Can you still work on your comuputer as you run the degraging program?

Question

Or is it best not be running any programs at the same time?

Answer 1

It's best not to. Not only will the program you are trying to use run slowly, but since the memory is being by a program and defrag is trying to do it's thing it can cause the defrag to not get things done completely right.

Answer 2

You can, but it's not a very good idea. A defragger program works by reorganising the data on your hard drive so that it's more "contiguous". If you think about it, when you make little files then delete them from your hard drive, your going to leave little bits of empty space between the files you haven't deleted. The file system handles this by breaking big files into sequences of little chunks (called Chains) which it can fit into these little holes. Although this is more efficient in terms of storage space, it takes much longer to access the big files because the computer has to jump all over the hard drive to get to the data it needs.
A defragger defragments files, that is, it takes the chains of little bits of data that make up a file and rearranges them on the disc so they're all in one big chunk, meaning you can access the file on disc much faster. In order to do this the defragger needs to move all sorts of data all over the place as it rearranges things. As you use your PC you're going to be using the hard drive as well. Although (in theory, haha) your use and the defragger shouldn't interfere with each other (that is, you won't corrupt your hard drive) they'll certainly slow each other down, alot. Also, just because in theory you won't corrupt yuor hard drive, I wouldn't be surprised if you could still manage it somehow, so you may accidentally end up damaging your files. It's best to run a defragger regularly and overnight, while you're not using the PC.

Answer 3

if your talking about defragment programs like defrag no other programs should be running in the background or u doing anything on the pc still this will just slow it down.
i use a program called sys mech pro 6 from http://www.iolo.com for my machine maintaince.

Answer 4

I recommend not doing anything on your computer while you run the defrag. It will take twice as long if you are connected to your network and running programs.

I found that starting it up in safe mode (press F8 a couple of times as soon as your computer turns on) is the quickest and most efficient way to do it.

Happy defraging!

Answer 5

It is best to let the defrag run without any other programs.

Answer 6

no other programs should be running, including screen savers....you risk the defragger telling you"the drive's contents have changed....restarting."

Answer 7

you can, but you'll be running them very slowly.