It’s no secret that the vast majority of companies today rely heavily on their computer network system. From advertising and distributing their products and services on their company Web site to storing important information regarding employees and clients to communicating through email and internal messaging, a network system is vitally important to the daily operations and continued success of any business.
With so much emphasis placed upon a computer network system it would make sense for a company to take all the necessary precautions to guard against any potential problems that could dramatically affect its performance. While it may make sense the truth is those precautions are often overlooked and the aftermath of such a mistake could produce a catastrophic network crash capable of crippling a company.
One of the greatest dangers that a computer network system faces is a disease known as fragmentation. We have all heard about the damages caused by viruses and in some way this awareness has lulled us into a false sense of safety when it comes to the protection of our computers. There is a general belief that if we guard against viruses then the health of the computer is secure. Unfortunately that belief opens the door for a much more dangerous problem.
Unlike a virus, the computer disease fragmentation is born directly on the hard drive and if it isn’t taken care of in time it could lead to the death of the network.
Fragmentation relates to the manner in which the hard drive saves and stores files. By design the hard drive places files in a contiguous manner meaning every time a file is saved it is placed directly behind the last file saved. The problem with this method is it doesn’t take into account the need to modify and change existing files. Because a company is often accessing and changing saved files this can become very problematic for their network.
When a file is changed and saved it will no longer fit in the original space that it was stored. The hard drive’s answer is to cut the excess information and place it in the next available space thus creating a fragmented file. Each time that file is recalled and saved it is fragmented once more and this process continues resulting in a file that could be fragmented into hundreds or thousands of pieces.
This excess of fragmented files slows down the computer network’s speed because each time a fragmented file is recalled the hard drive is forced to search for all the pieces that comprise that file. As a result this slows down everything from booting up a computer, loading pages and files, accessing and ending emails, and browsing the Internet. All of these problems will not only slow business but will eventually grind it to a halt.
That halt will likely come in the form of a computer network crash because the hard drive will get to a point where it can no longer handle the demands of searching for fragmented pieces of a file and will collapse signaling the loss of just about everything that had been saved on the computer.
Companies can easily prevent such an occurrence from ever happening and all it takes is the installation of defragmentation software. This simple process will scan the hard drive for fragmented files and repair any of those files that have been fractured. Defragmentation software will not only repair fragmented files but will continue to monitor the hard drive to ensure fragmentation doesn’t return.
Once Defrag has been installed the speed of the network will return and thus productivity for a company will get a boost. For any company that values the integrity of their business and wants to protect their computer network system from a slowdown installing defragmentation software is the answer.
