Digital Home Thoughts: Do You Defrag Your Hard Drive?

"We have all heard that defragmenting a hard drive (HDD) can give you a boost in performance. Is this just a an old wive's tale or is it grounded in reality? Most of us, whether we are top-notch IT talent or just a regular Joe or somewhere in between know that taking care of a computer and doing some basic upkeep can keep it running at a decent clip. Defragmenting a HDD is one of those basics that we should all do and has been so since well, mechanical HDDs came into existence. However, is this just good housekeeping practice based on actual results, or is it just one of those myths about what to do with your computer to keep it running well?"

I've always been a big advocate of defragging hard drives since I bought my first PC many many years ago. I always believed that it would help improve performance and keep my PC running at optimum speeds, but I've never actually tested it to prove that it does work. If I'm honest, I've never noticed a difference because I've always defragged the drive regularly. This article tests if it really does help, or if it's a myth, and it's good to see that it really can help improve performance if your drive is badly fragmented.