This question comes to us a lot, especially in relation to newer (supposedly faster) hardware. “Does defragmentation even make sense nowadays? My computer is already very fast!” The correct answer is really: no and yes.

No, there’s really no need for defragmentation if a user is happy with the computer’s speed. But that’s always been the case. Today’s computers are naturally much faster than they were in the days of Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000. But the physical aspect of defragmentation has not changed at all because Windows is still using NTFS as a file system. Even under Windows 7. That’s why

Yes, because the amount of performance gained by periodic defragmentation is just as measurable now as it was 10 or 20 years ago. The rule still applies: if a read head has to read two file fragments located on different areas of the hard disk, it will have to be physically moved to each of these areas (a mechanical process that costs time). If, on the other hand, the file is in one place and in one piece, there’s no need for any repositioning. This all sounds pretty abstract and really doesn’t tell us much about the actual increase in speed we could expect from defragmentation.

For this reason, many of our customers and potential customers have wanted to know just how much faster their own computers might run after defragmentation. A direct answer is difficult to give because it depends, obviously, on a number of factors such as the hardware being used and especially, the hard disk. Inspired by all this feedback, we’ve now decided to release a free test program especially for you. We call it O&O SpeedCheck because it will let you see how much faster your system might perform following a defragmentation.

The working method here is very simple and involves no additional writing of data. In five separate runs, 300 simulated files will be read first in a fragmented and then in a defragmented state. The amount of speed your system could gain is based on the difference between the read times.

See for yourself and start the program right now without any installation!

Download the free program here from our website!

Have lots of fun with the app and hope I hear from you!

Olaf Kehrer,
Co-founder and Managing Director of O&O Software