File system fragmentation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:27, 22 March 2007

Revision as of 07:38, 4 April 2007

Line 1:

{{Merge|Defragmentation|date=January 2007}}

In computing, '''[[file system]] [[fragmentation (computer)|fragmentation]]''', sometimes called '''file system aging''', is the inability of a file system to lay out related data sequentially (contiguously), an inherent phenomenon in [[computer storage|storage]]-backed file systems that allow in-place modification of their contents. It is a special case of [[fragmentation (computer)#Data fragmentation|data fragmentation]]. File system fragmentation introduces disk head seeks, which are known to hinder [[throughput]].