What is Fragmentation?

If you’re a Windows user, a common cause of PC slowdowns is file fragmentation. If you don’t know what file fragmentation is, consider this example:

If you imagine that your hard drive is a bookcase, and that you are the Windows operating system, then a file would be a single book. In that scenario, creating a file would simply be placing a new book on a shelf.

Now, image that three months have passed, and your shelves are nearly full. You just bought a gigantic dictionary and none of the shelves has enough room for it. Because you don’t have time to rearrange the other books to make room, you tear the dictionary apart and put A-H on one shelf, I-R on another, and S-Z on another. This is what file fragmentation is like.

Now, let’s say that someone tells you to go get the dictionary. It’s going to take you longer to grab each piece than if the entire dictionary sat together in one spot. As time goes on, you find that it’s taking you longer and longer to grab other books for people because you’ve torn so many of them up.

If you’re organized, you go through the shelves every so often and try to put the pieces of each book together again. After you’ve finished organizing, if someone asks you to grab the dictionary, it will take you less time because you can grab the whole book from one place rather than searching for the pieces. This is similar to the benefit you get after defragmenting your hard drive.

The Search For a Better Defragmenter

This week, I ran the standard the Windows defrag tool (typically Start… Programs… Accessories… System Tools… Disk Defragmenter), which analyzed my drive and told me that I didn’t need to defragment. Because I was already experiencing some disk slowdowns, I pushed this advice aside and told it to defragment anyway. Ten minutes later, my only slightly fragmented drive was still only 3% done.

With years of tech support under my belt, I wish that I could say that this wasn’t typical, but it is. The slow speed of the basic Windows defragment tool is one of the reasons that companies pay for third party tools. Because I am a fan of free (as in beer) stuff, I thought I’d see if there were any free alternatives available.

I was pretty skeptical that I would be able to find a stable alternative to the Windows Disk Defragmenter for free, but a quick look at download.com turned up Auslogics Disk Defrag. Although it didn’t have an official CNET review, it did have over 900,000 downloads and a 4.5/5 user rating. Because download .com guaranteed that the download was spyware free, I gave it a shot.

Not only did I find that Auslogics was a lot faster than the standard Windows defrag tool, it also gave a better visual representation of what was going on during the defrag process. For those that don’t want to spend $40+ for defragmentation software or the time waiting for the standard Windows Disk Defragmenter to finish, this tool fits the bill perfectly. And you can’t beat the price.

Have another defrag tool that’s better? Let me know in the comments.

Posted in Free Software