what does Defrag actually mean? in layman terms please?

Answer 1

When a computer stores files on your hard disk drive, it tries to store the file in one long contiguous chunk of space. Sometimes, one chunk of space is not available, and it stores the file in lots of little pieces.
The more little pieces of files that you have, the slower and less efficient that your computer hard drive will be.
When you defrag, it takes all the empty space and puts it all together in one big chunk. It also takes all the files that are broken into little pieces, and puts them together.

Answer 2

Though it's very cliche, it's better to be proactive than reactive. I commend you for wanting to keep your computer operating at its peak. Defragmenting (or defragging) your hard drive is a good place to start.

To understand defragging, it's necessary to understand how a computer saves data. Every time you update (save) a file, the computer places it in the largest continuous space on the hard drive. Often, an update is stored in a different location than the original is. Although all components of the file are available, they are stored separately, and thus the file is fragmented. Each time you access the file, the computer must search the hard drive to find all the file's parts. The search slows down the response time.

Defragging reorganizes the file parts so they are all stored in a common, contiguous area on the hard drive. Because the pieces are stored together, the computer can access them faster.

Windows includes a defragger with its OS (operating system). Mac defraggers must be purchased separately.

A few additional maintenance tasks will also help keep your computer running well. Run Scan Disk (Windows 98) to check for file errors and Disk Cleanup (Windows 98 and 2000) to clean up rogue files on the hard drive. Both these utilities will identify and clean up files that were corrupted when your system froze or when you had to reboot because of a glitch. Windows includes Scan Disk and Disk Cleanup as part of the standard OS. Mac does not; you'll need to buy a third-party utility

Answer 3

As data is read and written to the hard drive multiple time files become fragmented, causing the computer to have to search for file fragments scattered across the hard drive. Defragmenting takes these files and puts them back together making the computer run faster. Defragmenting is hard on the hard drive, so don't do it once a week thinking it will make your computer run faster. It will just wear out the hard drive quicker. Only do it when it is necessary. There is an analysis tool in windows that will check to see if your hard drive needs it.

Answer 4

When you record certain filed they are written to your hard disc without any order... Defrag - fragmenting is a process that is putting this files like they best fit together so your PC will be quicker and stable. Defrag is like playing tetris with files (PC is playing with itself) so the files get together well...
Dont be afraid to defragment your PC.

Answer 5

Over time, as you use your computer, files you access and save are put on your hard drive where ever there is a block of free space. This means that a file with lots of data in it is spread all over your hard disc. Defrag or defragmentation of your hard disc puts each segment of your files in a contiguous block which enables your hard drive to access the data more quickly. It also frees up space on your drive.

Answer 6

defragmentation is the process of rewriting parts of a file to contiguous sectors on a hard disk to increase speed of access and retrieval. Fragmentation is the scattering of parts of the same disk file over different areas of the disk, this occurs when files are deleted and new ones added. So defrag will put all the parts of the file back in one place thus speeding up the retrieval of files making your computer faster.

Answer 7

Rearranging files so the operating files and programs find each other faster.
After awhile after alot of downloads and deletions there are spaces that some folders have to go through to find an operating file...defragging sets up everything so they find each other faster and sets all the open disk space last.

Answer 8

Defrag refers to defragmented disks. The files in your puter become fragmented, as you go into different websites, etc. So, to get them back into their correct lineup, you should defrag your puter (Diskeeper Lite is a good one to use) at least once a week. Do it more often if you prefer, or if your puter usage is high.

Answer 9

Microsoft defrag, or disk defragmenter, is a software utility designed to help chronologically order the data on the hard disk drive. The theory behind defrag is to place each program together instead of scattered throughout the hard disk drive, allowing the read-write head to access the data faster on the hard disk drive. Windows 98 includes an improved version of defrag that is said to place the most commonly accessed data at the beginning of the drive, allowing the read-write head a shorter distance to access the data, making the computer faster. Generally, unless the hard disk drive is seriously fragmented, you will not notice a significant difference after defragging the hard disk drive.

Answer 10

After copying, deleteing, downloading etc. Your computer's main disk will end up with bits of information all over it.
Picture it like a pizza with sprinklings of black olives all over.
Now each time you want to read information, the disk has a lot of work to do, moving backwards and forwards, like using a fork to pick up all the olives one at a time.
Defrag moves all the bits together, like scraping all the olives into one pile. Now reading the disk is a bit quicker, because the reading heads (forks) are only moving around a small area of the disk (pizza).

I hope I hit the right level here - do not want to sound condescending.