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Defrag
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''). It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using compaction to impede the return of fragmentation. Defragmentation is advantageous and relevant to file systems on electromechanical disk drives (hard disk drives, floppy disk drives and optical disk media). The movement of the hard drive's read/write heads over different areas of the disk when accessing fragmented files is slower, compared to accessing the entire contents of a non-fragmented file sequentially without moving the read/write heads to seek other fragments. Causes of fragmentation Fragmentation occurs when the file system cannot or will not allocate enough contiguous space to store a complete file as a unit, but instead puts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Drive Optimizer
Microsoft Drive Optimizer (formerly Disk Defragmenter) is a utility in Microsoft Windows designed to increase data access speed by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations, a technique called defragmentation. Microsoft Drive Optimizer was first officially shipped with Windows 95. Defragmenting a disk minimizes head travel, which reduces the time it takes to read files from and write files to the disk. As a result of the decreased read and write times, Microsoft Drive Optimizer decreases system startup times for systems starting from magnetic storage devices such as a hard drive. However, defragmentation is not helpful on storage devices such as solid state drives, USB drives or SD cards that use flash memory to increase speeds, as these drives do not use a head. Doing so may decrease lifespan for these types of devices. From Windows 8 onwards, the program was renamed to Microsoft Drive Optimizer, with some references changed to say ''Defragme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boot-time Defragmentation
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''). It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using compaction to impede the return of fragmentation. Defragmentation is advantageous and relevant to file systems on electromechanical disk drives (hard disk drives, floppy disk drives and optical disk media). The movement of the hard drive's read/write heads over different areas of the disk when accessing fragmented files is slower, compared to accessing the entire contents of a non-fragmented file sequentially without moving the read/write heads to seek other fragments. Causes of fragmentation Fragmentation occurs when the file system cannot or will not allocate enough contiguous space to store a complete file as a unit, but instead puts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comparison Of Defragmentation Software
__NOTOC__ The following is a comparison of notable file system defragmentation software: Notes References {{Reflist, 30em External links The Big Windows 7 Defragmenter TestThe Big Windows XP Defragmenter Test Defragmentation software, Software comparisons, Defragmentation software ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
File System Fragmentation
In computing, file system fragmentation, sometimes called file system aging, is the tendency of a file system to lay out the contents of Computer file, files non-continuously to allow in-place modification of their contents. It is a special case of fragmentation (computer)#Data fragmentation, data fragmentation. File system fragmentation negatively impacts seek time in spinning storage media, which is known to hinder throughput (disk drive), throughput. Fragmentation can be remedied by re-organizing files and free space back into contiguous areas, a process called defragmentation. Solid-state drives do not physically seek, so their non-sequential data access is hundreds of times faster than moving drives, making fragmentation less of an issue. It is recommended to not manually defragment solid-state storage, because this can prematurely wear drives via unnecessary write–erase operations. Causes When Disk formatting, a file system is first initialized on a Disk partitioning, parti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seek Time
Higher performance in hard disk drives comes from devices which have better performance characteristics. These performance characteristics can be grouped into two categories: #Access time, access time and #Data transfer rate, data transfer time (or rate). Access time The ''access time'' or ''response time'' of a rotating drive is a measure of the time it takes before the drive can actually Data transmission, transfer data. The factors that control this time on a rotating drive are mostly related to the mechanical nature of the rotating disks and moving Disk read-and-write head, heads. It is composed of a few independently measurable elements that are added together to get a single value when evaluating the performance of a storage device. The access time can vary significantly, so it is typically provided by manufacturers or measured in benchmarks as an average. The key components that are typically added together to obtain the access time are: * #Seek time, Seek time * #Rotati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prefetcher
The Prefetcher is a component of Microsoft Windows which was introduced in Windows XP. It is a component of the Memory management, Memory Manager that can speed up the Windows booting, boot Windows NT Startup Process, process and shorten the amount of time it takes to start up programs. It accomplishes this by caching files that are needed by an application to RAM as the application is launched, thus consolidating disk reads and reducing disk seeks. This feature was covered by US patent 6,633,968. Since Windows Vista, the Prefetcher has been extended by Windows Vista I/O technologies#SuperFetch, SuperFetch and ReadyBoost. SuperFetch attempts to accelerate application launch times by monitoring and adapting to application usage patterns over periods of time, and caching the majority of the files and data needed by them into memory in advance so that they can be accessed very quickly when needed. ReadyBoost (when enabled) uses external memory like a USB flash drive to extend the syste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paging
In computer operating systems, memory paging is a memory management scheme that allows the physical Computer memory, memory used by a program to be non-contiguous. This also helps avoid the problem of memory fragmentation and requiring compaction to reduce fragmentation. Paging is often combined with the related technique of allocating and freeing Page (computer memory), ''page frames'' and storing pages on and retrieving them from Computer data storage#Secondary storage, secondary storage in order to allow the aggregate size of the address spaces to exceed the physical memory of the system. For historical reasons, this technique is sometimes referred to as ''swapping''. When combined with virtual memory, it is known as Virtual memory#Paged virtual memory, ''paged virtual memory''. In this scheme, the operating system retrieves data from secondary storage in Block (data storage), blocks of the same size (pages). Paging is an important part of virtual memory implementations in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Disk Drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, platters coated with magnetic material. The platters are paired with disk read-and-write head, magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual Block (data storage), blocks of data can be stored and retrieved in any order. HDDs are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored data when powered off. Modern HDDs are typically in the form of a small disk enclosure, rectangular box. Hard disk drives were introduced by IBM in 1956, and were the dominant secondary storage device for History of general-purpose CPUs, general-purpose computers beginning in the early 1960s. HDDs maintained this position into the modern er ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contiguous Data Storage
In computer storage, fragmentation is a phenomenon in the computer system which involves the distribution of data in to smaller pieces which storage space, such as computer memory or a hard drive, is used inefficiently, reducing capacity or performance and often both. The exact consequences of fragmentation depend on the specific system of storage allocation in use and the particular form of fragmentation. In many cases, fragmentation leads to storage space being "wasted", and programs will tend to run inefficiently due to the shortage of memory. Basic principle In main memory fragmentation, when a computer program requests blocks of memory from the computer system, the blocks are allocated in chunks. When the computer program is finished with a chunk, it can free it back to the system, making it available to later be allocated again to another or the same program. The size and the amount of time a chunk is held by a program varies. During its lifespan, a computer program can requ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disk Partitioning
Disk partitioning or disk slicing is the creation of one or more regions on secondary storage, so that each region can be managed separately. These regions are called partitions. It is typically the first step of preparing a newly installed disk after a partitioning scheme is chosen for the new disk before any file system is created. The disk stores the information about the partitions' locations and sizes in an area known as the partition table that the operating system reads before any other part of the disk. Each partition then appears to the operating system as a distinct "logical" disk that uses part of the actual disk. System administrators use a program called a partition editor to create, resize, delete, and manipulate the partitions. Partitioning allows the use of different filesystems to be installed for different kinds of files. Separating user data from system data can prevent the system partition from becoming full and rendering the system unusable. Partitioning can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Native Command Queuing
In computing, Native Command Queuing (NCQ) is an extension of the Serial ATA protocol allowing hard disk drives to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed. This can reduce the amount of unnecessary drive head movement, resulting in increased performance (and slightly decreased wear of the drive) for workloads where multiple simultaneous read/write requests are outstanding, most often occurring in Server (computing), server-type applications. History Native Command Queuing was preceded by Parallel ATA's version of Tagged Command Queuing (TCQ). ATA's attempt at integrating TCQ was constrained by the requirement that ATA host bus adapters use Industry Standard Architecture, ISA bus device protocols to interact with the operating system. The resulting high CPU overhead and negligible performance gain contributed to a lack of market acceptance for ATA TCQ. NCQ differs from TCQ in that, with NCQ, each command is of equal importance, but NCQ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
