Defragmenting rearranges the way files are stored on your hard drive so they will access faster.  It doesnt change your directory structure at all, but rather how files are physically written onto your disk.  If nothing is wrong to begin with, it wont make your PC any faster, but if you have a lot of fragmented files causing your disk access to slow down, then it'll tidy things up and you'll be running good again.  Most defragmenters will analyze your drive first and tell you the percentage of fragmentation and if you need to defrag or not.

The only way I can imagine it would slow you down is if some of your files were arranged in a certain way that you're used to, and the defragmenter placed them further away from the center of the disk (fastest access is in the center).  So, accessing those files may take a bit longer than before, but other files should be faster.  The MS defrag that comes with windows isn't very feature-rich; there are commercial defragmenters that will let you specify which files you want to access the fastest (usually your swap file, and maybe the games you play the most).

Just so you know, don't do anything else while defragmenting or you can mess stuff up.  Leave it running overnight or something when no one with bother it.  Accessing a file while defragmenter is moving it = bad.

What OS are you running?  You should have a defrag app built in.

Quote:


Hi Dan...!
..Oh ye of little faith... ...!
The old Win '98 defragmenter works fine.. ...!
I spend many a happy hour watching the little line travelling across my screen, shuffling all my data around.
It's mesmerising, and will quickly send you off to sleep... 8)...!
...makes a change from sim flying... ...!

Cheers Dan... ...!

Paul.