Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 16:02:28 -0500 From: Jeremy Faulkner <gldisater@gto.net> To: Jim Pazarena <fquest@ccstores.com> Cc: FreeBSD Questions <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: disk fragmentation Message-ID: <41FFEE64.1010109@gto.net> In-Reply-To: <41FFDECF.3060901@ccstores.com> References: <41FFDECF.3060901@ccstores.com>
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Jim Pazarena wrote: > during the boot sequence, I routinely see a "% fragmentation message". > > It was my understanding that fragmentation doesn't occur on a Unix > (er FreeBSD) box.. > > It seems that there is a concept of fragmentation from the above > message, so, is there an "un-fragment" utility? > > Jim > No there is not a defragmenting program. Fragmentation is not a problem it is part of the normal operation of the filesystem. Data is stored in the filesystem in blocks, if a file does not have enough data to evenly fill all of its assigned blocks then the last block for the file is a fragment. The UFS filesystem will fill the fragment with new data when new data is added to the file. Some filesystems used by a redmond based company do not attempt to fill existing fragments, but simply add new blocks to the file so that a file could have more than one fragmented block. There are better descriptions of what is occurring in the archives, and presumably in textbooks that discuss filesystems. -- Jeremy Faulkner <gldisater@gto.net>
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