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How Often to Defrag.

By Jason Kato | July 15, 2007

QUESTION:
Why do you only defrag once a quater and not lets say once every few days ?

ANSWER:
Thanks for the good question JayCee. The short answer is, quarterly is a reasonable schedule to adopt for most cases.

While technically it is possible to defrag a computer EVERY day, the practical benefit of doing so is small for most users if this is done manually. (By manually, I refer to using some software tool, such as the built-in defrag utility within Windows which you run directly.)

The major parameters which determine an ideal defrag schedule are a function of:

1) The amount of hours per day a PC gets used;

2) How much disk writing activity; and

3) The amount of disk re-writing and deletion of files activity.

4) The amount of free disk space and size of swap file, and temp files.

For large hours (8+ a day), and high disk activity as above, Microsoft suggests you might consider a defrag perhaps monthly. Given most users will likely have lesser load on their PCs, the quarterly cycle may make the most sense.

If you prefer to defrag more often, consider the time it takes and the level of effort you must invest. It can take minutes to hours, and should not be running with any other applications active. (On older PCs, the time can be excessive with slower processors.)

Alternately, there are third-party software utilities which can be purchased and installed, and provide automation. These can be set to dynamically defrag your PC all the time as needed. If your PC’s disk activity is very high, this can be an attractive alternative to consider if the very best disk performance is required.

Steve Goto
Project Manager and Systems Engineer
Array Systems - LA’s Go To Computer Experts

Topics: Defragmentation and ScanDisk |