Defragmenting your hard drive is one of the priority areas in accelerating the work of any computer system, since the timely execution of such actions allows you to organize the most frequently used files by moving them to the fastest areas of the hard drive. The acceleration itself is achieved mainly due to the fact that the head that reads the information does not need to perform additional movement along the areas and plates of the hard disk in search of the desired component.
To defragment the disk, special programs are used that can be presented both as built-in tools of the operating system itself and as third-party software. But which disk defragmenter should be chosen by an ordinary user to achieve the maximum effect on increasing the speed of the hard drive? Let's try to consider some of the most popular utilities, which, according to the vast majority of experts, are the best in this area.
It should be noted right away that with respect to modern high-speed solid-state SSD drives, defragmentation is not recommended at all, therefore the material presented below is useful only to those users who have classic hard drives installed on their computers. It is especially worth mentioning that today there are a lot of utilities in this area that have been developed and it will not be possible to describe absolutely all such applications physically, so we will focus solely on those that occupy the first positions in all world ratings.
A few words about the built-in Windows tools: what is wrong?
To start, let's briefly discuss why many users do not want to use the built-in system tools. Indeed, in any version of Windows there is such a built-in applet, and you can call it through the most usual PCM menu on the selected drive or partition directly in the "Explorer". The inconvenience of using the “native” defragmenter of the operating system’s hard drive is most often associated only with the fact that the standard defragmentation process, when compared to the time with similar third-party developments, takes the same amount of hard drive for too long (although with Windows 10 You can argue). In addition, even if you compare the defragmentation cards that are usually displayed during the process, they can vary quite significantly, and Windows tools, alas, lose a lot in regards to organizing file structures. Therefore, users very often prefer third-party development.
The best defragmentation apps
As already mentioned, you can find a huge number of such programs on the same Internet. However, if you carefully look at some world and domestic software ratings in this area, there is no doubt that the following applications can be called the best disk defragmenters:
- Defraggler
- iObit Smart Defrag.
- "Computer Accelerator."
- Auslogics Disk Defrag.
- Puran Defrag.
- Disk Speedup
- Toolwiz Smart Defrag.
- WinUtilities DiskDefrag.
- O&O Defrag Free Edition.
- UltraDefrag.
- MyDefrag.
It goes without saying that to delve into all the details of the work of each of the applets presented in the list makes absolutely no sense, so we will consider the most significant differences and advantages of each of them in brief.
Defraggler Disk Defragmenter
So, the first in the list is a rather interesting utility that allows you to perform all the processes associated with organizing files to speed up access to them, which, according to many, is one of the best in the described direction.
Not to mention the implementation of the process itself, among its undoubted advantages, it can be distinguished that it can analyze and defragment the disk even when the computer starts, simultaneously checking the hard drive for errors and even removing unnecessary garbage from the Recycle Bin. You can optimize not only disks or partitions, but also individual directories, not to mention the movement of rarely used files to the end of the disk. It is not surprising that this application is considered the best defragmenter of a hard disk, because it was developed by Pirifrom, which created such a unique software product as CCleaner. Separately, it is worth noting the presence of a portable version that does not require installation.
iObit Smart Defrag
This application is not inferior to the previous one, but its developer is iObit, which also created many applications for optimizing Windows-systems (iObit Uninstaller, ASC, Driver Booster).
The main advantages of this disk defragmenter are quick optimization in terms of moving system units during the Windows boot process and then securing them in the installed location for a running OS, convenient defragmentation scheduling, preliminary removal of temporary browser files, as well as performing only optimization of Metro interface applications. Another “feature” of the application is that it can replace a standard system tool by embedding its own links in context menus.
Note: by the way, the Advanced SystemCare utility from the same developer also has at its disposal a disk optimization module along with error checking and can also be used as a tool for quickly defragmenting (including the system registry).
Russian disk accelerator "Computer Accelerator"
This development is quite an interesting and bold competition to many famous applications, but for the most part it relates specifically to complex optimizers.
Nevertheless, the program has a nice interface and is able to optimize the hard drive even in the background when the computer is in idle mode. The application can be installed in all known versions of Windows, and it is often called almost the best disk defragmenter for Windows 7 (including because of the extremely low consumption of system resources with many graphical effects of the system interface). The only drawback is that the application is paid, and the trial version contains a fairly limited set of tools.
Auslogics disk defrag
This disk defragmenter can be attributed to the classics of applications of this kind. The main priority when using this utility is considered the most complete optimization of all kinds of components and libraries that are used by the operating system during the operation of the computer.
It is due to this that the so-called response time of the system to user actions is significantly reduced, and the increase in overall performance is at a very high level.
Puran defrag
This disk defragmenter is interesting in that it has its own engine, which allows optimization to be done so optimally that after an "intelligent" movement of files to the external areas of the hard drive, the read head of the disk per unit of time at the same spindle speed can take a longer distance and reads more information.
Among other things, it is noted that this application can defragment not only on a schedule, but even when the screen saver is turned on in idle mode. The only minus is the installation of unnecessary additional programs when installing the main applet.
Disk speedup
This utility can start at the time the operating system starts. However, according to most experts, its main advantage is that in the utility settings you can use specific parameters regarding the exclusion from the process of files with sizes less than 10 MB or those objects that consist of more than three fragments.
Also, the ability to manually move too large data arrays like video or graphics to the end of the disk looks good, if they are used extremely rarely.
Toolwiz smart defrag
This utility has the smallest number of settings of all presented in the review and the most simplified interface. However, this does not detract from its merits.
According to various estimates, this particular application is able to defragment about ten times faster than the tool built into Windows, not to mention the highest quality of the result.
WinUtilities DiskDefrag
This application for the most part refers to complex optimizers, but it is as flexible as possible to configure and allows you to increase system performance not only by speeding up access to the hard drive, but also with the help of additional tools for removing garbage or optimizing downloads.
O&O Defrag Free Edition
We have yet another interesting program, which is also often found in many ratings.
First of all, it is interesting in that even its free version has a very thoughtful user interface, has many additionally customizable parameters, and also allows you to defragment along with checking the disk for errors.
Ultradefefrag
This utility, as it is believed, can be used by both beginners and professionals. For advanced users, it has fairly good technical equipment, however, to use them in full it is necessary to have at least basic knowledge of working with executable files of the BAT format.
Mydefef
Finally, another application that is also included in the list of the best. This program is one of the simplest and works on the basis of several scripting scripts written by just one person. Despite this, the application is great for those who are trying to learn the processes of defragmentation, since all the scripts can be changed independently, including new features. But the standard settings are designed for the average user who is in no hurry to deal with the intricacies of such actions.