Optimize a Slow Booting and Sluggish Computer
Part 3: FILE OR DISK FRAGMENTATION
By Orphie of Orphan Computers


This is the third installment of this series on easing your frustrations over a slow booting and sluggish computer. We have already discussed "TRIMMING THE FAT FROM YOUR COMPUTER’S ‘SYSTEM STARTUP’" and how Windows Operation Systems are "OBSESSIVE/COMPULSIVE HOARDERS," so we will now discuss "FILE OR DISK FRAGMENTATION."

In order for you computers to boot up, function and do any work you want it to do, it demands a constant flow of various files back and forth and in-between permanent storage (your Hard Drive), temporary storage (your Memory) and where all the actions on these files are performed (your CPU or Co-processing Unit). To gain a simple understanding of what is going on; let’s look at this flow of files in terms of a normal business office. (For you Techies out there, bear in mind this is an analogy that is not intended to be 100% accurate.)

When you go into the typical office you are likely to see three primary things. A desk where the executive sits and does his work, this is your CPU. A work table (large or small) that sits adjacent to the desk, this is your Memory. And a bank of filing cabinets with drawers containing hanger folders and inside of these are individual file folders with files in them, this is your Hard Drive.

When the executive needs to do some work he tells a secretary to bring him files from the filing cabinet and set them out on the work table where he can reach over and pick up the file he wants to use at any given moment. There is only so much room on the desk so when it starts getting too cluttered he move files he is done with for the moment back to the work table in exchange for another group of files he needs to do something with. When he is totally finished with a group of files, he tells the secretary to take them form the work table and put them back into the file cabinet, and this is where the problem starts.

At the start of the day, all of the files in the filing cabinet were perfectly arranged in a combination of alpha/numeric order as well as dates and categories. The secretary knew exactly where to find any given file. The executive is a demanding task master however, and not only does he want the file he is done with put away, he is now demanding a whole new group of files or indeed, several groups of files, and he wants them RIGHT NOW! Before the secretary can bring new files back to the work table, they have to put the files they are carrying away. So in order to increase their efficiency in getting new files back to the work table, they don’t bother to put the finished files back where they came from. They open the drawer that happens to be the closest to them, find whatever empty file folder may be in any given hanger file and just plops them in there; out of order. It actually gets worse than this. If a given file with its various pages is too thick to go into a folder, the secretary may actually put different pages of a given file into multiple file folders inside of different hanger folders and even into a different drawer. This process goes on all day and all week long. Consequently, at the end of the week, the secretary no longer knows where to find any given file and has to search the entire file cabinet to find anything. This of course has a negative impact on the rate at which the secretary can bring files to the work table for the executive.

This is essentially what happens in your computer. This process is called, "file fragmentation" or "disk fragmentation." At some point, if all the files are not put back into "contiguous" order, the speed of a computer’s operation can decrease significantly.

Windows Operating Systems provide a tool to deal with fragmentation and it is pretty easy to recognize it with the name of "Disk Defragmenter." This tool should be used after you have TRIMMED THE FAT and dealt with FILE HOARDING.

In XP, you would follow this path to activate this tool: Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Defragmenter. In Vista or 7, you would follow the same path, but the "Start Button" has been replaced with the "Windows Symbol."

Orphie is always willing and ready to help. If you have question about Defragging your Hard Drive, would like to know about other utilities for doing so, or if you don’t feel comfortable doing this on your own, we can remote into your computer and give you direct assistance. Our aim is to instruct you as you watch what we do so that you can be enabled to do this on your own with confidence. Contact us today.

Back to Part 1: TRIMMING THE FAT FROM YOUR COMPUTER’S "SYSTEM STARTUP."
Back to Part 2: "FILE HOARDING INTERVENTION"




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