Windows 7 Defrag.exe Tool

Windows 7 handles fragmented data or files quite well, in fact, by default a disk defragmenter task runs on a schedule but some users may still want to perform a manual defrag exercise to improve system performance. The defragmentation tool (defrag.exe) in Windows 7 has several new parameters which you can invoke from a command prompt.

The following are the new parameters:

  • /E: Perform the operation on all volumes except those specified.
  • /H: Run the operation at normal priority (default is low).
  • /M: Run the operation on each volume in parallel in the background.
  • /T: Track an operation already in progress on the specified volume.
  • /U: Print the progress of the operation on the screen.
  • /X: Perform free space consolidation on the specified volumes.

The following are additional parameters that existed in earlier Windows editions and are listed by defrag help:

  • /A: Perform analysis on the specified volumes.
  • /C: Perform the operation on all volumes.
  • /V: Print verbose output containing the fragmentation statistics.

Here are parameters that previously existed but aren’t listed by defrag help, though still work:

  • /R: Performs partial defragmentation (default). Attempts to consolidate only fragments smaller than 64 megabytes (MB).
  • /W: Performs full defragmentation. Attempts to consolidate all file fragments, regardless of their size.
  • /F: Forces defragmentation of the volume when free space is low.
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