Is defragging still important?

[Corzhens]

I have read in another forum that defragging of the hard disk was only necessary for disks with small capacity but it is not needed anymore with the 500 GB and larger hard disks. Is that true? What I understand with the hard disk is the segmentation of the spaces that there will be gaps and vacant spaces that you cannot use anymore. The defragging will make the files physically contiguous so the spaces in between the data will be used. I am needing an answer because our desktop is pretty old and the hard disk may be needing to be defragged. 

[menchuuy58]

            I believe defragging is still very important. Defragging a hard drive is a way to make it work a little more efficiently. To know why this works, you need to know a little about how hard drives work. A hard drive is essentially a set of metal platters encased in a machine that spins them like a CD or DVD. A small magnetic needle, similar to an old-time record player, both reads and writes data on those metal platters. The data is stored magnetically, which means that when there is no electricity flowing to the drive, it retains the data

[faithuy56]

          Defragmenting your hard drive can be a time-consuming process, especially if the process has not been completed on a frequent basis. Although, there are several benefits of defragmenting your hard drive that make the process well worth the time. One of the biggest reasons for defragging your hard drive is you'll likely experience faster speeds and less loading time. When your files are not scattered but are stored in one place, they load faster and your whole system speeds up. Your computer can sort and locate files much easier. This process also clears up all unused space and gives you more available space for storing files. It's especially important to defrag your computer before you download and install any large files or applications onto your computer. This helps protect your hard drive and the newly installed piece of hardware.

[Ronwald]

I believe Windows will automatically defrag your system on a regular schedule. Once Windows 10 detects that you are using a standard hard disk drive, then, it will periodically defragment it. But, if it detects that you are using an SSD, then, it won't ever attempt to defragment it at all. This process of automated defragmentation started with Windows 7 (without skipping SSDs) and further improved with Windows 10.