Should i defrag before imaging

Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It only takes a minute to sign up. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Scan disk first, as defrag will fail if it hits a bad block.

Actually, I am pretty sure defrag does a scan disk first to make sure there are no issues before proceeding, but it is still the same sequence. Many of the defraggers will not defrag a "dirty" disk, as it would be incorrect to try and defrag a disk that is "dirty".

Dirty means that it stopped was stopped without finishing something. You or the program s should always check the disk first before defragging. If you are having disk "problems" it might be very unwise to defrag it at all. If the problems that the disk is having are not just a Crash, and a cleanup from the crash, you should address any disk or memory issues before doing either.

If it is just a crash, then no problem. Check inside the defrag desktop program to see how and when it's scheduled to run and then adjust accordingly. While defragmenting helps keep a hard drive in tiptop shape, it doesn't help solid-state drives SSDs. The good news is if you have Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7, the operating system can identify when you have an SSD, and it won't run the traditional defragmenting operation.

Instead, it might run something called "optimization" to improve the performance of the SSD. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data.

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Select personalised ads. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Same goes for applying the image to a machine - I doubt you would need to defrag. Improve this answer. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password.

Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. The Overflow Blog. When you transfer data from your hard drive to your new SSD, the new drive will have to read all of the data that the old drive contains. Defragmenting your hard drive takes all of that data and puts it in a contiguous block.

This makes it much faster to read fragmented files, potentially saving time in the transfer process if you are transferring the files that are fragmented and would benefit from defragmenting. Given that an SSD can usually write data faster than your older hard drive can read it, every little bit of performance counts to speed up the initial transfer process.

When you set up your SSD, you effectively have two options.