Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3574 mails)

[Joe Sloan <joe@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jerry Houston wrote:
> For years, defragging hard drives has been part of my routine system
> maintenance on Windows systems.  It occurred to me that I've now had
> Linux systems up and running long enough that it might be a good idea to
> defragment their drives, to make sure everything is running as smoothly
> as possible.
>
> I haven't been able to find any information about drive defragmentation
> for Linux file systems.  Searching for "defrag" with the software
> installer turned up no results.  Is it called something else in Linux land?
>
> Is defragmentation possible for Linux file systems?  Is it needed
> occasionally, as it is on Windows systems?

A lot of windoze converts ask "where is the anti-virus software", and
just as it's not really an issue, and in the same vein, defrag just
isn't something linux users ever have to worry about either.

The reason is intelligent storage policies - just think of unix file
systems as an office where a competent secretary keeps things filed
properly while working.

OTOH pc file systems are more like the office where files are tossed
randomly after use, and every weekend, people are hired to come in and
organize the files.

Having said that, there is a possibility of some fragmentation in unix
file systems, and there have even been some tools to reorganize things,
just as there have been anti-virus companies offering linux antivirus
programs (!?) but in general neither are ever needed in practice.

Joe
-- 
To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@xxxxxxxxxxxx