Defragging an external hard drive:

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June 21, 2025, 03:06 AM

Orguss

Defragging an external hard drive:

I have a 10TB HDD for storing movies and TV shows. I've been filling it pretty regularly for the past year--I've only got a little over 1TB free.

I decided to see if I should defrag it, scanned it, and found it to be 20% defragmented. I thought it would be fairly simple--and it's not. I started the process at 8am. It's now 1am and it's only 65% defragged.

Make sure to keep up on your file maintenance, if you're still using HDDs! (Obviously, you needn't attempt this on an SSD.)

"I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet raised to an alarming extent by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak!" - Calvin, "Calvin & Hobbes"

June 21, 2025, 03:29 AM

SigSAC

External drives are limited by the speed of the interface you are using for it. If your drive supports it, USB 3 (or above), Thunderbolt, etc. will help speed things up.

June 21, 2025, 07:45 AM

Black92LX

Interesting. Never even thought to defrag my media drive.
Guess I will start it before going to bed tonight.
I have about 5TBs

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