is it true that after defragmenting a hard disk,its free spece becomes less due to the defragmentation
2007-03-17 07:36:29 · 6 answers · asked by Questions 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
No, the disk usage should stay the same. Defragmentation simply moves around the files so they can be stored contiguously instead of in different parts of the disk. The file sizes do not change, nor are there additional files added during a defragmentation. Defragmentation can speed up the reading of the files since the head does not have to move around the disk so much while reading the data. This gives you a slight performance increase.
If you lost significant diskspace during a defrag it probably did not complete properly. It has to copy the files as it moves them around to free up space. If the defrag aborted some of those copied files may still be present (and orphaned). Try to run it again and make sure it completes. You may also need to clean the disk of the lost file chains created when the defrag aborted.
2007-03-17 07:52:35 · answer #1 · answered by Glen G 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Picture defragmenting as when you've moving your stuff. Now the entire hard drive is like your house/apartment, while the moving truck is the end result of the defragmented process. Defragmenting simply pushes everything together in the tightest possible space, because when computers save things, its usually not saved to preserve space. From my experience I've found that the free space does not become less, its just more concentrated. Take all the the pieces of furniture in your living room (spread out) and then move them all into one corner. The same amount of space still exists, its just more open.
2007-03-17 14:44:58 · answer #2 · answered by physicist05 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The quick answer, no. Periodically you should defrag the hard drive (it will even work on USB Flash drives, defragmenting). The reason it makes it quicker is because as you use the drive for storage, it starts to send fragments of your file here and there. When the hard drive is defragged (with today's drives, personal opinion is I would not let it get much past 1%, 10% at the most, unless you want to spend a couple days defragging) it puts the sectors contiguous to one another for faster access.
2007-03-17 14:56:40 · answer #3 · answered by dick_bee_bad 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a techie but I've always heard Defragmenting is a good thing.
I like to think of it as cleaning out the fridge. You've got your turkey dinner your putting away - the turkey is on one shelf - the dressing is tucked behind the pickles on another shelf, the cranberry sauce is tucked in the door.
Defrag - cleans out the fridge so that the turkey dinner is saved together on the same shelf so you can access it faster and easier. Make sense.
2007-03-17 14:44:41 · answer #4 · answered by Typing Tornado 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, but you do need a good percentage of free space available on the drive to perform an effective defragment.
2007-03-17 14:54:30 · answer #5 · answered by Bjorn 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is not true, defragmenting a disk is for having more free space on your hard disk, maybe if you over do it, it will take more space from your hard disk. good luck
2007-03-17 14:42:27 · answer #6 · answered by Guy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋