The devices or computer tools are vital in society at this time, as in the case of PCs, laptops, among other equipment of this nature. As these teams can carry out activities ranging from entertainment to work, from home or the office.
In general, these are very important elements; however, you need to know how to use them correctly to store them.
In this sense, you should know that among the most relevant parts of these computers you will find hard drives, which are the ones that store the information of the operating systems, as well as the data you manage with respect to your work, studies or entertainment files.
Currently, one of the most used operating systems is Microsoft Windows in its different versions, 7, 8 and 10. That's why you need to know how to properly install a hard drive on your computer to avoid breakdowns.
On the other hand, when you have a new computer without managing a lot of data, you will notice that its performance is good, since there is not too much work for the processor, memory and in general the logic of the equipment to process the information.
However, as you work and get apps and files to your PC, you will see performance decrease. For this, it is useful to know how to defragment an SSD hard drive in Windows 10, 8 and 7. Also, we will show you what happens when you do.
Difference between magnetic hard drive and SSD
Before starting with the SSD hard drive defragmentation procedure, it will be helpful know the difference between magnetic hard drives and SSDs, as it basically resides in the speed of data processing.
And it is that magnetic hard drives write information on magnetic strips and have to rotate and look for it in those physical spaces, while SSDs do it through electronic devices, specifically transistors. This produces a faster and more reliable flow of information.
These devices are called solid state drives and are better in performance than magnetic ones. In theory the treatment is the same as for the aforementioned disks, since the procedure for defragmenting is exactly the same, you should also keep in mind that you will not be able to place it on another machine without carrying out the previous configuration
In any case there is something very important that you must consider and that is that it is not necessary to fragment the SDD disks, in fact some say it is counterproductive. For this reason, what we will show you below mainly focuses on mechanical hard drives HDD.
Definition of defragmentation of an SSD hard drive
Usually, when we store files on hard drives, they get fragmented. Fragmentation is a phenomenon in which the 'parts' of files they are archived in different sectors of our hard drive.
Ideally, these fragments should be kept in the same place. The fact that the hard drive gets fragmented will have a direct impact on performance, making it slower to access system files.
Put simply, disk defragmentation is a process in which files on hard drives are organized. With defragmentation, you want to bring files together in one place, something that it could speed up the overall performance.
Steps to defragment an SSD hard drive
You should consider the following steps to defrag your hard drive with current Microsoft Windows operating systems (10, 8 and 7). Obviously the first thing is to identify the version of the operating system you have, and once this step is done, you need to follow the procedure:
In Windows 7
- In the case of Windows 7, click the start button and in the search field write the word "defragment"
- You will see an application named "Disk Defragmenter" or "Disk Defragmenter". Click on it and a pop-up window will open.
- Choose your hard drive e click the "Defragment disk" button. You will see that the process begins, once again it becomes clear that it may take several minutes depending on the level of data the disk has.
In Windows 8 e 10
- You will have several ways to go through this process, as you can do it by clicking on the start button and typing the word "defragmentation" in the search field.
- Depending on your Windows setup language, you will have the "Defragment and optimize drives" option o “Defragment and Optimize Drivers”. Click on this app.
- A pop-up window will open in which you will see the devices that you can select. You will surely find your PC hard drive
- Proceed with the selection e click the Optimize button. You will see how the process begins, which could take several minutes depending on the level of data you have on your hard drive
At the end of this process you will see as a result improving the performance of your machine, but if in this case you will not be able to acquire the level you expect and you will see the navigation on your system very collapsed, you can format the hard drive using a Windows tool.
Finally, to complete this information, you can visit the Windows support page to find alternatives to improve the performance of your machine, which is what is expected when defragmenting the hard drive.
What happens when a hard drive is defragmented?
The process of defragmenting a hard drive tries to organize system files and the user, so you can access it faster. In other words, defragmentation tries to "put together" the parts of each file again.
By placing file fragments in neighboring sectors, performance should improve. If anything, keep in mind that this It is mainly recommended for mechanical hard drives HDD, as SDD solid state hard drives work very differently.
Discover the benefits of defragmenting a hard drive
Besides being recommended, the truth is that hard drive defragmentation is required in many cases. In addition to that, defragmentation has great advantages which we will list below.
- The main benefit is that file access was faster, as any spaces that may exist between each part are eliminated.
- It reduces the movement of the hard drive, which it can slightly extend the service life hard drive.
- In addition to helping you access your everyday files, the system startup will also be faster.
- Applications will start more quickly. In turn, processes such as analyzing viruses on the system will be faster and more efficient.
- Errors with files that are often the result of fragmentation will be reduced.
