Defrag

[KoShiatar]

Can anyone suggest me a good defragmentation utility, possibly a free one? Also, any suggestion about how to make my computer run more smoothly will be greatly appreciated. My PC is rather old and I want to keep it in a good shape.
Thank you!

[rubah]

There's one that comes free with windows.

[Rainecloud]

There's one that comes free with windows.

I can't recommend a better one either. :p

[Samuraid]

You can right-click on "My Computer" and select "Manage" from the menu. It has a bunch of useful utilities including the defragmenting program.

[Yamaneko]

Remember to disable your swap file if it's on the same partition you're defragging!

[Dr Unne]

From what I know, all defrag does is physically rearrange data on your drive so that all sectors with data from the same file are physically closer to each other, to reduce seek time. The amount of time it took to type the original post likely more than offsets the couple milliseconds you may gain from defragging, unless your computer is truly ancient.

[rubah]

I defrag because I like to see the little lines line up into solid blocks of color.

[Yamaneko]

It's supposed to help reduce wear on the drive heads so that they don't constantly move across the disk searching for parts of a file. Directory information is put closer to the inside of the disk while frequently accessed files are compacted together right next to it.

[Samuraid]

It certainly makes a difference for streaming multiple large files, such as on an audio workstation or Gigasampler box.

[KoShiatar]

Oh ancient Gods of Greece, I know what defragmentation does! And I also know how to do it. My computer IS quite ancient and defragmentation does speed up things. Like, a lot.
The problem is, lately my Windows defrag program just won't do what it is supposed to do, and most files are still fragmented. I know there are some utilities around that defragment better than the one that comes with Windows, so I was just asking if anyone happens to know one of those...one of the Cid's Knights (I believe) opened a similar thread this year, but I cannot find it right now...

[edczxcvbnm]

I recommend a program called O & O defrag. I use it on my computer. I think it beats the hell out of windows Defrag. I have never seen windows defrag do a super good job.

[crono_logical]

Oh ancient Gods of Greece, I know what defragmentation does! And I also know how to do it. My computer IS quite ancient and defragmentation does speed up things. Like, a lot.
The problem is, lately my Windows defrag program just won't do what it is supposed to do, and most files are still fragmented. I know there are some utilities around that defragment better than the one that comes with Windows, so I was just asking if anyone happens to know one of those...one of the Cid's Knights (I believe) opened a similar thread this year, but I cannot find it right now...I'd suggest you make sure you have plenty of free space on the disk you're defragmenting, otherwise yeah, it's not gonna do a good job of it :p

Best way to defrag a drive (non-system ones anyway) is move everything to another drive (preferably another physical drive) and back again - when it's moved back, it's moved back defragmented, and happens much faster than normal defragging :D You can do that to "defragment" just some files too if you like :p