Who said there is no fragmentation on Linux?

Many Linux users say that they know fragmentation is an obstacle in Windows, but they never felt the need (and did not have the right tools to measure it ) in order to defrag a Linux system because it is being slow.

Understanding the logic behind fragmentation, we doubt if there is any storage system which is active and still do not suffer from fragmentation. Allocation of any new file  over the place that was occupied by old files, causes any new file to split. If there are many files like this, the time it takes to write a new file or to retrieve an old file increases, and this is exactly the problem caused by fragmentation.

We are trying to give an answer to this question.

How do we proceed?

• The measurement technique that we developed is mathematical/statistical and is being ported to Linux too.

• The first file system that is being analyzed is EXT2 for Linux on INTEL/AMD technology. It covers EXT3 too, because EXT3 is not a real file system but a journaling one, and structure remains  EXT2.

• The program collecting the fragmentation information from the EXT2 disk directory is ready and we can analyze the fragmentation maps that we receive.

• When we'll have sufficient maps, we'll be able to produce the same graph of fragmentation distribution (The same way we did it for Windows)

• We are tailoring our product LaceWatcher (running on Windows) to measure fragmentation level of disks on Linux too. Please contact us if you want to take place in our tests.

Your help is welcomed.

• If you did not try it so far, you are invited to download our free (Up to 80GB) product for Windows environment, (Please click on the yellow square on the left side of this screen). 

•  If you have a Linux system with EXT2/EXT3 file system and want to participate, please send us an e-mail to info@disklace.com

• We shall send you the package preparing the fragmentation map in the format expected by our analyzing program.

• You will pack and send sent to us the map of your disk.

In return you'll get:

• The fragmentation level of your disk as reported by the analyze program.