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From: stevedc@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Stephen Carter)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.questions,sussex.general,comp.misc
Subject: Disc (De)Fragger
Keywords: Disc Fragmentation
Message-ID: <4973@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
Date: 30 Apr 91 16:38:28 GMT
Organization: University of Sussex
Lines: 27


		Disc Fragmentation (etc)
		------------------------

Operating systems I have dealt with in the past (eg RSTS, MS-DOS, VMS)
have all had a range of utilities that address the twin problems of
disc/data file fragmentation and directory tidying up.

Functionally un*x seems to be the same as all of these (don't flame me!)
in that users make and delete files, and that in time the data blocks
that together make up the files can be all over the disc - presumably
leading to inefficiencies.

Yet I have not heard of any utilities to reorder un*x directories or to
defragment discs.

Is there a reason?  

(Reasons such as un*x is 'better', or that un*x machines are so fast
that these performance issues don't matter will be carefully consigned
to /dev/null and read next year).

Stephen Carter, Systems Manager, The Administration,
The University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
Tel: +44 273 678203  Fax: +44 273 678335     JANET: stevedc@uk.ac.sussex.syma
EARN/BITNET  : stevedc@syma.sussex.ac.uk      UUCP: stevedc@syma.uucp
ARPA/INTERNET: stevedc%syma.sussex.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk