A computer is only as fast as its slowest component, and the disk is by far
the slowest part of your computer. It is at least 100,000 times slower
than your RAM (Random Access Memory) and over 2 million times slower than your CPU.
When it comes to the speed of your PC, focus on disk performance first, before you
opt for more memory or a faster CPU.
So what can be done to improve disk performance? Since fragmentation – the scattering
or fragmenting of files on your hard drive from continually writing, deleting and
resizing them – is a major cause of disk performance degradation, start with disk
optimization.
So what causes fragmentation and why is it hurting my hard disk performance?
By the very nature of the way the Windows® operating system stores
data on the hard disk – by breaking files into pieces all around the disk in tens,
hundreds, even thousands of pieces per file – your PC naturally accumulates fragmentation.
How can I keep Windows systems running like new?
Since fragmentation is the primary cause of poor disk performance, anything that
can be done to eliminate fragmentation is going to increase disk performance.
One of the primary reasons fragmentation hurts disk performance is because your
hard drive head has to go and retrieve each and every piece of a fragmented file
before you can access it. This excessive and unnecessary disk activity causes
slow PC performance.
There are essentially two ways to address fragmentation. You can wait until it happens,
then use defrag (the act of putting fragmented files back together), or you can
prevent the fragmentation before it ever has a chance to slow down your disk performance.
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Reactive Solution
The first defragmentation solution is a reactive approach to fragmentation and provides
a temporary solution to an on-going problem. Just because you defrag your PC, doesn’t
mean the problem has been solved. The minute you finish running your defrag, your
PC will once again start accumulating increasingly more fragmentation with each
and every use, so you feel like you are fighting a losing battle.
It also means that your PC is wasting resources by first writing fragmented files
to your hard drive, and then requiring the defrag engine (built-in or other defrag
only solution) to go to work locating and consolidating your files so that they
that they are contiguous. This reactive, after-the-fact approach to fragmentation
still leaves you vulnerable to an unreliable and slow performing PC.
Proactive Solution
The second solution, fragmentation prevention, is proactive, providing a more complete
solution that keeps your disk performing at optimum speeds at all times.
Diskeeper combines the best of both
worlds by automatically handling any fragmentation that is already hurting your
disk performance, and combining that with IntelliWrite® fragmentation
prevention technology to stop future fragmentation before it happens. As a result, Diskeeper keeps your PC running better than new.
When your files are written to the disk contiguously (without fragmentation) rather
than scattered across your disk, your PC doesn’t have to work as hard to read or
write your files. Plus as an added bonus, the reduction in disk activity actually
extends the life of your hard drive by an additional 1-3 years - saving you money
in replacement costs.
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