What you need to know about Disk Defragmenter on Windows, macOS and Linux

Why do you need disk defragmentation

When you move, copy, delete, and perform other operations with data on a hard disk drive (HDD), that data begins to become fragmented. The system divides files into parts and stores them in different physical areas of the hard drive.

A drive with many fragmented files becomes slow. The fact is that a mechanical head is used to read a conventional hard disk, which runs from one piece of data to another. The higher the fragmentation, the more read operations take and the longer the process takes. Moreover, such heavy disk usage accelerates wear and tear on the drive.

Fragmentation problems are solved by the reverse process - defragmentation, during which the system moves parts of the fragmented files closer to each other.

Ask any advanced user how to make a computer faster, and he will probably start talking about disk defragmentation. Previously, this advice was really relevant, but nowadays it's a little different.

Do I need disk defragmentation in Windows

Simple answer: if you are using a more or less modern computer with an up-to-date operating system, then no, it is not needed. However, if you have an old Windows XP computer installed on an HDD, defragmentation may slightly increase its performance. Let's figure it out in order.

If you are using Windows on an SSD

SSDs, or solid state drives, do not need to be defragmented. Such disks have no moving parts at all, so their speed does not depend on the level of fragmentation. Moreover, defragmentation can damage the SSD. This procedure repeatedly overwrites the files on the disk, which accelerates the wear and tear of the solid state drives.

Modern Windows systems are smart enough and don't automatically defragment SSDs. And third-party programs usually warn about the consequences.

If you are using Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 on HDD ‑ disk

Disk Defragmenter: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 on HDD

Even if your system is located on a hard disk the old fashioned way, you do not need to defragment yourself. Starting in Vista, Windows does this automatically in the background by default. Usually once a week, at 1 am every Wednesday.

You can verify this and check your defrag settings. Open your computer, right-click on the local drive and select Properties → Tools → Optimize.

Defragment the disk: in the "Optimize disks" window, click "Change settings"

In the Optimize Drives window, click Change Settings and make sure Automatic Defragmentation is active and running weekly.

If you are using Windows XP on the HDD

As mentioned above, defragmentation can slightly increase device performance in this case. However, Windows XP, unfortunately, does not have an automatic defragmenter, which is not surprising given the age of the system.

But the operation can still be performed manually. Open "My Computer" and right-click the system drive. Then click Properties → Tools → Run Defragment → Defragment and wait.

You can also defragment the disk automatically using third-party software. By installing a free utility, for example, you can set up a schedule to run the process regularly.

The program interface is very simple and available in Russian, so it's easy to understand it. Turn on weekly defragmentation in Defraggler settings and the utility will take care of your disks.

Do i need disk defragmentation on macOS

macOS works differently from Windows, so Mac hard drives don't need to be manually defragmented. The system optimizes the drives on its own.

So, even if you are using an Apple computer with an HDD, you should not worry about defragmenting its disk. And with modern Macs with SSDs, this issue is all the more eliminated.

But keep in mind that if your Mac's hard drive has less than 10% unallocated space left, the system may have problems with automatic optimization. So make sure macOS always has free space.

Do you need disk defragmentation in Linux

The answer is the same as with macOS. The file systems of Linux, ext4 and Btrfs distributions are smarter than NTFS on Windows and distribute files on disk in a more advanced way. In addition, the system periodically optimizes the disk itself. Therefore Linux does not need to be defragmented.

But, as in the case of macOS, you need to have at least 10% free space on your Linux hard drive.