Computer Network Defragmentation

A computer network is a group of interconnected computers. The network allows the computers to communicate with each other, and share resources and information. A computer network can encompass many functions, including:

The benefit of a network lies in its ability to handle a multitude of tasks quickly and efficiently. Since a network involves a system of computers, the efficiency of the network relies on the efficiency of the computers involved. If your network is running slowly, it may be a side effect of disk fragmentation.

Fragmentation describes the state of your computer's files when they are divided into parts and scattered around the hard disk drive. Fragmentation slows down computer speed and can cause a computer to crash. This occurs naturally and frequently as a result of creating, deleting, and modifying files. When working in different programs, the operating system stores different parts of your work around the hard drive. As a result, the information for a file can be split many ways. The disk drive has to search through many parts of the disk to piece together a single file, negatively impacting performance.

Regular defragmentation is an easy method for improving computer performance. Defragmentation optimizes a computer's operating speed and efficiency, because it frees the hard drive from searching for all the pieces of a fragmented file. While defragmentation may seem complicated, there are many software options can show you how to defrag your computer. Some of the basic steps of defragmentation include:

Your entire network should be defragmented on a regular basis to keep computing functions consistent and efficient. If you don't have the benefit of defragmentation software, you may have to defrag each computer in your network individually.

There are many potential issues with running defrag programs on a network. Computer users on a network may need to check with their network administrator before performing a defragmentation. The administrator may have to first remove certain user restrictions, or they may need to coordinate defrag processes between individual users in order to avoid overuse of resources.

 

In addition, defragmentation may take a few minutes or several hours, depending on the size of the hard disk drive and the extent to which it is fragmented. Scheduling defragmentation can alleviate the time and resources needed for defragmentation. Defragmentation can be set to occur at a specific day or time each week or month to avoid service interruption and memory issues.

 

As well, defragmentation is only effective if it occurs on both individual systems and shared systems. If you are an administrator, you will need to coordinate defragmentation of workstations with defragmentation of network storage systems to ensure best results.

For the best results when defragging systems individually, close all running applications and disable screensavers before the defragmentation process starts. Delete any temporary internet files and uninstall unused programs. The fewer programs and files present on the computer, the faster the defragmentation process will work.

 

If you are a network administrator, you may get the best results from professional defragmentation software. Such packages often have intuitive defragmentation tools and schedulers built in that streamline your defragmentation process and address both the individual and shared network resources.

 

 

Beal, V. (2008). How to defrag a hard drive. Retrieved March 23, 2009, from the Webopedia Web site: http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/
Computer_Science/2008/disk_defragmentation.asp.

 

Mitchell, B. (n.d.). What is (wireless/computer) networking? Retrieved March 24, 2009, from the About.com Web site: http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/basicnetworking/f/whatsnetworking.htm.