How To Defragment Hard Drive In Windows 10

Introduction

The process of finding the detached fragments of data or files and re-establishing all the fragmented data or files and repairing them into fewer fragments is called Defragmentation. This process also increases the retrieval efficiency of data or access time, reduces file-system fragmentation, and also allows storage to be used more efficiently and fastly.

The hard disk drive gets fragmented in the long run, and the data is fragmented when your computer saves the data and it stores it in various locations on the hard disk drive and the performance of your desktop or laptop slows down. To make your computer run more efficiently and smoothly, use the built-in tool in Windows 10 to defragment all the fragmented data or files.

When you defragment a hard disk drive then all the fragmented data or files move to locations that are closer and the empty space of the hard disk is also combined so that it can be utilized faster and the future data or files gets defragmented space in your Hard Disk Drive. You need to defragment the hard disk drive from time to time because data or files on the hard disk drive becomes fragmented in the long run.

This tutorial will show you various ways to defragment a hard disk drive in Windows 10.

Method 1 - Using the Built-in Defragment App

Follow the instructions below to proceed.

Step 1

Open Start

Step 2

Search for "Defragment and Optimize Drives" and press enter to open Optimize Drives.

Step 3

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

Note:

You always need to analyze the hard disk drive first; it shows the percentage of fragmented parts. If the fragmentation is less than 10%, you don't need to optimize the drive, because It is not advisable to defragment the hard disk drive rapidly.

Step 4

Click the “Optimize” button to start defragmenting your hard disk drive.

Step 5

When the defragment process is finished, click the “Close” button of the window to Exit Optimize Drives.

Method 2 - Using Command Prompt

Follow the below instructions to proceed.

Step 1

Press "Window + X" key or Right-click on Start Menu.

Step 2

Click on Command Prompt (Admin).

Step 3

Click on the "Yes" button to allow Command Prompt (Admin) to run as an Administrator.

Step 4

Type the "defrag C:" Command to defragment the drive.

Conclusion

By following any of the above methods, you can defragment your hard disk drive in Windows 10.

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