Does the Disk Defragmenter move my files to other folders?

Question

I want to defrag my files for the first time. I did a bit of research, I was relieved that it didn't delete any files. However, I'm a bit skeptical when it said "rearrange your hard disk"

Will it literally move files into other locations and causing some programs not to work?

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

No.The short version is that your folders don't actually exist, so there's no way that a defrag can move them.





So, here's a somewhat brief overview of how this works:



Your files are not actually arranged in folders. In fact, your files don't actually exist at all. You have these spinning metal platters and your computer interprets the spinning metal platters based on the magnetic charge at each point. Early computer developers had to figure out a way to turn those 1s and 0s on the disk into something that we could actually use. So there's a specific spot on that disk that's designated as the file table. Your computer is given special instructions on how to read it (through a driver, the same way your computer learns to communicate with everything). In that file table, you have lists of file names, file sizes, and the folders along with a number telling the computer where on the physical disk the file is located.



Now, sometimes, there isn't a single continuous spot left on the disk big enough for a file. So your computer has to split that file up into multiple chunks in order to save it. Unfortunately, this means that the file takes longer to read because the computer has to physically move the disk to each spot that it had to split the file into. It's like trying to find a dozen library books rather than just one- you know roughly where they are because you have the dewey decimal number, but it still takes a while to go over to the other book shelf and actually find it. A disk defragmenter rearranges the files physically on the disk so that your files aren't split into pieces like that.

Answer 2

Windows is like a toddler when it comes to retrieving files. The files do stay in their respective folders or "rooms" if you will. Windows will grab the file to do what it needs to do and when it gets done it doesn't put all the toys back where it found them. What a defragmenter does is basically what a dad or mom will do. they take the files/toys and put them back the way they are supposed to be. this way the file doesn't have to search for all the bits and pieces that are out of order which will eventually slow the loading of the program. By rearrange it means that the files are arranged initially. It rearranges the files back to the original state. Some defragmenters have options to tell the defragmenter how to do it's job. For the average user the window's defragmenter is appropriate.

Answer 3

**sigh -_-;** when it says it moves files around all it does is it re-positions files on the hard drive itself. It does physically move the location of where the file is but it does not change anything to the folders or the directories on the computer itself. Its a bit like moving your chair closer to your computer so you don't have to stretch so far say if you were slouching in your chair and stretching out for your keyboard. When a computer hard drive tries to access a file or folder on the physical hard disk it can become randomized and doing a disk defrag fixes this and reduces that which is known as seek time. So its not going crazy looking for a file that could be in another area of the hard drive. So you wont see ANY changes to the pc other then speed differences which depending on how fragmented your hard drive is could be little or alot. All it does is it basically makes things easier for your computer and sorts things out. Hope this helps! P.S -- search time is also reduces as well!

Answer 4

While you might think of a file as one file, it's actually stored on the hard drive as many smaller pieces. When you save a file, the hard disk starts saving those little pieces at the first available spot. Sometimes its not possible to save all the pieces of your file all together in one row. So the hard drive then looks for the next available free space to save the pieces of your file to until it's saved them all.



Defragmenting is the processes of taking those scattered pieces and organizing them into one continuous row. This make it easier on your hard drive because it doesn't to work so hard looking for those little pieces if they've been scattered all over your hard drive.

Answer 5

Dont worry about defragging,it only speeds up the data access by rearranging the file fragments on the drive. You will be able to access all your programs from where they were. If you want, get one of the completely automatic programs which once installed to run in the background will do the task without any hassles.

Answer 6

No, it doesn't move your files to other folders. It simply optimizes the way the bits are stored on the hard drive to make reading and writing files more efficient.

Answer 7

No. Folders and files placement are maintained in File Allocation Table (FAT, FAT32, NTFS, CDFS, you name it). This table maintains the address of physical location of the file in the hard disk / storage. DD will only arrange the physical fragments in the hard drive / storage into a small number of fragment (usually 1 fragment) and change the current physical address stored in the FAT with the new one. Folder information are remain unchanged.

Answer 8

Yes it moves files but it will not cause problems in fact it gives you better performance

Answer 9

It just put them in places they belong to make more memory because they are allover the place which causes your computer to slow down

Answer 10

yeah it reorganizes the files