What is defragging?

[Carlos1010]

Hi all,

So seeing alot of these posts while I have no clue what the main term means. Does anyone know what this "defragging" is, I read ab it about it and it is putting small files together so that the hard drive could access them more rapidly. Is that true and do all hard drives come with "defragging" feature? Thanks in advanced! 

[Oshino Shinobu]

Drefragging is a kind of "slang" term for defragmenting. It means taking data that is spread across the disks and putting them closer together  and grouping files together to improve access times and reduce the wear on the drive. Defragmentation can be done through software, it's not something that is normally managed by the drive itself, so all hard drive disks should support it, technically. 

 

Be aware that you should only defrag HDDs, not flash memory storage devices like SSDs. 

 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Thread212 said:

I could explain but..

it will take a lot of typing so.. here

 

 

I think that's probably the best method of approach as well. Good stuff. 

[Guest]

After watching the video, if you have any questions on it, we should be able to take it from there!

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

Its about the physical location of data. When you delete files on a mechanical disk it leaves gaps between data. defragging removes the gaps. it should also attempt to organise data physically on the disk. Otherwise when new data needs to be written it could be split over several empty spaces and your hard drives read head will spaz all over the place slowing it down.

 

Its not a feature on the disk; its a tool for windows based filesystems created to compensate for the algorithm Microsoft chose to use for placing data on disk.

 

only needed for mechanical disks

Edited October 31, 2016 by SCHISCHKA

[ARikozuM]

These functions aren't necessary but do provide optimal performance for all drives.

Defragmentation: Put all files in a linearly path for fastest reads without having to acquire new tracks.

TRIM: Parallelize data and mark cells as writable again.

[Carlos1010]

23 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Drefragging is a kind of "slang" term for defragmenting. It means taking data that is spread across the disks and putting them closer together  and grouping files together to improve access times and reduce the wear on the drive. Defragmentation can be done through software, it's not something that is normally managed by the drive itself, so all hard drive disks should support it, technically. 

 

Be aware that you should only defrag HDDs, not flash memory storage devices like SSDs. 

 

 

14 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

These functions aren't necessary but do provide optimal performance for all drives.

Defragmentation: Put all files in a linearly path for fastest reads without having to acquire new tracks.

TRIM: Parallelize data and mark cells as writable again.

 

20 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

After watching the video, if you have any questions on it, we should be able to take it from there!

So when I go to the settings of the defrag of windows, it saids that 0% is fragmented and that 31% is analyzed. What does the mean! Also thanks for your 

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

 

 

So when I go to the settings of the defrag of windows, it saids that 0% is fragmented and that 31% is analyzed. What does the mean! Also thanks for your 

Analyzed means that it's checking the drive for split files. Fragmented % tells you how many of those files are split.

[Carlos1010]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

Analyzed means that it's checking the drive for split files. Fragmented % tells you how many of those files are split.

So if it is at 0%, I dont need to defrag? 

[ARikozuM]

9 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

So if it is at 0%, I dont need to defrag? 

No, your OS will likely go right through the analysis and stop. I have mine set to weekly so that I don't have to check myself every time.