How to Defragment a Disk on a Windows Computer

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: June 3, 2021 References Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to defragment a hard drive in any version of Windows.

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Windows 10

1
Type defrag into the Windows search bar. If you don't see the search bar to the right of the Start
menu, click the circle or magnifying glass to open it.
2
Click Defragment and Optimize Drives. A list of drives connected to your computer will appear.

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3
Select the drive you want to defragment. If you only have one hard drive, it'll already be selected.
4
Check the automatic defragmenting schedule. Windows 10 is set up to defragment your drive automatically on a certain schedule. You'll see the date the drive was last defragmented under "Last run" near the top of the window.
- If defragmenting is set to run automatically, you'll see the word "On" under "Scheduled optimization" at the bottom of the window. You'll also see the frequency (e.g., "Weekly") listed below.
- If this feature is turned off but you'd like to turn it on, click Change settings and check the "Run on a schedule (recommended)" box. Choose a frequency from the menu, then click OK.
5
Click Optimize if you still want to defragment the hard drive. You'll see the progress under the "Current status" column. Once defragmenting is complete, today's date and time will replace the previous "Last run" date.
- The amount of time it takes to defragment the drive depends on the size of your drive and the amount of fragmentation. While you can continue working during the process, your PC may behave slowly until optimization is complete.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Windows 8

1
Hover the mouse over the bottom-right corner of the screen. This opens the Charms bar.^{[1]
X
Research source}
2
Click Settings
. A menu will expand.
3
Click Control Panel. It's at the top of the menu.
4
Select Small icons from the "View by" menu. It's at the top-right corner of the window.
5
Double-click Administrative Tools. This opens a list of tools.
6
Double-click Defragment and Optimize Drives. This opens the "Optimize Drives" window.
7
Select the drive you want to defragment. If you only have one hard drive, it'll already be selected.
8
Check the automatic defragmenting schedule. Windows 8 is set up to defragment your drive automatically on a certain schedule. You'll see the date the drive was last defragmented under "Last run" near the top of the window.
- If defragmenting is set to run automatically, you'll see the word "On" under "Scheduled optimization" at the bottom of the window. You'll also see the frequency (e.g., "Weekly") listed below.
- If this feature is turned off but you'd like to turn it on, click Change settings and check the "Run on a schedule (recommended)" box. Choose a frequency from the menu, then click OK.
9
Click Optimize if you still want to defragment the hard drive. You'll see the progress under the "Current status" column. Once defragmenting is complete, today's date and time will replace the previous "Last run" date.
- The amount of time it takes to defragment the drive depends on the size of your drive and the amount of fragmentation. While you can continue working during the process, your PC may behave slowly until optimization is complete.

Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Windows 7

1
Click the Start menu. It's usually at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
2
Click Control Panel. A window containing several icons will appear.
3
Click System and Security. Additional tools will expand.
4
Click Defragment your hard drive. It's under "Administrative Tools." This opens the "Disk Defragmenter" window.
5
Select a drive to defragment. If you only have one hard drive, it will already be selected.
6
Check the automatic defragmenting schedule. Windows 7 is set up to defragment your drive automatically on a certain schedule.^{[2]
X
Research source} You can update this options as you see fit.
- The date of the last defragmentation appears in the "Last Run" column next to the drive's name.
- If defragmenting is set to run automatically, you'll see "Scheduled defragmentation is turned on" under "Schedule." You'll also see the date of the next scheduled defrag next to "Next scheduled run."
- To change your automatic defragmentation schedule, click the Configure schedule button, then make your selections.
7
Click Analyze to see if it's necessary to defragment. If the drive is not fragmented, there's no reason to run the tool. If the drive is fragmented, you'll see a message telling you to defragment.
8
Click Defragment disk. It's one of the buttons near the bottom-right corner of the window. The defragmentation process will begin.
- The amount of time it takes to defragment depends on the size of your drive and the amount of fragmentation. While you can continue working during the process, your PC may behave slowly until optimization is complete.
- If you need to do work once the defragmentation has begun and you cannot tolerate the poor performance, you can click Pause or Stop on the tool. The advantage of Pause is that the tool will continue where it left off when it resumes—if you use Stop, you'll have to start from scratch.

Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Windows Vista

1
Click the Start menu. It's usually at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
2
Click Control Panel.
3
Click System and Maintenance. A list of tools will appear.
4
Click Defragment Your Hard Drive. It's under "Administrative Tools." This opens the "Disk Defragmenter" window.
- You may have to click Continue to open the tool.^{[3]
  X
  Research source}
5
Check the schedule. If Windows is set to defragment your drive(s) automatically, you'll see a check mark next to "Run on a schedule (recommended)." You'll also when the drive is scheduled to defragment and the last date the process occurred.
- If this option is not turned on, check the box to turn it on now.
- To schedule defragmentation for a different time, click Modify schedule, then make your selections.^{[4]
  X
  Research source}
6
Click Defragment now. It's the third button. A list of your drives will appear.
7
Select the drive you want to defragment. If you have more than one drive, you can select them all if you wish—just check the "Select all disks" option at the top.
8
Click OK. Windows will now scan and defragment the selected drive(s). The progress will appear at the bottom-left corner of the window.
- The amount of time it takes to defragment depends on the size of your drive and the amount of fragmentation. While you can continue working during the process, your PC may behave slowly until optimization is complete.
- If you need to do work once the defragmentation has begun and you cannot tolerate the poor performance, you can click Cancel defragmentation.

Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Windows XP

1
Click the Start menu. It's usually at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
2
Click Programs. A list of programs and folders will appear.
3
Click Accessories.
4
Click System Tools.
5
Click Disk Defragmenter. This launches the "Disk Defragmenter" window.
6
Select the drive you want to defragment and click Analyze. Windows will now check the drive to see if it's necessary to defragment. When the analysis is complete, you'll see a pop-up message telling you whether the drive should be defragmented.
7
Click Defragment if it's recommended to do so. If you see a message that says the drive doesn't need to be defragmented, you can close the tool. If the pop-up says "You should defragment this volume," this button will start the process.^{[5]
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Research source}
- To see a report that shows you more about the fragmentation, click View Report. After checking out the details, click Defragment to begin.
- The amount of time it takes to defragment depends on the size of your drive and the amount of fragmentation. While you can continue working during the process, your PC may behave slowly until optimization is complete.
- If you need to do work once the defragmentation has begun and you cannot tolerate the poor performance, you can click Pause to stop it briefly, or Cancel to stop it indefinitely. If you select Pause, you can restart the process from where it left off.

Community Q&A

Question

Should my computer be turned on in order to defragment?

Community Answer

The computer needs to be turned on, because it is a solely power dependent operation. Whenever you boot up your computer, the system software automatically runs the process until you turn it off manually.

Warnings

This process impacts other users sharing your disk volumes.

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Do not defragment a solid state drive (SSD). They do not need to be defragmented, and defragmenting them will only wear them out faster. Instead, use a TRIM command which has its own purpose.

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