Optimizing data organization on disk

A Good Fit

Article from Issue 149/2013
Author(s):

Defragfs optimizes files on a system, allowing videos to load faster and large archives to open in the blink of an eye.

In this age of digital content, data collections in normal households are growing rapidly. Whereas just a few years ago, hard drives with a couple hundred gigabytes were perfectly sufficient, today, multiple-terabyte disk storage capacity is commonly used.

The Linux filesystems ext2, ext3, and ext4 don’t need that much attention, but over time, after innumerable writes and deletes, data becomes fragmented. This slows down not just the hard disk itself, but also the entire system – sometimes noticeably. Thus, power users, even on Linux, are advised to reorganize their data occasionally.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Deleting Data

    Backups are a common topic, but you’ll hardly hear anyone mention safe data deletion.

  • Configuring Filesystems

    Although most Linux distributions today have simple-to-use graphical interfaces for setting up and managing filesystems, knowing how to perform those tasks from the command line is a valuable skill. We’ll show you how to configure and manage filesystems with mkfs, df, du, and fsck.

  • Top 10 Knoppix Rescue Tricks

    The Knoppix Live Linux distro is packed with powerful tools for fixing broken systems. We ask Knoppix creator Klaus Knopper for his favorite Knoppix rescue tricks.

  • Parted Magic

    It's really annoying when a disk suddenly dies on you or a typo in a command deletes important data. The free Parted Magic Live distro offers help.

  • Recovering Deleted Files

    Modern filesystems make forensic file recovery much more difficult. Tools like Foremost and Scalpel identify data structures and carve files from a hard disk image.

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News