You cannot adjust the 'fragmentation' level of your hard drive. Typically a user runs a program to defragment their hard drive (partition) to speed up their application/file system performance.
O7O is a decent program but I am not sure what you have done or what happened. Imho, the best free defragmentation tool available for Windows (any version) has been
AUSLogics DiskDefragment and I have used with very positive results. The current version has many cool features, still very fast and efficient.
This is my suggestion for an efficient disk defragmentation routine:
1. First things first, if you need to uninstall any applications, delete and files, folders or even user profiles, this is the time to do it! Run ATF-Cleaner or CCleaner or whichever programs tickles your funny-bone and get the job done.
2. Install the program (if you are going to use the one I suggested),
copy program folder (
C:\Program Files\Auslogics\Auslogics Disk Defrag) to a fast USB Flash stick, External HD or Network drive (if applicable)
3. Uninstall program, yes remove it from your system (not the folder you copied to the other drive!)
4. Disable virtual memory aka pagefile (Start > Run > sysdm.cpl ,3 > OK > (Performance) Settings... > Advanced (tab) > Change > "No paging file" > Set)
5. Schedule a Scandisk to run on next boot up (open My Computer > Right-click on C (or whichever drive needed defragging) > Properties > Tools (tab) > (Error-checking) Check now...) For system partition, it will inform you that it can't be done as it is in use, so click YES to schedule it for next reboot which is what you want anyhow)
Note: You normally only need to check the top option unless you suspect your Hard Drive to be developing bad sectors (commonly due to aging), then check the bottom option as well but it will consume a lot more time!
Hint: BSoDs, random application errors or operating system crashes along with significantly slow performance is typically either due to malware infection or bad sectors forming on the hard drive.
6. Reboot your computer and let Scandisk do its thang.
7. When Scandisk completes its process, it naturally restarts the PC again at that point either intervene and force the system to boot in Safe Mode or let is boot normal and do the following:
~ Disable/turn off ScreenSaver (if applicable)
~ Disable/turn off any AV scanner (if applicable)
~ Disable/turn off any IDS\Firewall\Network security utility (if applicable)
When done, run the Defragmentation program, preferably from another drive (hence moving the program folder to an external drive as mentioned above), that way the program will be able to do its work most efficiently.
Tips: Before actually starting the fragmentation process, I would recommend making certain configuration changes within AUSLogics DiskDefrag:
- Open the program
- Browse to Settings > Program Settings...
- Click on Algorithms tab
- Check the 3 unchecked options without changing anything else.
Now click on the arrow to the right on Defrag button and select:
Defrag & Optimize (slower use once a week)
If your name is George and you are also curious, you could run the 'Analyze' option first.
Once the defragmentation is done, do not forget to re-enable the virtual memory (pagefile)!
Re-enabling virtual memory doesn't take effect until you reboot your system so you could re-enable it before or after running the program, it won't matter.
If I am not going to be around then I use the 'Shutdown' option within the program, so when it is done it automatically shuts the system down.
PS: The only time I would advice against using this program or any defragmentation tool (from personal experience) is when you have an encryption program installed that has encrypted the entire disk (such as Pointsec/EncryptionPlus or Safeboot. It may or may not create problems, it is a crab shoot so better to be safer and not use one.
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