2007-01-10 15:24:02 · 8 answers · asked by Appu 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
According to many recent studies, defragging your hard drive will NOT improve its performance. Forget it and do a disk cleanup if your comp is running slow.
2007-01-10 15:28:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Defragmentation is only effective when total volume fragmentation is greater then 10%, so defragment only when this condition is true. Frequency will be dependent on how often this condition is true.
Defragmentation best practices suggests that it should be done when your system is idle.
I recommend that you use the disk defragmenter tool provided in windows xp. Avoid using 3rd party disk defragmenter, sometimes it causes more system problems when not handled properly.
right-click mycomputer>manage>storage>disk defragmenter
2007-01-11 00:03:44 · answer #2 · answered by firewall 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Defragging works well only if you are constantly installing and uninstalling software or large files.
Some things you need to consider are:
The size of your drive, 250 gig drives will take a long time to finish and thats a lot of extra spinning going on.
Defrag was not designed as an answer to speeding up your machine and Windows defrag is not exactly a great tool for defragging.
2007-01-10 23:33:04 · answer #3 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It use to help, but as computers get faster, defragging is starting to become less and less of a performance boost.
If you want, you can run it once a month. But, there are more effective ways in making your computer faster.
1) RAM upgrade
2) Hard drive upgrade
3) CPU upgrade
4) Removing unnecessary programs from startup
5) Spyware removal
6) Reduce installed fonts
2007-01-10 23:32:53 · answer #4 · answered by techman2000 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should do it about once a year.
Don't do it to often as to not risk damaging your hard disk, and actually do it to speed up the performance of your PC.
P.S. - Do NOT do it once a week, this will cause a Hard Drive failure. Also, as far as re-installing windows annually, don't "re-install" it, just run the original disk and do a "Repair." Reinstallation is not necessary.
Hope this helps,
-Matt
2007-01-10 23:28:55 · answer #5 · answered by Matt L 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I run a defrag every one or two months. You can always run an analyze report to see if its needed.
2007-01-10 23:31:06 · answer #6 · answered by tast_the_wine 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Once a year should be sufficient. But Bill Gates also said that Windows should be re-installed annualy.
2007-01-10 23:28:10 · answer #7 · answered by Henry A 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
at least once a week. Its help keeps the HD speedy!
2007-01-10 23:28:03 · answer #8 · answered by brilcream 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋