Computer Idle Time: Defragmentation as a Background Process

When is the best time to defrag a computer? It's usually when other programs aren't running, so the computer can focus all of its energies on the defrag process. Choose a time and day outside of business hours and schedule an automatic defrag. When you schedule a defrag during idle times, it doesn't interfere with your business productivity.

Why Defragmentation is Important

A defragmented hard drive looks a lot like a disorganized file cabinet. You may have file folders misplaced throughout the cabinet and empty folders thrown in between full ones. When you go into your file cabinet to look for information, it may take you a long time to put together what you need.
 
A hard drive searching disorganized or fragmented files also takes longer to find the information it needs. A fragmented hard drive causes computers to slow down and crash. Defragmentation is important because it will prevent fragmentation issues as well as save your hard drive from overworking and thus make early disk drive failure less likely. This can keep your computer as efficient as possible and even increase its lifespan.

When to Defragment Your Computer

Many people only defragment their computer when they notice performance issues. While computer slowdowns and crashes are good alerts that you need to defragment, you probably only noticed these issues after you've already compromised productivity. Knowing to defragment your computer before problems arise can save you time and money.
 
One of the first things you should know is that defragging your computer takes up many computer resources. This means programs may run slowly or not be able to run at all during a defrag. The best time to defrag a computer is during idle time.

Idle Time Defrag

An idle time defrag is essential if you want to run an efficient business. You may have tried manual defrag programs in the past, which meant needing to sit in front of your computer to babysit the defrag process. The defragmentation probably took hours to complete, not to mention making business hours non-productive.
 
The best way to defragment a computer during idle time is by using a program with a background defrag tool that you can schedule. As part of the defragmentation software, the background defrag feature allows you to schedule a certain time and day that would be best to defragment a computer. The background defrag can run during the computer's idle time. Once you return to the computer, it will be completely defragmented and ready for you to use.

Schedule Defrag Software

Check one more thing off your task list when it comes to computer maintenance, because with an automatic defragmentation scheduling, you will never need to run this process manually again. Many programs such as Diskeeper and Raxco's PerfectDisk feature defrag scheduling.
 
PerfectDisk calls their automatic defrag scheduling software "StealthPatrol." The software includes many other tools that will maximize defragmentation, such as:
  • Disk trending, to know when is the best time to schedule a defrag.
  • Efficient single pass defrag will defragment your system with less than 1 percent disk space.
  • Free space consolidation to maximize disk space.
  • Option for you to select files you want to defragment.
  • SMARTPlacement defragments file groups that other programs do not touch.

Background Defrag: A Profitable Business Decision

Now that you know the benefits of a scheduled defrag, make a profitable business decision and use a defragmentation program with this feature. You will never have to manually do defrag maintenance again and your computers will remain running efficiently for continuous productivity.
 
Resources
 
Diskeeper Corporation. (2009). Diskeeper 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from the Diskeeper Web site: http://www.diskeeper.com/.
 
Raxco Software, Inc. (2009). PerfectDisk's SMARTPlacement optimization. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from the PerfectDisk Web site: http://www.perfectdisk.com/user_data/white_papers/pd_smartplacement.pdf.
 
Raxco Software, Inc. (2009). PerfectDisk solutions for business. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from the PerfectDisk Web site: http://www.perfectdisk.com/business.
 
Raxco Software, Inc. (2009). Scheduled defragmentation versus continuous defragmentation. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from the PerfectDisk Web site: http://www.perfectdisk.com/user_data/white_papers/scheduled_vs_continuous.pdf.