Random or Sequential

[Dann0359]

Hi everyone,

 

Is there a way to tell if my files are Randomly or Sequentially written on my HDD?

 

I ask this because I know of the performance difference between each way of reading/writing data. Have a WD Green 2TB drive. Working on changing a device or two in my network for 1 Gigabit speeds. Working out if upgrading HDD's due to the variable 5400rpm-7200rpm (second PC also a WD Green 2TB) and change to WD Black's or equivalent is worth it. 

 

Have tried looking through the forum, but I'm confident my search skills are below par...

 

(FYI - Currently at 100Mb/s network speeds... sending files at around 10-11MB/s)

 

 

Cheers!

[Mark77]

If you see the hard drive light flickering a lot, that usually means random.

 

If the hard drive light stays lit pretty much solidly, that usually means sequential.

 

Its usually that simple. 

[Dann0359]

I see. So is there a way I can look at a file and see for myself? Maybe through Properties?

[Enderman]

defragment your HDD and then all files will be sequential

[Dann0359]

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

defragment your HDD and then all files will be sequential

Ok, so you're saying when files are written to the Harddrive, they are Sequential.

 

How do they become Random? And why is Random read/write used in benchmarks?

[Enderman]

4 minutes ago, Dann0359 said:

Ok, so you're saying when files are written to the Harddrive, they are Sequential.

 

How do they become Random? And why is Random read/write used in benchmarks?

if there are 10 bytes of free space and there is stuff on either side, then when you save something to the HDD it will fill up that 10 bytes first and then look for the next free space, and save the rest there

 

so thats how stuff gets split up all over the place

 

defragmenting puts all the similar stuff together, such as two parts of a file, or stuff like that

 

BUT you will always have different files in different places, because its impossible to put everything right beside eachother

so if you have a program which needs a bunch of random files in random places on the HDD, then thats when random read speeds come into effect, because the HDD needs to search random places for those files

 

 

[Mark77]

11 minutes ago, Dann0359 said:

I see. So is there a way I can look at a file and see for myself? Maybe through Properties?

Don't know what OS you run, but on Linux, you can run a report on ext4s filesystems using the e4defrag tool.  It will tell you how many fragments each file is in, and you can decide accordingly whether its worthwhile to run a whole defragment cycle. 

 

With SSDs and their extreme capability at random reads, we usually don't care too much about fragmentation.  De-fragmentation may even be harmful to a SSDs overall lifespan.

 

With hard drives, the more full a drive becomes, the higher the chance of fragmentation.  This is why you should leave some free space on a drive, and not fill a 1Tb drive up with 990GiB of data. 

 

 

[Dann0359]

5 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

Don't know what OS you run, but on Linux, you can run a report on ext4s filesystems using the e4defrag tool.  It will tell you how many fragments each file is in, and you can decide accordingly whether its worthwhile to run a whole defragment cycle. 

 

With SSDs and their extreme capability at random reads, we usually don't care too much about fragmentation.  De-fragmentation may even be harmful to a SSDs overall lifespan.

 

With hard drives, the more full a drive becomes, the higher the chance of fragmentation.  This is why you should leave some free space on a drive, and not fill a 1Tb drive up with 990GiB of data. 

 

 

Is there anything for Windows 7? (what I'm running).

[HPWebcamAble]

1 minute ago, Dann0359 said:

Is there anything for Windows 7? (what I'm running).

Windows has a defrag tool (Just search defrag in the start menu)

[Dann0359]

9 minutes ago, Enderman said:

if there are 10 bytes of free space and there is stuff on either side, then when you save something to the HDD it will fill up that 10 bytes first and then look for the next free space, and save the rest there

 

so thats how stuff gets split up all over the place

 

defragmenting puts all the similar stuff together, such as two parts of a file, or stuff like that

 

BUT you will always have different files in different places, because its impossible to put everything right beside eachother

so if you have a program which needs a bunch of random files in random places on the HDD, then thats when random read speeds come into effect, because the HDD needs to search random places for those files

 

 

 

Makes a lot more sense now on how it works.

 

Which in saying all that, I should see fluctuations (file transfer window, not HDD light) when sending large files over the network? Thanks for your input  

[Dann0359]

2 minutes ago, HPWebcamAble said:

Windows has a defrag tool (Just search defrag in the start menu)

Yeah, this is what I've always use...

 

Though don't know if its as advanced as the Linux e4defrag tool where it shows how many fragments each file is in? (aware I would have to Install a Linux OS).

 

12 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

Don't know what OS you run, but on Linux, you can run a report on ext4s filesystems using the e4defrag tool.  It will tell you how many fragments each file is in, and you can decide accordingly whether its worthwhile to run a whole defragment cycle. . 

 

[Enderman]

4 minutes ago, Dann0359 said:

 

Makes a lot more sense now on how it works.

 

Which in saying all that, I should see fluctuations (file transfer window, not HDD light) when sending large files over the network? Thanks for your input  

if you defragmented your HDD or youre using a SSD then no

[Dann0359]

Just now, Enderman said:

if you defragmented your HDD or youre using a SSD then no

Yeah, though if not performed then Yes I will see fluctuations. Thanks for your help!

[HPWebcamAble]

1 minute ago, Dann0359 said:

Yeah, this is what I've always use...

 

Though don't know if its as advanced as the Linux e4defrag tool where it shows how many fragments each file is in? (aware I would have to Install a Linux OS).

They do the same thing behind the scenes (well not EXACTLY the same, but you get the same result)

The Windows tool certainly doesn't have very advanced tools, the reason being that the average user doesn't need them.

[Dann0359]

1 hour ago, HPWebcamAble said:

They do the same thing behind the scenes (well not EXACTLY the same, but you get the same result)

The Windows tool certainly doesn't have very advanced tools, the reason being that the average user doesn't need them.

I assumed they were somewhat the same behind the scenes... Bummer it doesn't have such an Advanced tool, would have been interesting/useful to see your files that way.

 

Thanks for your input!