Acomdata external E5 Serial ATA(SATA) User Manual page 44

clusters that were previously occupied become avail-
able for new data. However, there may not be enough
space for the drive to write a new file in a contiguous
set of clusters. The drive uses the clusters it can, and if
more are needed, the drive uses other clusters in other
locations. The result is a fragmented file that is scattered
in several places on the disk.
Over time, as more and more files are erased and
new files are added, the data on the drive becomes
increasingly fragmented. The more fragmented a disk
becomes, the longer it takes to read and write data
because the drive's read/write mechanism spends more
time moving back and forth over the platter searching
for fragmented data or free clusters.
We recommend using defragmentation and optimi-
zation software to maximize the storage efficiency
and optimize the performance of your hard drive.
Optimization software re-organizes files so that the
files you use most often can be accessed more quickly.
Defragmentation software consolidates file fragments
that are scattered on your hard drive into more efficient
contiguous clusters.
Quite often, defragging and optimization functions will
be included in one software package, such that both
operations are performed at the same time.
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