defragmenting?

Question

I was told that I should defragment at least once a month. But if its telling me 'you do not need to defragment this volume', should I still do it? Ive done it a few times since I got my computer 5 months ago. I dont have a huge amount of files or anything that would be causing any reason to defrag often.  Also, should the amount of free space change after defragmenting? It just stays the same after Ive done it, so is that normal?   M.

mombodog · Answer

It saying that it does not need defragmenting means this small amount of file fragmentation will not affect the performance of the PC, you can do it anyway if you wish. If you do not save alot of files, or move data from folder to folder, then you will not need to defrag very often. Free space remains the same, this is normal.

Misnomer1 · Answer

I would recomend defraging once a week. But doing a Disk Cleanup first.

mombodog · Answer

I have seen posts where it has been set up as a task to run every day, now that is extreme.   I do it once a month.

tigerchick411 · Answer

Once a week?? Isnt a little excessive?:smileysurprised:   -M.

rickmktg · Answer

tigerchick411 wrote:

Once a week?? Isnt a little excessive?:smileysurprised:

-M.

You figured out the answer on your own. When it says it doesn't need to be done, that's too often. When it finally says it does need to be done, that's the time. Keep track of it, or check once a month, that's your interval. Every 6 months is likely enough.

joe53 · Answer

One caveat.   If you use XP MCE to record from TV, be aware that this can result in a lot of fragmentation of files.   Typically, after recording a movie from TV, I am almost always instructed to defrag.

Windows General

defragmenting?

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