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The simplest is appending data to an existing fragment in place where possible, instead of allocating new blocks to a new fragment. Many of today's file systems attempt to pre-allocate longer chunks, or chunks from different free space fragments, called extents to files that are actively appended to. This largely avoids file fragmentation when ...
However, as files are added, removed, and changed in size, the free space becomes externally fragmented, leaving only small holes in which to place new data. When a new file is written, or when an existing file is extended, the operating system puts the new data in new non-contiguous data blocks to fit into the available holes.
In the maintenance of file systems, defragmentation is a process that reduces the degree of fragmentation.It does this by physically organizing the contents of the mass storage device used to store files into the smallest number of contiguous regions (fragments, extents).
Obviously, large files are more likely to be fragmented. Simson Garfinkel [ 2 ] reported fragmentation statistics collected from over 350 disks containing FAT , NTFS and UFS file systems. He showed that while fragmentation in a typical disk is low, the fragmentation rate of forensically important files such as email, JPEG and Word documents is ...
NTFS metadata files can also be defragmented. A command-line tool, defrag.exe, has been included, [10] providing access to the defragmenter from cmd.exe and Task Scheduler. In Windows XP, if the Master File Table (MFT) is spread into multiple fragments, defrag.exe and the GUI version can combine the MFT fragments during defragmentation. [11]
Contig is designed to defragment individual files, [1] or specified groups of files, and does not attempt to move files to the beginning of the partition. Unlike the Windows built-in defragmenter tool, Contig can defragment individual files, individual directories, and subsets of the file system using wildcards.
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The aim of any defragger is to reduce or eliminate file fragmentation, and thereby improve the performance of the file system. Vopt achieves this by means of the following features: Fast defragmentation algorithm [5] when compared to the Windows Defragmenter [6] Optionally cleans up cookies, internet cache, temporary files and recycle bin ...