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Hero
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 Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject: why do HDD save things in random spots? |
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| Well in my quest to partition my HDD its making me defrag first. (using partition magic) I actually looked at it for the first time and wondered why there is a big blob of free space in the middle of all the other things. So why doesnt it just save stuff square for square?
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Drkgodz
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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Imagine the lines are blank space.
File 1____File 2_____File 3.
You delete File 2.
Now it's:
File 1 ____________File 3.
You write another file that's bigger than the blank space there.
File 1____File 4___File 3____File4___.
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Hero
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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| ok so it just fills in the spots as it feels like it? alright, it was just curiosity.
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Noz3001
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Drkgodz wrote: | Imagine the lines are blank space.
File 1____File 2_____File 3.
You delete File 2.
Now it's:
File 1 ____________File 3.
You write another file that's bigger than the blank space there.
File 1____File 4___File 3____File4___. |
How come the ext filesystem doesn't get badly fragmented like that?
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Hero
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Noz3001 wrote: | | Drkgodz wrote: | Imagine the lines are blank space.
File 1____File 2_____File 3.
You delete File 2.
Now it's:
File 1 ____________File 3.
You write another file that's bigger than the blank space there.
File 1____File 4___File 3____File4___. |
How come the ext filesystem doesn't get badly fragmented like that? |
What do you mean? Like the OS system files?
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hcavolsdsadgadsg
I'm a spammer
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Noz3001 wrote: | | Drkgodz wrote: | Imagine the lines are blank space.
File 1____File 2_____File 3.
You delete File 2.
Now it's:
File 1 ____________File 3.
You write another file that's bigger than the blank space there.
File 1____File 4___File 3____File4___. |
How come the ext filesystem doesn't get badly fragmented like that? |
because it attempts to store everything in a continuous mash if I remember right.
but yes, it can become fragmented over time.
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Zarr
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Hero wrote: | | What do you mean? Like the OS system files? |
The ext (ext4 is the latest revision iirc) filesystem is a filesystem (think NTFS or FAT32 if you're a windowsfag) commonly use by GNU/Linux distros. I'll bet most distros attempt to store files less haphazardly than Windows OSs.
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Hero
I'm a spammer
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:00 am Post subject: |
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| oh well, i defraged and its all neat now. But i just didnt get why when you install new things they dont fill in old holes.
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iTz SWAT
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:12 am Post subject: |
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If the EXT file system doesn't get fragments scattered at different HDD locations, don't that mean every time a file has changed, all the files on the Hard drive are being constantly moved and "Defragged"?
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Hero
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:12 am Post subject: |
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| I dont think so.
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K, Alcohol
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:04 am Post subject: |
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| Zarr wrote: | | Hero wrote: | | What do you mean? Like the OS system files? |
The ext (ext4 is the latest revision iirc) filesystem is a filesystem (think NTFS or FAT32 if you're a windowsfag) commonly use by GNU/Linux distros. I'll bet most distros attempt to store files less haphazardly than Windows OSs. |
That is exactly why there is only one tool for defragmenting unix file systems (defrag) and its used really rare. The file fragmentation level is very low (max few percents). This thread is good one to read.
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SFP+
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| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:42 am Post subject: |
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| defragmenting every once in a while also decreases disc failure errors
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