The Hard Life of a Hard DriveHow files grow, become fragmented, and are defragmented
Adapted from the File:FragmentationDefragmentation.gif contained in Wikipedia’s English version of the article on
Defragmentation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defragmentation)
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
2 – A new file – the red file
3 – A second new file – the blue file
4 – The red file is added to
5 – A new file – the green file
6 – A new file - the teal file
7 – The blue file is added to
8 – A new file – the orange file
10 – The blue file is deleted
11 – A new file – blue #2
12 – The green file is added to!It’s going to be slow to read …
13 – Start defrag – make space for red
14 – Move one red block back
15 – Make more room for red
16 – Move one more red back
17 – Make more room for red
18 – Red is now contiguous
21 – Blue #2 is now contiguous
22 – Start to defrag green
27 – Move teal to make more room
30 - … and move more green
34 - … and put one teal in place
36 - … and move more teal
38 - … and move more teal
41 – Finished defragmentation