

We’ll walk you through how to defrag a Mac, let you know if you even can you defrag a Mac, and discuss disc defragmenter Mac computers may find useful as well as some alternatives that are likely more suitable to your needs. Still, there are times you should intervene. Modern systems do a much better job of defragmenting file storage and memory on their own without your interference. Disk defragmentation can help a computer operate smoothly, that’s certain, but should we still be doing this?ĭefragmentation is a relic of older computing paradigms, and memory management. Follow these quick steps to defrag your hard drive.Make your Mac fast and secure with CleanMyMac X.Ī common perception is that any slow-running computer should be defragmented. The best way to defrag your hard drive is to use the Microsoft ® Windows ® Disk Defragmenter utility. This will allow the drive to find information faster and find open portions to write new information faster. By defragmenting your hard drive, you are asking the computer to consolidate the information in one area of the drive. It becomes harder and harder for the drive to find all the information or programs you want it to access in a timely manner. When a hard disk drive has written a significant amount of data, the empty portions become rarer.


When data is written (stored), it’s written to the first empty portion of the drive that the write head can access. Consisting of an actuator, platter, spindle, actuator arm, and read/write head (among other parts), hard drives work by storing and seeking out information on a rotating disk. Hard disk drives fragment data because they are random by nature. There’s no reason to worry when this happens – defragging your hard drive is a simple fix. Unless you’re using an SSD, your system will eventually suffer from performance loss when the data stored on your hard drive becomes fragmented.
