There may be nothing more frustrating than sitting in front of your computer waiting for your hard drive to deliver your request. As your blood pressure begins to climb and patience is quickly replaced by mounting frustration you begin to lose the ability to think rationally and turn to superstition as a logical fix. Maybe if I get a cup of coffee my computer will operate faster or perhaps taking out the garbage will fix the problem. Unfortunately neither of these options work and your left with the same problem, albeit you may have a little more energy and that smell may be gone.
The funny thing about your problem is that the actual solution is as easy as your first two options yet it is often overlooked.
First, let’s address the problem. If you are staring at your monitor for any length of time chances are your hard drive has been overrun by fragmented files. Before you begin to curse the heavens and wonder why you have been singled out for such a fate take solace in the fact fragmentation is a natural occurrence in every hard drive. By its very design hard drives have no natural defense against this computer disease and because of this any unprotected computer will eventually fall prey.
This is due to the fact that hard drives care more about space than they do about organizational skills. This “flaw” is the culprit behind fragmentation and over time will result in slow computer performance and the eventual crash of your hard drive. Again, take a breath; it doesn’t have to end in tragedy.
When your hard drive saves a file it stores this information in a contiguous manner, giving no thought to your future use of the file. As it places one saved file after the next, leaving no room for modifications, your information becomes hostage to its designated space. Because these files are placed one after the next there is no room for modifications so when you try to make additions to an existing file the hard drive is not able to keep all the information together as a single unit. Instead it fragments the file, filling the original space with information and then placing the additions in the next free space available. Now you have a fragmented file.
Most files on a hard drive are changed in some degree several times and so this means a single file can be fragmented hundreds of times. You multiply that by the amount of files stored on your hard drive the problem becomes apparent. Over time it takes your hard drive longer and longer to produce a file or application simply because it is forced to search for all the fragmented parts that belong to that one file or application.
It is important to recognize that every time you turn on your computer your hard drive is busy saving temporary files. You may not be aware of it but there have been countless files saved on your hard drive, each carrying the very real likelihood of becoming fragmented.
While staring at a screen may be a dead giveaway that your hard drive has become infected by fragmentation the process can be caught much quicker if you pay attention to the slowdown in your computers performance. If you notice it is taking longer to boot up your system, loading files or applications becomes problematic, browsing the Internet has slowed or accessing and sending email is becoming a lengthy process then chances are your dealing with a fragmentation problem.
Now that you recognize the real problem it is time to implement a real solution. Abandon the false hope associated with superstition and take a practical approach to solving your problem. This would be installing defragmentation software on your hard drive. Something as simple as this will not only restore your hard drive’s speed but also prevent future occurrences of fragmentation, thus providing your computer with a longer life span.
Defrag works by piecing together the fragmented files that exist on your hard drive. This software will gather all the information that belongs together and save it in one space, making it easier for your hard drive to locate the next time you try to pull it up. After defragmentation software has been installed it will continue to scan your hard drive and keep it in practical order, ensuring that what belongs together stays together.
This software is readily available at any computer retailer and takes just a moment to install. For those who value their computer and the information they have stored on it there are few things more important than defrag when it comes to protecting those files.
