Joshu
28-07-2005, 03:19 PM
REMEMBER TO DEFRAG EVERY YEAR OR SO. IT DOES HELP.
Remember to defrag your drives, especially if they get large files deleted and put on again repeatedly.
Here I was, trying to figure out why all my games were running at sub-standard speeds... I ran the defrag tool, take a peek at the screenshot ;)
Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 29 %
File fragmentation = 59 %
Free space fragmentation = 0 %
File fragmentation
Total files = 39,690
Average file size = 2 MB
Total fragmented files = 7,602
Total excess fragments = 48,225
Average fragments per file = 2.21
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
3,329 380 MB \D Shared\trustix-2.2.i586.iso
597 257 MB \Games\CC Generals\SpeechEnglish.bi g
570 148 MB \Games\Battlefield 1942\Mods\DC_Final\Archiv es\sound.rfa
293 78 MB \Games\Battlefield 1942\Mods\DC_Final\Archiv es\sound_001.rfa
243 28 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Ma ps\SP-FirstBlood-Interior.tvm
215 31 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Sa ves\SaveGame_VictoriaAThe Past-Origins.tvs
181 176 MB \Games\CC Generals\W3D.big
170 84 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Ar t\Environments\ArenaObjec ts.pkg
164 318 MB \Games\CC Generals\Textures.big
163 160 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak4.pk3
163 160 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak3.pk3
162 159 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\uo\pakuo02.pk3
162 160 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\localized_engli sh_pak0.pk3
161 158 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak2.pk3
161 158 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak1.pk3
160 156 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\uo\pakuo04.pk3
160 157 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak0.pk3
155 151 MB \Games\CC Generals\Music.big
144 21 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Cu tscenes\CS-01SPAend_02CAPstart.tvm
143 140 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\uo\pakuo03.pk3
Painful shit. :(
Defragging also helps stop DC++ raping your harddrive when someone tries to leech a 4GB linux ISO off ya.
A quick guide to what file fragmentation is, for noobs:
Say you have a 40GB disk, and you download a 10gb file onto it.
|XXXXXXXXXX______________ ________________|
It gets put at the start of the disk. Then you download a 12gb file onto it.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX__ ________________|
It gets put at the start of the free space. Then you download another 10 gb file onto it.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX________|
Again, it's put at the start of the free space. We'll put in an extra 5gb file just for kicks.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX___|
Hey, we don't need the orange file anymore, it was a shitty game anyway. BALEETED!
|XXXXXXXXXX____________XX XXXXXXXXXXXXX___|
Notice how deleting doesn't automatically shift the other files around? OK, now we want to put a 6gb file on it. No problems, goes at the start of the free space.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX______XX XXXXXXXXXXXXX___|
See how the free space is starting to be in different areas? This isn't fragmentation YET. Let's put a 8gb file on there and see what it does.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_|
Hey, it split the file into two! That's OK, because the record that points to the file knows to read from the different sections... this is file fragmentation, and imagine this happening on 1000x the scale. This makes the files slower to read... as you can see above, my Trustix ISO was split into over 3000 fragments. Not really too good for my harddrive to be bouncing itself all over the place. This is why you defrag; a defrag would shift the files around so that they're all in one piece.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_|
Defrags also have a nice habit of putting all the files that are in a folder near each other, so that if you're loading a game it doesn't have to get all the files from all over the place, but can just read them in order.
E: See how this tends to happen most when you're almost full to the brim? The more "full to the brim" usage you use your drive for, the more fragmentation it's going to encounter.
Remember to defrag your drives, especially if they get large files deleted and put on again repeatedly.
Here I was, trying to figure out why all my games were running at sub-standard speeds... I ran the defrag tool, take a peek at the screenshot ;)
Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 29 %
File fragmentation = 59 %
Free space fragmentation = 0 %
File fragmentation
Total files = 39,690
Average file size = 2 MB
Total fragmented files = 7,602
Total excess fragments = 48,225
Average fragments per file = 2.21
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
3,329 380 MB \D Shared\trustix-2.2.i586.iso
597 257 MB \Games\CC Generals\SpeechEnglish.bi g
570 148 MB \Games\Battlefield 1942\Mods\DC_Final\Archiv es\sound.rfa
293 78 MB \Games\Battlefield 1942\Mods\DC_Final\Archiv es\sound_001.rfa
243 28 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Ma ps\SP-FirstBlood-Interior.tvm
215 31 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Sa ves\SaveGame_VictoriaAThe Past-Origins.tvs
181 176 MB \Games\CC Generals\W3D.big
170 84 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Ar t\Environments\ArenaObjec ts.pkg
164 318 MB \Games\CC Generals\Textures.big
163 160 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak4.pk3
163 160 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak3.pk3
162 159 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\uo\pakuo02.pk3
162 160 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\localized_engli sh_pak0.pk3
161 158 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak2.pk3
161 158 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak1.pk3
160 156 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\uo\pakuo04.pk3
160 157 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\Main\pak0.pk3
155 151 MB \Games\CC Generals\Music.big
144 21 MB \Games\TribesV\Content\Cu tscenes\CS-01SPAend_02CAPstart.tvm
143 140 MB \Games\Call Of Duty\uo\pakuo03.pk3
Painful shit. :(
Defragging also helps stop DC++ raping your harddrive when someone tries to leech a 4GB linux ISO off ya.
A quick guide to what file fragmentation is, for noobs:
Say you have a 40GB disk, and you download a 10gb file onto it.
|XXXXXXXXXX______________ ________________|
It gets put at the start of the disk. Then you download a 12gb file onto it.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX__ ________________|
It gets put at the start of the free space. Then you download another 10 gb file onto it.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX________|
Again, it's put at the start of the free space. We'll put in an extra 5gb file just for kicks.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX___|
Hey, we don't need the orange file anymore, it was a shitty game anyway. BALEETED!
|XXXXXXXXXX____________XX XXXXXXXXXXXXX___|
Notice how deleting doesn't automatically shift the other files around? OK, now we want to put a 6gb file on it. No problems, goes at the start of the free space.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX______XX XXXXXXXXXXXXX___|
See how the free space is starting to be in different areas? This isn't fragmentation YET. Let's put a 8gb file on there and see what it does.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_|
Hey, it split the file into two! That's OK, because the record that points to the file knows to read from the different sections... this is file fragmentation, and imagine this happening on 1000x the scale. This makes the files slower to read... as you can see above, my Trustix ISO was split into over 3000 fragments. Not really too good for my harddrive to be bouncing itself all over the place. This is why you defrag; a defrag would shift the files around so that they're all in one piece.
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_|
Defrags also have a nice habit of putting all the files that are in a folder near each other, so that if you're loading a game it doesn't have to get all the files from all over the place, but can just read them in order.
E: See how this tends to happen most when you're almost full to the brim? The more "full to the brim" usage you use your drive for, the more fragmentation it's going to encounter.