Fragmented Hard Drive

Fragmentation of the hard drive is caused when an operating system saves a file in many small pieces scattered across the hard drive. This is the operating systems fastest way to save a file on a spinning hard drive. Of course when you have to access the file the operating system has to work harder to assimilate all the pieces to allow you use them. This will cause some delay and lag on your system while this goes on in the background.

Defragmentation is the term given to the process of scanning the hard drive and rejoining the file pieces back into one consecutive block on the hard drive.

The process of defragmenting can be time consuming, but it is one of the easiest ways to increase the performance of your PC. I recommend defragging your computer at least once a month and more frequently if you are a power user. I usually defrag my drive weekly on sunday night as I log off and get ready for bed. When I wake up in the morning my drive is fragment free and I can notice the speed increase on the programs that I use quite frequently.

A great free tool for defragging your hard drive is JKdefrag if you click here the zipfile will down load to your computer.