what does the windows disk defragmenter do exactly?

Answer 1

It's like books on a bookshelf...If you pull one of the books out (or delete a file) then there's gonna be gaps and empty spaces. So defragmenting your disc basically means it takes all the books and pushes them together and gets rid of the gaps, so the computer doesnt' have to waste time searching through the empty spaces.

Answer 2

Fragmentation makes your hard disk do extra work that can slow down your computer. Disk Defragmenter rearranges fragmented data so your hard disk can work more efficiently.

Fragmentation causes a disk subsystem to perform more data-seeking operations, slowing the rate at which data is transferred and resulting in sluggish disk performance. Fragmentation can occur under the following conditions.


You create a file, but the volume does not have a group of contiguous clusters that is large enough to contain the entire file. Therefore, the file is broken into fragments rather than residing in contiguous clusters on the volume.


You edit a file so that it outgrows its existing space on the volume. When a file uses all the clusters in a group of contiguous, free clusters, the file is then broken into fragments that are stored in free clusters elsewhere on the disk.

To achieve the best results from Disk Defragmenter, run Disk Defragmenter frequently. Do the following before running Disk Defragmenter.


Verify that the volume has 15 percent of its space free for the utility to use. Windows Server 2003 uses this free space as a sorting area for file fragments.


Delete any unwanted or temporary files.


Terminate any file system backup processes before running the utility. Backup processes cause the disk defragmentation process to pause.
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This section covers the architecture of Disk Defragmenter, the physical layout of a volume, the process and interactions of defragmentation, and files excluded by the utility.

Answer 3

A disk defragmenter is a computer program designed to increase access speed (and sometimes increase the amount of usable space) by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations. Disk defragmenters are available for many platforms, the most common being those included with operating systems (i.e. Microsoft Windows), utility packages (like Norton Utilities), or other standalone defragmenters (like PerfectDisk or Diskeeper). Many offer advanced options, such as sorting by last access or modification date to decrease access time for most commonly accessed files.

Answer 4

information are meant to be written in a unmarried piece so as that they are rapid to verify the subsequent time they're mandatory. yet specifically circumstances they're written in products scattered all over the disk and it takes so lots greater time to verify them in while mandatory. A defragmenter reads all of the bits and products of a fragmented record and places them jointly in one piece. some defragmenters will consolidate all information one hundred% - if there is sufficient loose area on the disk to realize this. some won't defragment the very vast information thoroughly yet extremely decrease them to three very great fragments. some consolidate all the empty area right into a unmarried quantity on a similar time as some will go away the empty area in 3 - 5 fragments and others will in basic terms defragment the information. sensible record placement is achieved with the help of a few defragmenters to velocity up get admission to to the information used for the period of bootup and/or to the main often accessed information. on a similar time as homestead windows is up and working there are a handful of information which won't be able to be defragmented via fact they're in use, those are the paging record, hibernation record and the index to all information on the disk stated as the MFT (grasp record table). One answer is to defragment on a similar time as homestead windows is down. often it is stated as a boot-time defragmentation and is achieved below DOS formerly the homestead windows GUI (Graphical consumer Interface) starts off up.

Answer 5

When files are created, deleted, or modified it's almost a certainty they will become fragmented. Fragmented simply means the file is not stored in one place in its entirety, or what computer folks like to call a contiguous location. Different parts of the file are scattered across the hard disk in noncontiguous pieces. The more fragmented files there are on a drive, the more performance and reliability suffer as the drive heads have to search for all the pieces in different locations. The Disk Defragmenter Utility is designed to reorganize noncontiguous files into contiguous files and optimize their placement on the hard drive for increased reliability and performance."

Answer 6

someone explained it to me once, this way. Imagine your computer as a filing cabinet, but when you "add a file", you dump it in a general holding area, and so when you get a lot of files, it's harder to find exactly what you're looking for quickly. Defragmenter takes all your files and arranges them in a more logical order so they can be easier to retrieve. This logical order also winds up freeing up disk space that is being "used" because the "files" are just a jumbled mess, instead of neatly arranged.

Rather colloquial, but it helped me wrap my head around it.

Answer 7

It basically rearranges your files in a more logical way to fill in gaps and help the hard drive find your files more quickly.

The effect is to speed up hard drive retrieval.

As Windows writes files the new material will go on the hard drive wherever there is room. That may not be the most logical place for it, and the defrag program will try to logically arrange your files, eliminate gaps and smooth out the way your PC runs.

Answer 8

Sometimes when your hard disk tries to write a file it cannot find a single space to write it. So it will write it in pieces or fragments to different parts of the disk.

When the computer tries to load a fragmented file it will be slower because it has to find all the pieces. Defragmenting rearranges the files so they are each in a single space, speeding up your computer.

Answer 9

if your files are fragmented it brings them all together. files are saved in blocks of sizes. if you delete a file then save another one it will fill up the space of the deleted file and if it is a large file, continue at the next available space. defragmenting brings them all together thus making your pc faster in terms of accessing files.

Answer 10

when you delete a file it doesn't really delete it, it just changes it's "address". well when you do a defrag it actually finishes the deleting process and rearranges the files.