Defrag

What does defrag mean?

You PC is always trying to give you the best performance. This means that when you modify and save or delete files it will do this as quickly as possible and it won’t worry about keeping your hard disk neat and tidy. When you delete a file it will leave a gap where the file was and when it then saves files it will split the files into fragments to fit the available gaps.

The result of this is you can end up with bits of file all over your hard disk. Now of course your Windows or other operation system keeps careful track of where all the bits are and how to put them back together when you load the file. Behind the scenes all this assembling files and splitting files to fit the available gaps takes time and performance suffers when it becomes excessive as fragmentation increases.

The answer is to defragment or defrag your disk – which essentially tidies up all the files, joining the fragments together and reorganises the disk to combine all the unused space into nice large usable blocks. Many operating systems include a defrag tool; In Microsoft Vista it is under All Programs – Accessories – System Tools. There are also utilities you can buy which will automatically monitor and defrag your disk when it needs it.