What is a "defrag" how does it work or help you free up space in your hard disk??

Answer 1

Programs.... Accessories.... System Tools.... Disk Defragmenter.

That's how to find it.

This System Tool sorts out all the fragments of files that are scattered all over your hard drive, and refiles them neatly in order, so you will have more free space on your hard drive.

It's like the low-level clerical staff in an office... who takes all the files that have been lying around all over the place and files them back neatly in the drawers.

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Answer 2

It 'defragments' your hard drive. Instead of files being spread out over different sections or areas of your disk, they get put together.

This can help the performance of your computer; the files needed may be found more quickly. Also, each file takes a minimum amount of size, so it can end up freeing up a little of your space after defragmenting.

Back up your data before defragmenting! While the risk is very low, if something goes wrong while all those files are being moved around, you could end up with some corrupt (broken) files.

You don't need to defragment very often, if at all. Usually your defrag utility will tell you whether your disk needs to be defrag'd or not.

Oh, and on Windows XP you can find it by clicking on the Start button, choosing All Programs, choosing Accessories, then System Tools, and then finally clicking on Disk Defragmenter
(in shorthand: Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter).

Answer 3

It's an abbreviation for "defragmentation". Many file systems, notably the File Allocation Table (FAT) system -- used on all DOS and most Windows systems -- do not necessarily keep a file in a single place on the disk. In order to use all available disk space, a file is written to the first available chunk of disk, even if it means chunks of the file are scattered over the disk. As files are added and deleted on the disk, this scattering effect increases over time.

As a result, the read-head on the disk has to move back and forth a lot more in order to pick up these scattered file pieces, resulting in slower disk access. The more fragmentation, the more serious the effect can be.

A defragmentation program searches the disk for these fragmented files. It then reorders the blocks on the disk so that individual files are together in one piece. It doesn't actually free up space, it just rearranges the space used.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Defrag is defragmenting your hard drive. As to use you pc puts files onto your drive in any available space and also temporay files and such. Defrging the dive put the files and data in a aranged order thus making your data access faster. you should Defrag at least once a week, More often if you use your pc alot. If when you do click on show details and you willl see how your drive looks and watch it work. There is a legend trlling you the type of data. A;ls I do it like before I go to work and let it run while I am at work a huge drive takes a long time. also make sure you close all active programs .

Answer 5

Basically, when you store something on your hard drive, data might be placed at different places on the disk. This makes it harder for your computer to bring files up because its looking all over the place for them. If you install a program, all the files might not be placed in the same exact spot. There will be empty space in between files. Defragging will take all the files and bring them together in one spot on the disk. Defragging will free up that space and not leave and empty space. Therefore, you have more space to store data on.

Answer 6

first the idea is to make the computer faster by cleaning the old fragments and compress the files and delete the ones you dont use all the time or never so open explorer now tools now internet options now clear the history this speed the finding of new stuff as its not checking for copies of the current search here now clear the cookies they will repopulate from the webpages anyway right then clear the files and off line ones that all deleted now open acessaries and do the disc clean-up should take a few minutes because you manually did it , now empty the trash bin and check for any thing to save from there now defrag the drive that compresses the files and moves them to make the speed faster as its restacked to where its most useful do that twicw it may take time to do close every thing down and the internet should be off now do it again now open the restore in system tool s then save the clean and tidy computer system and go back to the virus scan and so forth you may want to do that before you save the setting in restore now if your computer stops working right you can restore it tio that time do this once a week and theres a shedule that will do this for you its called tasks

Answer 7

Defrag helps to speed up your pc by organizing all the sites that you often visit...

so instead of your pc having to run around the memory area to find what you want it helps to bring these areas all together so pc runs faster, smoother... you should do this at least a few times a year if you download and delete lots of files..

if its been a long time since it was done it can take forever to complete but trust me its well worth it! after the first time you defrag it will go much quicker ..

Good luck!

Answer 8

Defrag, or defragmenting is a process where your computer organizes the files on the hard drive so that parts of files are next to each other so it doesn't have to search all over to find them. Think of it as reorganizing.

Answer 9

External fragmentation is the phenomenon in which free storage becomes divided into many small pieces over time. It is a weakness of certain storage allocation algorithms, occurring when an application allocates and deallocates ("frees") regions of storage of varying sizes, and the allocation algorithm responds by leaving the allocated and deallocated regions interspersed. The result is that, although free storage is available, it is effectively unusable because it is divided into pieces that are too small to satisfy the demands of the application.

defragmentation (or defragging) is a process that eliminates fragmentation in file systems. It does this by physically reorganizing the contents of the disk in order to store the pieces of each file close together and in order (contiguously). It also attempts to create large regions of free space using compaction, to impede the return of fragmentation.

Answer 10

Your data is scattered a bit all over your hard drive. Defragmenting it puts the data into contiguous blocks for faster read times.

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