Windows Vista External Drive maintenance

Is it necessary after performing a routine defrag and an error check of C-drive to then do the same to the external drives and the flash drives? As often, less often, never?

 

Vista has an automated defragging system. You should find it is set to run during inactivity (like when the screensaver is on). Watch the HDD LED activity when you are not working on it and you should see tasks being carried out occasionally.

If you set a short period between inactivity and going into Sleep mode, there won't be much time for background tasks to be carried out, then you might find that manual defragmentation is necessary.

At the Start-Search bar, type in 'Task' and open Task Scheduler. It will tell you about the scheduled Defrags.

Matt

 

if the external drive is an HDD then yes by all means defrag it but if it's an flash drive then no you don't need to and the fact that it will shorten the drives usefull lifespan