What is Disk Fragmentation and What Causes it?
Disk fragmentation is a natural occurrence as the files on your SSD are constantly being read and written. In order to fit a file on your disk, your PC breaks it into multiple pieces which takes more time to read, write the data and impacts your system performance. Constant adding and deleting files contributes to disk fragmentation.
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The following activities contribute to disk fragmentation-
- Creation of new files
- Deleting existing files
- Downloading new files
- Copying or transferring files from other media
- Using software applications that read/ write files on your disk
What is Disk Defragmentation or Defragging?
As you use your PC, any data you store is usually fragmented into different pieces. Disk defragmentation is the process of reorganizing data on a disk and putting it back together in a continuous manner. Disk defragmentation is also known by different names such as defragging.
Regularly defragmenting your SSD will improve the overall system performance. Your PC will take less time reading information stored on each sector of your SSD. It’ll stop them from doing extra work and spending longer time. As a result, your PC will run smoother and faster.
Using Drive Optimizer in Windows:
- Click on the Start button.
- Type Optimize in the Search Box.
- Open Defragment and Optimize Drives from the Search Results.
- If some of your drives require defragging, Windows will display a current status similar like this: Need optimization (12% fragmented)
- Select all drives on your hard disk and then click on the Optimize button.
- Once your drive is analyzed and defragmented, close the program.
Disk Fragmentation from Mac Perspective
The Mac file system is designed differently. In contrast to Windows, you won’t find any disk defragmenter in Mac for a reason. Mac OS X 10.2 or higher automatically takes care of disk fragmentation without the user’s interval. Hence, there’s literally no need to periodically defrag your Mac unless certain exceptional cases.
What are those exceptional cases?
Sometimes, your Mac runs out of storage. Your SSD is almost full and there is hardly any storage left. In such circumstances, Mac may not be able to perform the system maintenance tasks on its own. Automatic defragmentation might not work and your SSD will continue to remain fragmented without repair. The most common way to deal with such situations is to first free-up your storage and then defrag your drives. Once your Mac finds adequate storage space for smoother functioning, it’ll defrag your drives on a regular basis.
Free-Up Your SSD Storage
Another way to optimize the performance of your SSD is to get rid of duplicate files. Years of accumulation of duplicate files causes your computer to run out of storage and run into performance issues. Your computer may freeze/ lag and normal operations can take longer than usual.
You can fix such duplicate files using a specialized software called Clone Files Checker. Here are some of its distinct features:
- Uses popular file hash and compare mechanisms to find duplicates
- Allows you to change your desired scan algorithm.
- Supports scanning duplicate documents, images, music, videos, archives
- Users can customize the scan depending on their needs. For example, they can set optional file size limitations, file type limitations
- Quickly view file size previews without opening a file
- Automatic duplicate selection patterns to help you review duplicates easily and quickly.
