“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” or so the 16th century saying goes. If we were to modify that saying today and apply it to the computer age we might say, “The road to a computer crash is paved with good intentions.” In similar style to many great ideas the end result of a good intention doesn’t always produce the desired result.
This is made painfully obvious for computer owners when they begin to experience a slowdown in their computer performance. While many might attribute the loss of speed to age or memory the sad truth is it often originates from a good intention that actually produces a potentially devastating disease.
That good intention is based on the idea that in order to best utilize the space on a hard drive files can be stored in a fragmented manner. This means that in order to keep space at a maximum a hard drive saves and stores files in a contiguous fashion, quite simply placing one file directly behind the last file saved.
The problems begin to crop up as a saved file is retrieved and modified. When that file is resaved it will no longer fit in its original space so the hard drive is forced to cut the excess information and save it in the next available space. Because there is no limit to how many times a file can be fragmented many hard drives are carrying files that are broken into several hundred pieces.
As a result of this method any time you try to retrieve a fragmented file it takes the hard drive longer to find all the pieces that comprise that single file and the user is left waiting. Over time this added burden placed on the hard drive begins to cause longer delays until finally the computer crashes, causing everything that had been saved to become lost.
While a computer owner might not think they have many files saved on their hard drive the reality is that every time they turn their computer on their hard drive is busy saving temporary files, files that quickly become fragmented. Whether your dealing with documents, applications, or just browsing the Internet your hard drive is designed to save these actions as temporary files.
It is very easy to recognize when the hard drive has become overrun by fragmented files and if the computer owner takes the proactive steps to fix the problem then the damage can be reversed. However, if the problem is ignored and the fragmented files continue to mount then the inevitable outcome will be a catastrophic crash that ends the computer’s life.
The most obvious warning sign that the hard drive has become infected with fragmented files is that slowdown in performance. A computer user will notice delays in booting up their system, trouble loading pages and applications, difficulty accessing and sending emails and a sluggish Internet experience.
Just like any other disease, fragmentation will continue to evolve if it is left untreated until those delays and slowdowns become a permanent crash. So much for the good intentions that led to the philosophy fragmenting files would maximize the space on a hard drive.
Fortunately there is a remedy to the good intention turned deadly. By installing defragmentation software on the hard drive the computer owner can rest easy knowing that their system has been protected from these debilitating files. Once installed Defrag will clean the hard drive of fragmented files, joining the pieces that belong to a single file and save them in one space. This in turn makes it easier for your hard drive to locate a file when you try and retrieve it and as a result keeps the system healthy and fully operational.
One of the best features attributed to defragmentation software is that it continues to monitor the hard drive even after the initial repair. This means it will prevent fragmented files from returning to the hard drive thus sustaining the speed of the computer. Once defragmentation software has been installed the computer user can remain confidant that when they retrieve a file and make changes it won’t cost them the speed that they value so much.
