File Systems Fragmentation

[TheTodd]

The conversation so far...

It was brought up in the last meeting. This is what I have found.

WARNING: Windows stuff

Steve Gibson (creator of SpinRite) uses perfect disk. He mentions
another utility, that is free, to defrag pagefiles: PageDefrag and it
does, for free, a defrag of the swap file, your registry hive files,
event log files, hibernation files.

Also, check this website out for a comprehensive list of defraggers
for windows. http://donnedwards.openaccess.co.za/2007/06/great-defrag-shootout-all.ht...

So a question is, should I defrag my Linux computer?

Thanks,
Kenny

--------------

Thanks Kenny,

I will be out of town the next two Thursdays. I do want to attend the
meetings. Now with summer here I should be able to make them.

I enjoy the e-mails…keep them coming.

I am teaching one class, Computer Information Systems this summer at
the new Globe University behind Texas Road House. I hope to teach more
classes there as time goes on. They do offer a Principles of Linux
class. Have to see if I or maybe one of you could teach this class if
they need an instructor.

Take care.

Thanks
Jake Schoeder

--------------

Not really -
Linux file systems are not nearly as prone to fragmentation as the
Windows file systems. This depends a little on which of the Linux file
systems you are actually using, but it's not a common practice to try
to reorganize them, and most of the file systems don't really have any
utilities to do that anyway.

Steve

--------------

If you want to see how fragmented your ext3 filesystem is try this
command:

sudo fsck /dev/sda1 -n -f

(-n for no modifications to disk and -f for force even though the
journal says it's clean)
It will give you a percentage of noncontiguous inodes. Mine is listed
at 1.6%. As already stated, Linux ext3 is not very prone to
fragmentation UNLESS it is almost full, in which case it is
significantly worse than fat32 (because it has to fill in all those
little empty spaces it has accumulated).

Also, as already stated, no good tools exist to defragment anyway.

Byron

--------------

From what I remember reading and my own experience, you do not have to
defrag Linux. Linux stores files differently than Windows. In most
simplistic terms, Windows finds the first open space on the disk and
stores new files there. If the spot is too small to hold the whole
file, it finds the next spot, and the next, and so on -- instant
fragmentation. Linux on the other hand finds an open spot on the drive
that accommadates the full size of the file and puts it there --- no
fragmentation.

As a result, a brand new Windows installation can perform a little
faster than a Linux system because disk activity occurs in a narrow
region of the physical disk as it reads and writes files. For Linux,
the files tend to spread out over the disk so the disk arm has to
travel farther. However within a very short time, the Windows system
fragments and starts to get slower, and slower, and slower. The Linux
system does not fragment and therefore its disk performance tends to
be consistent over the long haul.

Linux system can become fragmented when you run short on disk space
because it can't find open spots on the disk to accommidate whole
files. I've found my Linux system can slow drastically if the free
space drops below 15%-20%.

Brian

[Pxkdwpy]

Anyone have those defragers mentioned? How 'bout (for the convenience
of all) posting them to our group's File area?

[Todd Welch]

The first program mentioned is pay to play programs so unable to post to the group.  Here is a links though:

Perfectdisk: http://www.raxco.com/

The second one PageDefrag you can download for free: http://www.download.com/PageDefrag/3000-2086_4-10547422.html



Todd

On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 9:53 PM, Pxkdwpy <Pxk...@gmail.com> wrote:

Anyone have those defragers mentioned?  How 'bout (for the convenience
of all) posting them to our group's File area?

--
Todd Welch
-----------------------
TC-TEKS Computers LLC: www.tcteks.com
Phone: 715-559-4177

Chip Valley Techies Community: www.TechintheValley.com
Blog: www.TheToddToday.com

[Pxkdwpy]

for those seeking PageDefrag, you may have to go here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426.aspx