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In Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, how do I defragment my hard drive?

As hard drives write and rewrite information, the information can become fragmented due to the manner in which it is stored. Periodically defragmenting your hard drive can increase its performance and aid in system maintenance.

Note: UITS recommends that you run ScanDisk before you run Disk Defragmenter; see the "Hard disk errors" section in Why is my Windows computer running slowly? Under certain circumstances, if you run Disk Defragmenter before ScanDisk, you may lose data.

To defragment your hard drive in Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, from the Start menu, select Programs or All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and finally Disk Defragmenter.

In Windows Vista, click Defragment now... . In Windows 2000 and XP, select the volume you wish to defragment, and then click Defragment.

Note: As Windows Vista by default runs Disk Defragmenter once a week in the background, you may not notice significant changes after defragmentation.

For more, see article 300978 (Windows 2000), 305781 (XP), or 942092 (Vista) at Microsoft Help and Support.

Search Microsoft Help and Support.

This is document apee in domain all.
Last modified on May 05, 2009.

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