A computer creates files and folders wherever space is available. This creates a matrix where there are bits and bytes of spaces available in between colonized areas. The resultant fragmentation affects the running of the programs.

Fragmentation is more likely to happen if data is being constantly written and deleted on different segments of a hard drive. That is why all computer users are asked to defragment the systems once in a while to consolidate files and folders in a single, contiguous space.

Defragmentation not only helps you access files and folders more efficiently but it also consolidates free space and reduces chances of new files being fragmented.

You must remember that fragmentation is an ongoing activity that occurs whenever you create a new file or store a new application. The computer, on its own, looks for available space after every task is completed and writes data on the available space. As time passes, the data on your disk slowly gets scattered, and the computer starts taking a little more time than normal in retrieving data.

Sometimes, you may have a very large file that has been written in different locations on your hard drive. Defragmentation can help to consolidate it in a contiguous location. It will be stored more efficiently and will be easier to recover, in the event of data loss.

Data recovery can help you to search for files that have been deleted and to restore them. But this can only happen if the files are contiguous. In fact, one of the common hurdles that data recovery programs run into is fragmentation of data. All these programs assume that that all files are contiguous and are stored in consecutive sectors.

The Windows operating system comes with a disk management utility called the Disk Defragmenter that can scan and rearrange the files stored on the disk to reduce fragmentation. Depending on the capacity of the hard disk and the amount of data stored on it, this process may take anything from half an hour to five hours.

You can schedule disk defragmentation for periods when you are not working on your computer, but ensure that there is a power backup, in case there is an unforeseen power failure. Defragmentation is even more important if you copy and delete files or install and un-install files frequently. This will help to ensure that the data on your hard drive is not fragmented too much.

In case your computer suffers from data loss, you will have better chances of recovering the data, if your hard drive has been defragmented regularly.

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