How to defragment hard drive in windows 10

Does your computer often slow down? Use this guide to defragment files using the defrag tool in Windows 10 and thus Optimize Drives .

How to defragment in Windows 10 step by step

In order to minimize the slow performance of the hard disk, Windows 10 incorporates a tool to defragment all the fragmented files and help the computer to remain at maximum speed.

Over the years, improvements have been made to the Windows optimization tool. However, even when the operating system can accurately detect the storage type and handle file defragmentation automatically, it is not always optimal, as sometimes you can't keep your PC on long enough, or you may have a disk external hard drive that is not always connected to your computer, preventing maintenance from running defragmentation correctly.

As a result, over time you will begin to notice that opening applications and saving files to disk will take longer than usual, in which case manual optimization may be required. In this guide we show you the simple steps to check if the hard drive is fragmented and defragment it when necessary to keep your computer running more efficiently.

How to use Defragment and Optimize Drives

- From Start, search Defragment and Optimize Units and enter.

- Select the hard drive you want to optimize and click Analyze .

Whenever you want to analyze, you must first find out if the unit needs optimization. If the result shows that less than 10% is fragmented, you probably don't need to optimize the drive.

If the files stored on the PC's hard drive are scattered all over the drive and defragmentation is required, then click the Optimize button.

Once the process completes, the current status should show " 0% fragmented ".

Please note that depending on the number of files, the size of the drive, and the fragmentation, the defrag tool may take some time to complete the task. It is also recommended to perform this task when you know that you will not need the equipment for a while.

How to change scheduled optimization

By default, Windows automatically runs maintenance tasks on drives every week, but depending on how you use your computer, the operating system offers the option to change the optimization frequency.

If you prefer to modify the schedule, then follow these steps:

- While you are in the Optimize Units window, click the Change configuration button.

Frequency: daily, weekly or monthly.

Units: press "Choose" and select the drive to defragment.

- Click OK to apply the settings.

- Click OK again to save the programming.

- Click Close to exit the tool.

Remember that these optimization options only apply to traditional hard drives. Solid state drives work differently. They do not have a motor or moving part. Only the use of memory banks to store data, which means that these drives do not need to be defragmented, otherwise you could reduce the useful life of it.

However, you may see your Solid State Drive available in this Defragment and Optimize Drives tool. Windows can also perform various maintenance tasks to optimize the SSD, including the ability to inform the drive that certain blocks of data are no longer in use and can be erased.

Optimize hard drive from File Explorer

Sign in to your Windows 10 with an administrator account. Using an administrator account is important because users of standard accounts cannot defragment the hard drive.

- Click on the Start button.

- From the left panel, click File Explorer .

- In the window that opens, from the left navigation panel, expand This team .

- After expanding the list, right-click on Local Disk (C:) or any other partition where Windows 10 is installed.

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- From the context menu, click Properties .

- In the Properties: Windows (C:) box , go to the Tools tab.

- Click on the Optimize button.

- In the new box make sure that the system drive (C:) is selected.

- Click on the Analyze button.

- Wait until Windows completes the scan and displays the percentage of the fragmented files on the selected disk.

- If there are no fragmented files on the disk, Windows displays a message box stating that the disk does not need to be defragmented.

- After Windows completes the scan, click the Optimize button to start the defragmentation process on the selected drive.

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- Wait until Windows defragments the drive correctly, restart the PC and use Windows 10 normally.

It is strongly recommended not to use the computer during the defragmentation process. For best results, it is best to leave the system alone until Windows finishes defragmenting the disk.

How to defragment with a third party tool

A recommended tool for this is Defraggler by Piriform. You can download a free version of it through the company's website.

Defragger uses the same techniques as the Windows 10 defragmenter, but it has many more options linked to customization.

Downloading Defragger for the first time will give you options to add a variety of shortcuts and replace Windows 10 disk defragmenter.

Defraggler allows you to specify the specific files and folders to defragment, and usefully includes an interactive visual map of the drive that indicates the free spaces of the hard disk, the non-fragmented and the fragmented ones. This allows you to reach specific groups of files that you want to defragment.

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