[Knowledgeable]

So this is something I've been curious about for awhile. Is defragging a laptop's HD too often possible? I heard defragging an external or an SSD can mess it up but what about the regular C drive? If I defrag once or twice a week will that wear on the HD or is it smart or what? I just wasn't sure so I figured I'd ask and see if anyone has proper experience to answer appropiately.

[ℓavish]

You should only defrag your hard drive once every 2-3 months, or after installing newer software onto your computer.
When you defrag your hard drive you risk corrupting/damaging files. (although it's rare it's still possible)

[Knowledgeable]

ive been using defraggler and as of last night O&O defrag
i read a lot of articles last night and it seems like a 65% in favor of defragging often and 35% in favor of possible risk
the basic concepts are the HD not having to work to find files and the other basic concepts is the HD under use every week to defrag
it honestly seemed like defragging as often as i do is better because the HD ultimately works less to find the files it needs
so instead of say 20 rounds to find files abc it takes only 3 to find abc

[Freebooter]

You should not defragment HDD to often as defragmenting does wear down life of HDD but if you defragment HDD when fragmentation level around 5 percent you wont cause any ill affect.

[Knowledgeable]

Why do you believe it will down the drive?
I try not to let my drive get beyond 10%, sometimes it does but this is only a Celeron processor and every bit fo cleanliness I can muster I do.
I tried to research after posting this thread and as mentioned in last post, it seems mixed from a wide variety of other computer forums.
I figured I'd get HF input.

[Whxami]

You should not defragment HDD to often as defragmenting does wear down life of HDD but if you defragment HDD when fragmentation level around 5 percent you wont cause any ill affect.

This gentlemen helped me with my HDD in the past he 100% knows what he is doing.

[Knowledgeable]

This gentlemen helped me with my HDD in the past he 100% knows what he is doing.

thanks for the input, appreciate it, hope he can provide some more information for me

[Freebooter]

thanks for the input, appreciate it, hope he can provide some more information for me

What kind of information you will want me to provide to you if its about how defragmenting HDD too often shorten life of HDD then i can explain little more.
When defragmenting HDD defragmenter software reads, writes to empty spaces and delete data in sectors. It does this to physically organize the contents of the HDD into the smallest number of contiguous regions (fragments). Defragmentation does stress the HDD because defragmenter software instructs HDD to read, write and delete more often then normal operation of the HDD all HDD's have lifespan HDD start to wear out while its been used and more often usage of HDD means less time left before drive fails — the various components can only rotate, gyrate, and actuate so many times before something goes wrong.

[Knowledgeable]

What kind of information you will want me to provide to you if its about how defragmenting HDD too often shorten life of HDD then i can explain little more.
When defragmenting HDD defragmenter software reads, writes to empty spaces and delete data in sectors. It does this to physically organize the contents of the HDD into the smallest number of contiguous regions (fragments). Defragmentation does stress the HDD because defragmenter software instructs HDD to read, write and delete more often then normal operation of the HDD all HDD's have lifespan HDD start to wear out while its been used and more often usage of HDD means less time left before drive fails — the various components can only rotate, gyrate, and actuate so many times before something goes wrong.

Thank you.
I did read something of relative reference as what you said.
But wouldn't keeping the files organized, clean, easier for the HDD to find and read make it less hassle for the HDD as well?
If the HDD is always spinning trying to find a file it will wear it out over time as well. So wouldn't defragging be organizing the files so it's to easier to find and read so it has to rotate less and therefore work less?

Please provide your input because I am interested as I have read about both sides of this.

[Freebooter]

Thank you.
I did read something of relative reference as what you said.
But wouldn't keeping the files organized, clean, easier for the HDD to find and read make it less hassle for the HDD as well?
If the HDD is always spinning trying to find a file it will wear it out over time as well. So wouldn't defragging be organizing the files so it's to easier to find and read so it has to rotate less and therefore work less?

Please provide your input because I am interested as I have read about both sides of this.

Yes you should defragment the HDD but some people do it every day this is not healthy and will shorten the HDD lifespan but if you defragment HDD around five percent fragmentation level then you will have healthy HDD as data on HDD is organize which is also helps lifespan of the HDD. In short NO to everyday defragmenting HDD and YES to defragmenting HDD every two weeks or month or at around five percent fragmentation level.

[Knowledgeable]

Ah I see, I do mine about once a week or so.
Usually it sits between 1 and 10%. When at 1% I don't do it.
Is once a week a safe bet for durability?
I appreciate your input very much by the way.

[Freebooter]

You should defragment HDD around between 3 and 5 percent don't let your drive get fragmented more then 5 percent. I cannot tell you if you should defragment HDD every week it depends on how much data was deleted and created within one week time if you delete and create lot of files within one week then yes defragment HDD every week. Perform free space consolidation on the partition you install programs and crate files performing free space consolidation will arrange free space on partition and this will result in less fragmentation when you create files and install programs. You should also set pagefile at static size this will also reduce fragmentation visit my tutorial to find out how to set pagefile to static size or use my program which will configure pagefile to static size. Url links are below.

[BHCPU] Tweaking & Optimizing Windows -Tutorial by Freebooter

[BHCPU] Boost Windows O/S & Network Performance by Freebooter

[Knowledgeable]

Thank you very much again.
I will try to check out those tutorials tonight.
I will see if I can set O&O defrag to run when at 5% fragmentation.
I do create and delete a lot of files every week actually so this info will help.
I gather that it isn't the # of times you should defrag but the volume of fragmentation you should pay attention to and acknowledge whether a defrag will be necessary or not.

[Freebooter]

I gather that it isn't the # of times you should defrag but the volume of fragmentation you should pay attention to and acknowledge whether a defrag will be necessary or not.

I agree.👍

[Knowledgeable]

I agree.👍

ok sounds good thank you for the input
👍