Difference Between Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter

Computer users always want to keep their computers in top shape so they can face fewer problems and experience optimized performance from their devices. One of the few parts you can keep is your computer’s hard drive, where all your files reside. The operating system also gives you the tools to combat conditions that degrade the performance of your drive and the entire computer along with it.

The first of these tools is disk cleanup. This tool helps you free up more disk space for you to use. Most programs don’t clean up after themselves very well, leaving behind files that are no longer used and are just taking up disk space. It’s Disk Cleanup’s job to keep track of all these files along with some other possible options you can take to free up more space. Disk cleanup will also check your recycle bin and restore old files that you may not need. It prompts you for confirmation before deleting these files to make sure you don’t need them anymore.

The second tool is Disk Defragmenter. As you use your computer, you create files and delete files as well. These create unused spaces between used spaces. Whenever you save a large file, sometimes there is not a continuous area to put it and your system is forced to cut the files into smaller sections in order to save them properly. This is called fragmentation, and the longer you use your computer, the worse it gets. Fragmentation degrades the overall performance of your computer as reading a fragmented file would take longer.

Disk Defragmenter helps you by examining your files and trying to plan where each file is located and which cannot be changed. Once it has done that, it will try to relocate all the files it can move so that each file occupies a single continuous space to help speed up reading processes in the future. However, it is not a full test operation as some files that are in use by the system cannot be moved.

Disk cleanup and disk defragmenter are the two tools you can use to keep your disk drive running efficiently. The effects of a single use would wear off after some time, so you should run these programs regularly to ensure your computer is in the best possible shape.