Once upon a time, defragmenting disks was a necessary part of system maintenance. Is that still the case? Defragging a disk organizes related pieces of data together on the same area of the disk and puts blocks of free space together. This allows your computer quicker access to data.
Modern hard drives are don’t require defragging the way older drives did but it is a good idea to make sure they don’t become fragmented. That’s is you’re using a drive that actually spins. If you have an SSD, the defrag command on Windows 10 will wipe out storage blocks that aren’t being used.
Let’s check out how to use it in Windows 10. Start by typing Defragment and Optimize Drives into the search box. Click on the result.
The Optimize Drives window will open.
The current status will display under Status. If the level of fragmentation is over 10%, Microsoft suggests defragmenting.
Click on Analyze to check your disk. Click on Optimize to defragment.
How long the process takes will depend on the size of your hard drive and how much information you have stored.
If you like, you can set up your PC to automatically scan and optimize the disk. Just click on Turn on.
Then set up the schedule and choose OK.
An SSD drive has been suggested as a backup to my pc and, I need to learn about them. You mentioned that with an SSD drive, the defrag command on Windows 10 will wipe out storage blocks that aren’t being used. Could you explain what this means? It sounds like it eliminates available space.
I’m puzzled too, about using an SSD drive for the sole purpose of backup – as in pictures and C drive. Would it be necessary to have windows 10 installed on it? To date, I’ve used ‘clickfree automatic backup’ however, it is now full.
My interest is to understand best backup media though not necessarily the most expensive.
Thanks.