Some people think that defragging a hard drive is how you fix a PC. This is not true but it is a good thing to do, but not every day. Defragging all the time is not necessary and just puts in wear time on the hard drive.
A hard disk is a mechanical device, so any time the disk heads move there will be some amount of wear and tear. However, the physical effect of defragmenting is minimal. In fact, leaving the disk fragmented will in due course cause more wear and tear.
Let me explain: when a disk is fragmented, the data that makes up one file is split into pieces and stored in different locations on the disk. That's why you’re computer gets slower when you try to access data, as the disk gets fragmented. This means the heads have to make more passes each time they access files, in order to go to all the different places on the disk where the pieces of a file are stored. When you defrag, these file pieces are placed together, so not only is access faster, but the disk doesn't have to work as hard and thus you save wear and tear on the physical components.
Note: This is not the only cause of a slow computer. If you computer is slowing down it is more likely that you have good ol’ spyware running that a defragmented disk.
I recommend running a defrag on your disk once a month. It is best to run a scandisk or what XP now calls an error-check on your disk first. These tools can be run by right clicking on your hard drive and then by clicking properties. You will see both tools here in the tools tab.
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