Does frequent defragmenting damage hard disk ?


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Does frequent defragmenting damage hard disk ? I defragment almost daily once and sometimes twice a day . I download a lot , browse sites/pages ( like 9gag , buzzfeed etc the images and gifs  quickly fill up cache ) that i never visit again so i clear cache daily and move files a lot . This fragments my hard disk quickly . 

 

Also any tips to reduce defragmentation ? .

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Do you have a small drive or something? You shouldn't be fragmented that much after 1 day even with downloading and moving 500GB of files. Are you talking like 7% fragmentations here and you feel like you just MUST do it even though it's that low? Or are you using some crap software when you move 1 file it shows as fragmented?

 

To answer your question - NO.

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Why are you even looking at the frag, other than maybe one in a blue moon..  What OS are you running - you should just let the built in tools do what they do, etc..  Defrag is automated and you should not have to worry about it.

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^ shouldn't even have to think about it anymore - defrag has been automated since vista..  Out of nostalgia or curiosity you might take a peek at it now and then just to make sure its running -  quell that OCD need to check it ;)

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I believe that's excessive and unnecessary... it probably won't do any *damage*, but it certainly won't prolong the life of the thing anyway. Windows 7 is pretty smart with how it handles files, and IIRC it by default runs a defrag once a week. (It's also smart enough not to mess with SSDs.)

 

If I were you, I'd check that weekly schedule and make sure it's running at a time your PC is on and it's convenient for you (not being used) and don't worry about it anymore.

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Yeah no need to manually run it then. Just let Windows do it and you'll be all set. I haven't (manually) defragged a drive in years (it obviously gets done though since Windows just does it when it's needed).

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If the fear of fragmentation us that bad, dont ever buy an SSD...  Your HHD probably isnt really impacted but you will reduce the life of an SSD pretty fast that way. 

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All defragmentation does since Vista, and more so 7 and 8, is use up lifespan cycles.

Windows defragments with idle resources, same as other system optimizations.

 

So if 99% of the time your PC is on you're actively using it, then yeah some manual defragging might be helpful. (browsing the web or other low resource costing activities not counting as actively using the PC).

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Defragmenting often won't damage the hard drive unless you're exceeding its duty cycle (how many writes it is rated to handle in a day). I doubt you're anywhere near the duty cycle of the drive...

 

But, as has been mentioned, you shouldn't need to care about this on a modern machine.

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If you're paranoid about getting optimal performance, why not just get a SSD?  

Performance on a HDD is never going to be "good" anyway. Defraging has long been a thing of the past.

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If not on win98/xp, you're doing it wrong. As others stated, it's now automated. All you're doing is straining your system unnecessarily. Do yourself a favor: let Windows handle it for you. It'll save you a lot of time. I used to be that way too, that is until 7/Vista rolled out. It won't let you down. (y)

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My drive just failed (secondary internal 1.5 TB Seagate Drive), I went to defrag just out of routine maintenance sorta, and for some reason it wasn't "initiating," then from there trying to access it didn't work, and basically it just stopped "reading" after that. It had failed years before and I got a new replacement, been a few more years and now it's kaput again.

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