Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To reorganize (a storage device) to eliminate or reduce fragmentation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb computing To run a process that collects fragments of files and sorts them into contiguous sections on one or more hard disks or hard disk partitions, thus speeding up file management.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • If the disk is otherwise fine one way to defragment is to clone everything to a backup drive, erase the first drive, then clone everything back again.

    Discussions: Message List - root 2008

  • A friend of mine suggested that I "defragment" my computer every once in a while.

    Defragmenting a Hard Disk 2008

  • The preinstalled Windows Disk Defragmenter tool, search for "defragment" under the Start menu in Windows 7, or look for it under Programs

    NYT > Home Page By ERIC A. TAUB 2010

  • The Battle Studies star revealed his plans for the cleanse before Christmas, explaining that he wanted to "defragment" his mind for the new year.

    All - Digital Spy - Entertainment and Media News 2010

  • Yeah, a file-to-file copy will kind of defragment my system, but is there something wrong with my method?

    Discussions: Message List - root 2010

  • Mayer thinks giving some of these up for a while might be a good way to "defragment" our minds.

    TechCrunch 2009

  • A friend of mine suggested that I "defragment" my computer every once in a while.

    All Things Digital 2008

  • A friend of mine suggested that I "defragment" my computer every once in a while.

    All Things Digital Walter S. Mossberg 2008

  • Users should not use defragment or scan the virtual drives while using the program. vSubst is free and available for Windows only. vSubst [via Addictive Tips]

    VSubst Turns Any Folder Into A Virtual Drive | Lifehacker Australia 2010

  • With UltraDefrag you can defragment your entire disk, defragment based on the file and folder — handy if your disk defragmentation is limited to a handful of frequently edited and altered files — and set it up to defragment during the boot process to access files Windows usually has locked.

    UltraDefrag Is A Portable And Open-Source Disk Defragmenter | Lifehacker Australia 2010

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