A computer's hard drive runs faster (which means that it is able to read and write files by itself at the highest possible speed) when all data stored in it is stored contiguously, namely, continuously and without interruptions in between. Think of data on a hard drive as a chain of storage blocks: the hard drive will be faster when all the blocks are stacked one after the other with no interruptions between them. And, for any circustance, breaks begin to accumulate between storage blocks over time, the hard drive is said to have been fragmented. The more fragmented a hard drive is, the slower it will be.
Fragmentation on a hard drive can be resolved simply by defragmenting: during defragmentation, all data stored on a hard drive is rearranged so that imaginary blocks of data are stored contiguously and interruptions in between are eliminated. Windows operating system has always come with a built-in disk defragmentation utility. Until the days of Windows 7, this utility was known as Disk Defragmenter and had been impressively changed. However, with the arrival of Windows 8.1, Disk Defragmenter has been completely revamped as the Optimize Drives utility, and it looks like it will remain the Optimize Drives utility for the foreseeable future. However, this new utility continues to serve the same purpose as always: defragment hard drive partitions and entire hard drives that have been fragmented.
Defragmenting a hard drive maximizes the speed of transferring files and data to and from the hard drive, and it should only be done on the hard drive; you should not attempt to defragment a solid state drive (SSD) or a USB drive. To defragment a hard drive on a Windows computer 8.1, this is what to do:
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Go to the home screen, Type »defragment» in the search field and click on the search result titled Defragment and optimize your drives. Alternatively, You can achieve the same result by opening the Control Panel and navigating to System and Security> Management tools> Defragment and optimize drives.
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You will see a list of all drives on your computer in the Status section of the window, along with a number for each of its properties. Just click on a drive to select it and click Analyze for the utility to find out how fragmented that particular hard drive partition is. If you want the utility to check multiple partitions at the same time, just click on each partition while holding the Ctrl key to select them and click on Scan All for the utility to scan them.
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Once the utility has scanned the selected partitions, a fragmentation percentage will be displayed next to the drive. You can use this fragmentation percentage to determine if the drive needs to be defragmented; The general rule of thumb is that a drive should be defragmented if its fragmentation value is less than 20% or more. To defragment a drive, click it to select it and click Optimize. Multiple drives can also be defragmented at the same time by clicking on them one by one while holding down the Ctrl key to select them and then clicking Optimize All.
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All you need to do now is wait for the utility to successfully defragment the partitions you have selected. This process can take a long time depending on the number of partitions you have selected to defragment and the size of the selected partitions. You can see the progress of the defragmentation process in real time in the Current status section of the partitions you selected for defragmentation.
The defragmentation process in Windows 8.1 does not require many resources, which means you shouldn't feel the need to put your computer's use on hold to defragment your hard drive: you are completely free to use your computer as you normally do while the Optimize Drives utility defragments your hard drive.
