer on a weekly basis. If the system drive optimization schedule is active, it means that all hard drives in the computer will be optimized automatically.
Step 2. To activate scheduled disk optimization or to change its frequency, click the Change settings button
At this point, you may need to provide login credentials for a computer administrator account
Step 3. Select the "Run on a schedule" check button in the "Optimization Schedule" window so that there is a check mark
By doing so, the automatic disk optimization of your computer will be active.
Conversely, if you want to disable automatic optimization of system storage drives, uncheck the indicated tick button
Step 4. Click on the "Frequency" drop-down menu to change how often the optimization of the memory drives should be performed
You can choose a daily, weekly or monthly frequency.
Step 5. Choose to optimize specific memory drives
Click on the Choose button in the "Drives" section, then select the check button for the hard drives you want to optimize. Uncheck the checkboxes of the units you want to manually optimize. At this point click on the OK button. Now click the OK button again to save and apply the new settings.
