Defrag from the Command-Line for More Complete Control

Article
08/31/2016

Tip: Defrag from the Command-Line for More Complete Control

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For more complete control of defragmentation in Windows 7, you can use the command-line defrag¬mentation tool, Defrag.exe, from an elevated command prompt.

Defrag.exe has the following syntax (which is different than the syntax used for defrag in Windows Vista):

Defrag <volume> | /C | /E <volumes> [/A | /X | /T] [/H] [/M] [/U] [/V]

The options for Defrag.exe are:

<volume> The drive letter or mount point of the volume to defragment.
/C Defragment all local volumes on the computer.
/E Defragment all local volumes on the computer except those specified.
/A Display a fragmentation analysis report for the specified volume without defrag¬menting it.
/X Perform free-space consolidation. Free-space consolidation is useful if you need to shrink a volume, and it can reduce fragmentation of future files.
/T Track an operation already in progress on the specified volume.
/H Run the operation at normal priority instead of the default low priority. Specify this option if a computer is not otherwise in use.
/M Defragment multiple volumes simultaneously, in parallel. This is primarily useful for computers that can access multiple disks simultaneously, such as those using SCSI- or SATA-based disks rather than disks with an IDE interface.
/U Print the progress of the operation on the screen.
/V Verbose mode. Provides additional detail and statistics.

From the Microsoft Press book The Windows 7 Resource Kit by Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, Jerry Honeycutt, Ed Wilson, and the Windows 7 Team at Microsoft.

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