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How defragmentation software’s work

How defragmentation software’s work

By Selva Kumar

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How defragmentation software’s work

My computer system is not what it used to be when brand new!

This is the question arising in minds of many. The answer to this question and the
topic of the guide are the same. But to understand it better, a basic
understanding of how hard disk’s work is necessary.

Basic working of a hard disk

A hard disk/hard drive/HDD is a non-volatile

volatile device
used to store digital
gital media. A typical HDD consists of
platters on which data is recorded magnetically.
These platters rotate with very high speeds ranging
from 4,200 to 15,000 RPM depending on the
specifications. (FYI: It is this speed that creates a
cushion of air that makes the read/write head float up above the platter.).
platter.)

When a request for a file is sent from the CPU

CPU,, the head moves across the
platter, locates the file, accesses it and sends back the respective data back to the
CPU. Hard disk is the only component iin n the computer with moving parts unlike
the memory or the CPU. Hence the location of the file to be read becomes vital.
The whole process of retrieving data from the hard disk takes up only a few
milliseconds.

What is fragmentation ?

Fragmentation is the process by which free space occurs when files are
deleted or removed among the disk data data. The operating system looks for the first
free space that available to write new data. If the data to be written does not fit
the space available, it simply fills the space with data size available and moves on
to next free space available until the file is completely written, resulting in a
scattered file.

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How defragmentation software’s work

How does fragmentation slow my computer?

When the operating system requests a file from the hard disk
disk,, the
read/write head moves over the platter to access the file and read it.
it In case of a
fragmented file, the read/write head has to move over the platter to first collect
all the fragments or pieces of the file and read them once all the fragments have
been accessed. As the drive head has to make so many movements to collect all
the fragments before reading
reading, the overall performance
ormance of the computer reduces.
reduces
With time these fragments increase in numbers causing the overall fall in the
speed of the system, as it takes
akes a long time to load a fragmented files from
scattered clusters.

Also the location of the file plays a huge role in the performance of the
system. Files accessed frequently are generally placed on the outermost track of
the hard disk and less frequently accessed on the inner tracks. Generally the data
transfer from the outer track is around 150 times more than that of the inner
tracks.

Suppose a file is fragmented into 11 fragments (5 placed

inside inner tracks and 6 in the outer tracks.), the time
consumed to access all the fragments by the drive head
would increase depending on the amount of data on the
disk. And considering the amount of data storage
available in today’s hard disk, this time can be vital.

How does defragmentation software work ?

Defragmenting software
software’s access a file,
e, locate all the clusters scattered over
the hard disk platter and move them so that they are in contiguous sequential
sectors. Some software’ss apart from moving the file clusters also optimize
ptimize the
hard disk performance
ance by moving the mostly accessed files towards the
outermost tracks and the least accesse
accessed
d files towards the innermost tracks.
t Since

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How defragmentation software’s work

the outer tracks rotate at more than 150 times than the inner tracks, the hard
drive head can seek the file clusters faster. Generally these software’s
software move the
archives to the inner tracks. Defragmentation performance is not seen in new
computers orr those that are a few year
year’s old as file get scattered overtime. But in
old computers the performance is considerable.

How often should defragmentation be done?

A hard drive is a mechanical device which can get

fatigued if defragment is not performed for a long time due
to increase in scattered cluster numbers. Generally, the
proposed frequency is stated as “Once
Once every fortnight”.
fortnight

Defragmentation process performs read/write

operation on the hard disk. And as with all mechanical
devices, a hard disk also faces the problems of wear and
tear. So a regular read/write operation would cause damage to hard disk. So
performing a defragmentation of the system on a reguregular
lar basis is not
recommended.

Defragmentation should be performed only when a drop in the

performance of the system is visible or once every mo
month.

Preparing for defragmentation

Before defragmenting the hard disk, a few preparations can actually

ac
increase the performance of the hard disk and decrease the defragmentation
time considerably. Cleaning up the hard disk of temporary files and registry can
enhance the process.

Deleting old system restore points ((aa feature enabled in windows platform
for restoring the system to an earlier condition
condition) can free a lot of space on your
system. “Hibernation” is another feature worth disabling before defragmenting.

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How defragmentation software’s work

Hibernation dumps your computer memory, files, and all the open windows and
applications into a file called
led hiber.sys. And in today
today’ss scenario, these files can
become very large and fragmented. Disabling hibernation removes this file from
the hard disk, thereby considerably reducing the need to defrag it.

Exiting applications also enha

enhances the defragmentation process. Systray
and explorer are the only applications needed to run defragment on the system.
Certain software’s are capable of boot time defragm
defragment
ent which is best as most of
the applications are not loaded.

Saving files on a separate drive partition rather than system drive helps a
lot as system partition can get fragmented often.

Well! That’ss all that is up there about Defragmentation. For more guides
g
visit Tech Explained.

Thank You.

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