Windows 10 Defrag

[hayc59]

do you need to do it?? and what would be best..thanks

[xrobwx71]

Windows 10 handles that for you automatically especially if you have a SSD.

[Corrine]

Rob is correct.  However, you may want to double-check that Optimize is enabled.  Open Settings > System > Storage.  Under "Manage more storage settings", select Optimize Drives.  The window that opens will show if any of the drives on your PC are fragmented.  Also, under "Scheduled optimization", check that it is set to "On".

[Digerati]

Just to clarify a couple things. (1) For hard drives, if you have left Windows defaults alone (which is recommended), Windows 10 will automatically defrag your hard drives periodically (weekly). You don't ever have to manually defrag them. The only time I might manually defrag a hard drive is when I attach a used drive I don't know the condition of to my computer (after I scan for malware, of course!).

In other words, just leave the defaults alone and you will be fine.

(2) Just to ensure there's no confusion, Windows will never, as in NEVER EVER defrag a SSD. This is because SSDs store data differently than hard drives do and therefore, NEVER need defragging. In fact, it would be detrimental because it adds unnecessary wear and tear (particularly, writes) on the SSD. For another, because of how TRIM and wear leveling works on SSDs, no defragging utility could ever efficiently defrag a SSD.

For those reasons, the defrag tool in Windows is not even called a "defrag" utility. The tool is called "Optimize Drives".

Think of a hard drive as you would a drawer in a file cabinet with the pages (file segments) of the report (file) you need scattered (fragmented) in no particular order from front to back. To retrieve all the pages in the right order, you have to stand in front of the file cabinet and rifle through the drawer sequentially, going back and forth, front to back many times (perhaps 100s!) across the entire drawer (platters) to each storage location, picking up the pages in the correct order. This takes a lot of time - especially if page 1 is in the front and page 2 is in the back then page 3 is somewhere near the middle, and so on. And remember, this is a mechanical arm (read: slow) moving back and forth, with friction generating heat and creating wear and tear too.

For a SSD, think of a mail sorting box. You simply stand in front of the box and directly grab each page of the report in the right order. It takes the same amount of time and effort to grab every page, regardless where it is located. It does not matter if the pages are next to each other and in the correct order (not fragmented) or if the pages are scattered all over the place. It takes the exact same amount of time to gather up the whole file in the correct order. And this is not a mechanical arm moving a magnetic Read/Write head back and forth. It is done totally through intelligent electronics (read: very fast).

Note when a drive is attached to or installed in a computer, the drive identifies itself as, among other things, by drive type. For example, as a hard drive or a SSD to the BIOS/Chipset. The operating system, in turn, reads that identification information and then appropriately uses and maintains or "optimizes" that drive according to its type.

So again, just leave the defaults alone and you'll be fine. If you or another might have dinked with the defaults, then follow Corrine's advice to makes sure "Scheduled optimization" is set to "on".

[hayc59]

thank you