Defragmentation Software
Computer Science: OCR GCSE, topic 1.5.10
Defragmentation Software
Defragmentation software is a common type of utility software.
Fragmentation
- When data is deleted from a hard drive, space is made available for the next item to be saved. If this item is larger than the available space, it will fill this space and find the next bit of space to fill.
- If a single file is stored in different places on a storage device, we say that the file is fragmented.
- Fragmented files take longer to load as it takes longer to find all the parts of the file stored in different places.
Defragmentation
- Defragmentation software reorganises the data on the storage device so that data from the same file is stored in adjacent blocks.
- Defragmentation software will increase the performance of the computer.
Solid state drives
- Solid state drives (SSDs) provide random access to data.
- This means that fragmented data does not take any longer to load.
- SSDs should never be defragmented because this will push the device towards its read/write cycle limit, which shortens its lifetime.
Test yourself on Defragmentation Software
What is the issue with fragmented files?