Defragmenting a hard drive is a process during which specific files are merged. While writing data to the hard disk, its individual sectors are filled. If different sectors were used when writing one file, then it will take much longer to read it.
Defragmenting the hard disk is necessary to combine all fragmented files into groups. Essentially, the ordering of certain parts of the file takes place. This allows you to quickly read the data stored in this file when you access it. Naturally, after defragmenting the hard disk, the speed of writing data to this medium also increases. After the scattered files are grouped, groups of free clusters appear, located close enough to each other. Now, to write new information, there is no need to distribute it between different sectors of the disk. Disk defragmentation has a positive effect on the performance of the computer and the speed of the operating system. Even if the file was written to a newly defragmented disk, there is no guarantee that it will not end up being spread across different sectors. A huge number of operating system files are constantly changing. This means that the clusters are cleaned up and overwritten many times. Naturally, new data for certain files cannot be written “alongside” the file itself. It is recommended to defragment your hard drive at least once a month. Remember that this process reduces the number of hard drive readhead movements required. Given the fact that hard drives have a certain resource of work, defragmentation can extend the life of the hard drive. You can defragment your hard drive using standard Windows operating system tools or additional utilities. The choice depends on your preferences, but this process is extremely useful, and neglecting it can lead to irreversible consequences.
