[NTLUG:Discuss] defrag for Linux??

[Greg Edwards]

Neil Aggarwal wrote:

> David:
> 
> I was under the impression that the Unix filesystem
> constantly does this for you.
> 
> Does anyone know if this is correct?
> 
> Thanks,
> 	Neil.
> 
> --
> Neil Aggarwal



I have not looked into the source code for Linux but I assume that it 
uses the same inode design that UNIX uses.  I'd be very suprised if 
Linus (and others) spent much time on trying to improve on a very mature 
and stable design.

Given this assumption doing a defrag is not really going to accomplish 
anything.  Remember this is NOT DOS/Windows.

I've been doing UNIX development for a long time.  I've worked on 
realtime versions as well as developed an embedded kernel from scratch. 
  I've spent allot of time working with source from Berkeley 4.2, 
Ultrix, and AT&T System V.  The storage (and recovery) of data on disk 
makes use of both hardware and logical efficiencies that all but 
eliminate the need to defrag.

My advice is to forget about it and be happy you've left the poor 
performance of that other OS behind ;)

-- 
Greg Edwards
New Age Software, Inc.
http://www.nas-inet.com