Hard drives store the data that is placed on them in fragments. The drives break up individual files into smaller packets of data and places them on different parts of the physical hard drive. This makes the computer faster to begin with, as it can access different parts of data and different points, but once hard drives begin to fill up, this process can greatly slow down a computer. Disk defragmentation software goes throughout the hard drive and links back up many of the little packets of data into larger chunks, easing the task of reading that data for the computer.
Instructions
Defragmenting your flash drive
1. Choose from the three programs listed in Resources. Download the software of your choice and click on the EXE file when it downloads to launch the installer window. Follow the instructions to install the software.
2. Open the software by either clicking on its location on your desktop or by clicking on "Start" and then "Programs" and locating the software's icon.
3. Select the drive letter assigned to your flash drive from the list. You can find this piece of information out by clicking on "Start" and "My Computer" and seeing which letter is next to your drive. The box to select the correct letter will either be in the top left-hand corner or the top center of the screen, depending on which piece of software you have chosen.
4. Click on either "Start" or "Defrag," depending on which piece of software you have chosen to defragment your drive.
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