Randy/Roberto, Microsoft used to say that disks using the NTFS file system didn't get fragmented - However, like most of Microsoft's statements it was wishful thinking. Several after-market 'defrag' programs appeared to take care of this for NT3.51 and NT4. With NT5 (Win2000), Microsoft admitted that NTFS did indeed get fragment and included a disk defragmenter program with it. But, you're still better off getting an aftermarket program to defrag Win files.....
Mike S. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Randy Kramer > Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 1:37 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [expert] Why is disk fragmentation a must in windows and > not in Linux > > > Roberto Armenteros wrote: > > This is just a curiosity. Windows computers need to be > > fragmented very often. On the other hand, I once read > > somewhere that disk fragmentation in linux wasnt > > recomended "I am not how true this is." The fact is > > that disk fragmentation in linux is not often spoken > > about. Is there something special about the way linux > > handles the disk so it can have this privilege? I > > would appreciate anyinsight about this. > > Roberto, > > I've edited your first couple sentences to be more accurate: > > This is just a curiosity. Windows computers need to be *defragmented* > very often. On the other hand, I once read somewhere that disk > defragmentation in linux *is not required*. > > Fragmentation is a bad thing. Disks under Windows get fragmented, > meaning that pieces of a single file get scattered in different places > on the disk -- among other things it makes access slower. So, you must > *defragment* Windows disks which tries to put the pieces (fragments) of > a file all in one place, in the right order. > > For reasons I don't fully understand, Linux files systems typically > don't get fragmented as easily, and hence don't need to be defragmented > very often if ever. > > However, fragmentation does occur, and some Linux file systems (at least > one of the journaled file systems) has a utility for defragementing it. > > BTW, the fragmentation in Windows occurs on FAT16 and FAT32 partitions. > I don't know whether fragmentation occurs on NTFS4 or NTFS5 file > systems. > > Randy Kramer > >
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