Well?
Is it safe to defrag an external HDD?
- Thread starter I_live_cement
- Start date
Why wouldn't it be? (genuine question)
I dunno, computers are like voodoo magic to me.
why wouldn't it be?
edit: tit
edit: tit
This isn't an entertaining thread. Why is in here?
Unless weaste cares to correct me, I'm guessing it's the exact same process as on an internal hardrive, ie, just moving the files about into a more efficient system/order.
(that is of course after microsoft's wonderful system just threw everything about randomly to begin with...)
(that is of course after microsoft's wonderful system just threw everything about randomly to begin with...)
I wonder the same thing about the Lost thread.
It should be exactly the same, and yes, safe.
It in here because it very entertaining.
Why you post like Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime?
You do first.
feck, you right. Me did.
You telling me Ubuntu arranges them with some sort of logic?
Yes! Thankfully.
Why doesn't Linux need defragmenting?
Basically, ext3/ext4, the filesystems used by Linux, give space around files when assigning places on the disk. So there is no need to split up a file to fit small areas. As long as you have tons of free space, an ext3/ext4 drive will never be badly fragmented.
All file systems need to be defragmented at some point.
why didnt you ask this question in the PC help thread?
back to the original question: Is it safe to defrag an external HDD?
Yes its relatively safe. For extra piece of mind I would place the HD in a bowl of tepid water whilst defragmenting is in progress.
Hope this helps.
Yes its relatively safe. For extra piece of mind I would place the HD in a bowl of tepid water whilst defragmenting is in progress.
Hope this helps.
Eventually yes, but ext2/ext3/ext4 file systems don't need as frequent defragmenting as FAT32/NTFS. I can't remember the lower-bound at which you may need to start considering defragmenting on Linux, though, something like 30-40% usage.
I think ext3 fragments quite badly if you do things like torrent large files (i.e. slow writes), unless space is preallocated - although I'd imagine FAT32/NTFS would also have the same problem, possibly worse.
I think ext3 fragments quite badly if you do things like torrent large files (i.e. slow writes), unless space is preallocated - although I'd imagine FAT32/NTFS would also have the same problem, possibly worse.