How to Defrag Windows 8

Co-authored by Scott St Gelais and Travis Boylls

Last Updated: October 12, 2021

Over time, files on your computer can get split up and stored in different places all over your hard drive. For example, an MP3 file appears as one file to you in your File Explorer app, when in reality, small fragments of this file could be spread all over your hard drive. Defragmenting, or optimizing, your computer's hard drive moves all the pieces of a file into one location. This makes it faster to open the files. If the files on your computer is extremely fragmented, your computer will likely be running very slow. Windows has a built-in Defragment and Optimize Drive app that you can use to defrag your hard drive. This wikiHow article teaches you how to defrag your hard drive. You can do this manually as well as schedule your hard drive to automatically defragment on a regular basis. This works on both Windows 8 and Windows 10.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Manually Defragmenting a Hard Drive

1
Click the magnifying glass icon. This opens the Search menu. On Windows 8, it's in the upper-right corner of your desktop. ^{[1]
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- On Windows 10, it's in the lower-left corner next to the Windows Start menu.
2
Type Defrag in the search bar. This searches for the Defragment and Optimize Drive app.

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3
Click the Defragment and optimize your drive. It's will appear next to an icon that resembles a gear and a checklist.
- On Windows 10, it will say Degrament and Optimize Drives. It appears next to an icon that resembles colored building blocks.
4
Select the drive you want to defragment. Click the drive you want to defragment to highlight it. The drive that has a Windows logo in the upper-left corner is the drive that contains your Windows installation. You can also defragment any additional drives you have installed on your computer.
5
Click Analyze (optional). It's the first button below the list of hard drives. This does a quick analysis to see how fragmented your hard drive is.
6
Click Optimize. This analyzes and then defragments your drive. This may take a few minutes to a few hours depending on how fragmented your hard drive is.
7
Click Ok. When your drives are done defragmenting, click Ok in the lower-right corner to close the "Optimize Drives" window.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Scheduling Automatic Defragments

1
Click the magnifying glass icon. This opens the Search menu. On Windows 8, it's in the upper-right corner of your desktop. On Windows 10, it's in the lower-left corner next to the Windows Start menu.^{[2]
X
Research source}
2
Type Defrag in the search bar. This searches for the Defragment and Optimize Drive app.
3
Click the Defragment and optimize your drive. It's will appear next to an icon that resembles a gear and a checklist.
- On Windows 10, it will say Degrament and Optimize Drives and it appears next to an icon that resembles colored building blocks.
4
Click Change Settings. It's the first button below "Schedule Optimization" which is below the "Frequency" drop-down menu.
5
Ensure the box next to "Run on a schedule (Recommended)" is checked. It's the first checkbox below "Optimize Schedule." It should be checked automatically by default. If it is not, click the checkbox to make sure it is checked.
6
Use the "Frequency" drop-down menu to select how often you want to defrag your hard drives. It's the drop-down menu below the checkbox. You can select "Daily," "Weekly," or "Monthly."
- You can also click the checkbox that says "Notify me if three consecutive runs are missed," or "Increase task priority if three consecutive task runs are missed." It's below the drop-down menu.
7
Click Choose. It's the button next to "Drives." This allows you to select which drives you want to schedule defragmentation for.
8
Check the drives you want to defragment. Click the checkbox next to the drives you want to defragment. You can also click the checkbox next to "Select all" to select all the drives.
9
Click Ok. It's at the bottom of the "Optimize Drives" window. This saves your schedule settings.
10
Click Ok. This closes the "Optimize Drives" window.

Community Q&A

Question

I lost the menu item "defragment and optimize your drive." What should I do to defrag my computer? I'm using Windows 8.

Danoyachtcapt

Top Answerer

Have you tried using the search bar in the lower left corner of the screen? You should be able to search there by typing "defragment".