Quick Defrag vs Defrag - General Question

[joelm3103]

What's the real difference between both modes? I'm using Defraggler at the moment, but I'm pretty sure other defragging software has these modes. So what makes quick faster? How often should I perform a full defrag and quick defrag? I've have no in-depth knowledge, other than knowing that defrag tries to rearrange the files in a sequential order in order for quicker access.

 

[Alvin.C]

Hi,

Most defragmentation software have a quick defragmentation option, but its operation is different in each.

In Defraggler, the quick defrag option skips files which have certain properties. The default rule for quick defragmentation is simply to skip files which are larger than 50MB in file size. The rules can be customised in Defraggler's options.

Also, to clarify, the purpose of defragmentation is to reduce fragmentation in the file system (i.e. to increase the contiguity of data blocks pertaining to a file). The operation of re-arranging files in a specific order is a type of file system optimisation, which some defragmentation software provide in addition to defragmentation.

As for when to perform defragmentation, it can depend on how many files you have, how large they are, and how often you move them (in essence, how often and to what degree the file system is altered between defragmentation operations). Personally, providing there's adequate free space on the hard drive, I defrag my Windows machine once every month using Defraggler, but only if it reports high fragmentation (which I consider to be 15% or above) or if recommended by the defragmentation program.

 

[joelm3103]

Ah ok, thanks for the explanation . Defragmentation is 11% here, so I'm guessing that's good? Been a while since I defraged but I'll keep tabs on it every now and then, just to make sure everything works well.