Defragmentation software programs are those tools that organize the data bits of files on the computer's hard disk so that they are stored closer together, so that they can be loaded faster. Technically, defragmenting the hard disk means moving the data of the various files that are remembered and written to different points on the disk, to write them close to each other. The head of the hard disk that reads the data will therefore have to go less way to load the pieces of data of a file and will be able to work faster, improving the performance of the computer. Ideally, defragmentation is one of those maintenance operations to be done at least once every two months, very often to be launched at night hoping not to have a computer near the bed. Keep in mind that a defragmented hard disk is a fast hard disk and therefore a healthy computer and significantly faster and optimized than one with a fragmented disk.
All versions of Windows include a built-in defragmentation program that we will discuss in this list, but in most cases a dedicated program is certainly better, because it has more options to optimize the work.
In this list we see the best programs to defragment your PC disk, only the 100% free ones.
NOTE: Defragmentation is still useful only on PCs with mechanical hard drives, while it is absolutely forbidden and not to be done on solid state SSD drives, which do not need defragmentation.
1) First you can try the disk defragmentation utility included in Windows (all versions from XP to Windows 10), from which you can set the schedule and allows you to defragment the internal and external disks. However, the Windows utility is very slow and not too efficient in optimizing data.
In Windows 10 and 8, the Disk Defragmenter utility can be opened from Administrative Tools in Control Panel.
In Windows 7 and earlier versions it can be found through the Start menu in All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter .
Disk defragmentation is also available from the command line by running the defrag command.
1.1) If you want to use this tool and not the other programs on this list, I recommend at least to start the Windows defragmentation utility through the SpeeDefrag tool. SpeeDefrag is a small free software that was created to speed up the normal defragmentation functions of Windows Disk Defragmenter by closing unnecessary computer programs and concentrating system resources on the process so as to make it less slow.
2) Piriform's Defraggler (those of Ccleaner) is undoubtedly the best free defragmentation program available and also the simplest. It can defragment data or only the free space of an internal or external drive, with the possibility of defragmenting specific files or folders. Defraggler can perform defragmentation at computer startup, check for disk errors, empty the Recycle Bin before defragmenting, exclude certain files from defragmentation, perform an inactive defragmentation and selectively move less used files to the end of the drive to make it more efficient to load frequently uploaded data. Defraggler is also available in a portable version for USB drives. Defraggler can be used on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP, in addition to Windows Server 2008 and 2003.
3) Smart Defrag is an excellent program for planning an automatic defragmentation, thanks to its very specific advanced settings. Supports running a schedule to defragment on startup and remove fragments from locked files. Smart Defrag can also exclude files and folders from the analysis, replace the Windows disk defragmenter, defragment Windows 10 apps and skip the defragmentation of files that exceed a certain file size, the slowest ones to move. Additionally, a feature that removes unwanted files from Windows and Internet Explorer is included in Smart Defrag.
3) Auslogics Disk Defrag is available both in installation mode and in portable mode. It can be used to move system files to faster areas of the disk to improve boot times and overall Windows performance. Auslogics Disk Defrag is also able to perform defrags on PC startup, check a drive for errors with chkdsk, optimize a hard disk, exclude files / folders from a defragmentation, perform inactive scans and delete temporary system files before defragmentation.
4) Puran Defrag is a very interesting program because it also offers a custom optimizer called Puran Intelligent Optimizer (PIOZR), to intelligently move common files to the outer edge of the disk in order to speed up access to those files. Like some of the other programs on this list, Puran Defrag can defragment files and folders from the context menu of Windows Explorer, exclude files and folders from defragmentation and run defrag on startup. There are very specific scheduling options to perform an automatic defragmentation every X hours, when the system becomes idle or when the screensaver starts. Attention only to Puran Defrag during installation, when asking to install sponsored additional programs.
5) Disk Speedup by Glarysoft is another free defragmentation program capable of optimizing the files not only of entire disks but also of individual folders. It also supports automatic defragmentation when the system remains idle for a specified number of minutes. The settings allow you to exclude files and folders and to disable the defrag of files that have fragments less than 10 MB in size, that have more than three fragments and if they are larger than 150 MB. All these values can be customized. You can also configure Disk Speedup to automatically move large, unused and / or a certain format files to the end of the drive, so that the most used and smallest ones end up at the beginning, with the aim of improving access times . When installing Disk Speedup, be careful not to install other sponsored Glarysoft programs.
6) Toolwiz Smart Defrag is a small program that installs quickly and has a simple, clean and minimal interface with no customization options. The developers of this tool claim that it is 10 times faster than the default defragmentation tool included with Windows. You can use Toolwiz to view the number of files fragmented by an analysis and perform a quick defragmentation. However, the program does not allow to see the level of fragmentation existing on a unit and it is not even possible to plan the defragmentation for execution at a later time.
7) MyDefragmenter is a Windows program with an organized and easy-to-use interface that supports the basic features of a defragmenter and is therefore capable of optimizing the computer's hard disk and seeing the list of all fragmented files and also making error checking of a drive.
8) UltraDefrag is a program with advanced options, free to use, which allows you to repair the hard disk, defragment it and optimize it to make it faster to load. It is a somewhat old program, which still works with Windows 10 as well as on Windows 7 and 8.1.
9) MyDefrag (formerly JkDefrag) can be both a simple and rather complex defragmentation program depending on the needs.
It works by loading and running scripts on one or more units and allows you to defragment on a schedule, analyze a unit and consolidate the free space. MyDefrag hasn't been updated since May 2010, but it also works on Windows 10 and 8.
READ ALSO: Defragment and clean a hard disk to optimize the computer
