"disk defragmenter" will it really boost up the speed of the system.?

Question

my frnd told tat defragmenting the hard diskwill slow down the speed of proceesing of system files is it true. i have a 160GB hard drive n am using vista premium

Answer 1

In simple terms...when files and programs are deleted, it leaves an impression of the file that previously occupied that space, but has no function, wasted space on the hard disk...defragmenting frees up the space and in turn speeds up your pc.

Answer 2

Slightly improve it.

Defragging makes files contiguous. That means that if the first block of the file is address 100002, the next block will be 100003, and then 100004 and so on. By making the file fully contiguous, you make it possible for the computer to find the whole file with a single "seek" (head movement.) Even for bigger files that cross tracks, the head movement, being short in distance, is also short in time. And head seeks add up.

Typically, head movement costs you several milliseconds, maybe 5 for typical drives. On a computer today, let's say a Pentium P4 at 2.0 GHz clock speed, the average instruction takes 2 clock cycles. This is 1 BILLION instructions per second or 1 MILLION instructions per millisecond. So a 5 msec seek costs you 5 million instructions. Even with Windows being such a pig, that's 5 million steps in ANY program that you could be executing to be finished faster.

There is also the idea that a contiguous data file can be processed faster for thost programs that allow what is called "read-ahead" processing. That's where they can read as many disk blocks as they can hold in anticipation that you are going to process the file sequentially - in linear order.

You rmusic files work smoother when they are contiguous. Your video files work smoother when they are continguous. Your JPEG and other pictures work smoother when they are contigous.

The best part about defragging is that it is something you can start and then leave it while you go out for food, go take a bath, go watch TV, or hit the sack. When you get back to it, it will be done - during a time when you weren't otherwise using your computer anyway.

I defrag my system at least once a month. It is SUCH an easy thing to do, costs you at most 5 minutes of face time on the machine to get it started (and maybe a lot less than 5 once you get used to it), and it has a fairly good payback.

Nightly defrag is overkill unless you are running a specific class of application that churns the crud out of your drive's free space. But you would see that you had serious disk fragmentation the next time you ran a defrag. Using the standard Windows defragger, the "usage analysis" graphic for a badly fragged drive has a LOT of red lines.

Windows defragger won't give you perfection in defragging because the system is still running when you do it, but you WILL get a drive that is probably less than 1% fragged when that defrag cycle is done.

Answer 3

I think it's always helpful to really understand the process.

Disk Defragmenting is simply better arranging files on the hard drive. When your computer saves files, it just drops them in the first available spot. Because files are constantly being deleted/saved things over time your files (particularly large ones) can be split into hundreds of pieces across the hard drive. So when you go to open it, your computer has to piece all those pieces together before it can open the file.

Defragmentation relieves this problem by "sitting" all the pieces of a file right next to each other.

It won't ever hurt your performance to run disk defragmenter. That said, you probably don't need to run it more than once a month to keep your hard drive performing in a pretty optimum state. If you do a lot of music downloading, you may want to do it 2 - 3 times a month, but that's really it.

The only time defragging will "slow" things down is while it's actually running.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

No it will not cause slow down. It does slowdown the computer during the defragmenting process. But, other than that time you will benefit from using it. Here are some other ways to improve your system


If your virus/spyware free, there are a couple things you can do get your computer working faster. If you using your computer for normal stuff and not gaming. You don't always need more RAM you just need to perform a few maintenance task.

First, if you haven't cleaned your registry in a while. This is necessary. Your registry holds all the information regarding updates, installs, un-installs etc. Each one of those events produces a key. That key needs your PC's resources and free space. So, if you clean your registry, you make more resources available for speed. Do a registry scan if you got more than 20 errors you should clean it.
http://www.delete-computer-history.com/what-is-the-best-registry-cleaner.html

2. Clear your Windows cache files, this is your temporary file. It can grow up to a large volume and stop your computer from using RAM properly. In a sense slow it down by preventing it from using free space.Here is how:

1. Quit Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other web browser
2. Click Start, click "Control Panel", and then double-click "Internet Options".
3. On the General tab, click "Delete Files" under Temporary Internet Files.
4. In the Delete Files dialog box, click to select the "Delete all offline content" check box , and then click OK.
5. Click OK.

3. Manage your startups. Your excess CPU usage is due to too many programs running in the background. You can cut these to barebones by alter your msconfig. Here is how:

1. Open your Start menu.
2. Click Run
3. In the command screen type "msconfig.exe"
4. In the "system configuration utility",click either "service" or "startup" tab
5. Uncheck all programs that your are no longer using.
6. Click "OK"

Other great tip is increasing your virtual memory to simulate more RAM. This will give you a bit more resources for multiple program use or CPU heavy programs.
Hope this link helps. Shows you how to do everything step by step. You should get a least 60-120% more resources and speed
if you follow the tips.

Answer 5

Some defragmenters while performing the function tend to take up a lot of resources and slow the PC. However there are very efficient commercial tools now available which perform as a background option even when you use the PC for other functions.
A badly fragmented drive is what causes slowdown, accumulated over time, fragmentation is like a speed killer.

Answer 6

Yes, it would if badly fragmented. This should be periodic maintenance for your computer as should Scandisk and deleting you Internet saved junk. You can schedule these via the properties menu for your drive within
[ My Computer ]

Answer 7

It will speed it a little bit depending on how fragmented it is.

Answer 8

Hell ya it would if your puter hasnt been De-fragmented in a loong time. .