Many people are unsure what is true or false in defragmenting your computer.

I have complied a Top 10 list of myths related to defragmenting.

Defragmenting: To place fragmented (split up files) back together in one piece.

1. It’s Hard

Defragmenting…complicated word it must be hard to do.

Truth: It’s not to complicated. The one included with Windows Vista/7 does a good job of keeping it simple. Although if you want you can purchase or download free software to take more control of your defragmenting experience.

2. You only need to do it once in a blue moon

I only need to defragment now and again because my computer can take care of itself.

Truth: Your computer tries to keep everything neat and tidy (vista/7 even auto defragment) but if you use up nearly all your disk space or have lots of large files it can easily get messy. Defragmenting once a month is fine, but if you tend to add and delete a lot of files than defrag weekly (vista/7 default).

3. It takes forever

Moving your misplaced (not disorganized!) can take a lot of time right?

Truth: Depending on how many fragmenting files there are, the speed of your hard drive, how large the files are, how fragmented the files are, and the software you use it varies. Your first defrag could take all night if you have never done it but if you defrag weekly it usually only takes 2-15 minutes.

4. It doesn’t do much

Many people say that defragmenting is worthless…it just moves files around.

Truth: If your drive is highly fragmented (>10%) then it can help, otherwise yes it could be a waste of your time.

5. It does worse damage than doing nothing

Moving files around means your HD does more work so doesn’t it just do more damage?

Truth: If you defrag daily or more than needed then yes it could cause more damage. But if the files are highly misplaced putting them all back together on a daily basics does more damage then solving the problem.

6. It’s useful for SSD/Flash drives

It works so well for my HD so why not my SSD/USB Flash drive?

Truth: The reason why you need to defragment on a HD is because the hard drive is mechanical. It has to physically move it’s drive head to get the file you request. Since SSD/USB flash drives have no moving parts they don’t need to be defragmented. Defragmenting SSD’s/USB flash drives can actually do more harm then good (wear and tear wise).

7. It doesn’t increase the speed of your computer

Don’t large files take a long time to access so it doesn’t really matter if there in one place?

Truth: While large files (100MB+) do take a long time to access vs seeking (finding) the file a highly fragmented file doesn’t help either. For example if a 3GB file (a movie) was in 500 fragments then it would take more work to put it in one place but if the 500 fragments are highly close together then the HD still may need to over work.  Generally the larger the less you need to care about its fragments.

8. You don’t need to do it anymore

I defragmented my computer in 1995, I don’t need to do that with the latest computers!

Truth: While computers are much faster, and with better file-systems…at this point it’s wear and tear rather than speed. While it can access fragmented files fast…lots of fragmented files can heat up the drive and lower its lifespan. So you still need to do it.

9. NTFS doesn’t fragment

NTFS (new technology file system) is better/newer file-system then FAT32 so it’s no longer much of a concern.

Truth: While NTFS is much better at preventing and handling fragments it’s not fool-proof. While you do need to do it much less, you still need to do it.

10. You need purchase software to do an effective job

I just purchased this defragmenting software so it must do a better job then what’s included with windows right?

Truth: Basically no. It doesn’t often do a better job it rather just does it faster or in a special way. Or in the case of business’s includes remote tools. Free defragmenting software (say from Auslogics) does as good as a job as Diskeeper or Perfect Disk.

So it’s up to you on that one, but free software in this case is still better than what’s with Windows.

11: Macs/Linux don’t need to defragment.

Macs/Linux are different than Windows so they must have taken care of this problem?

Truth: Not true! While Macs/Linux doesn’t fragment as often…again it’s not immune.

Macs defragment in the background so it basically takes care of the chore, and Linux basically ignores the problems until a disk check (every 60th boot) will get rid of the worst offenders.

So they don’t necessarily need defragmenting from our end..but still are effected. They just handle it differently.

So that’s the Top 12 myths about defragmenting your computer.

12: Can defragmenting damage my files?

With all the files moving around there is a chance my files can become corrupt…is there a chance?

Truth: The chance of a file becoming corrupt is virtually impossible. Unless the hard drive crashes, or Windows does the file will not become corrupt. The only way a file could become corrupt is if the hard drive itself puts the file on a bad sector (modern HD’s auto detect and fix them).

So you don’t have to worry, but having a backup is always good practice.

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