360 Systems DigiCart/E - Manual (Page 43)

Maintenance
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Chapter 4
Maintenance
Disk Defragmenter in Windows 2000 Servers
It’s essential that an operating system be able to maintain your disks at peak levels of reliability and
performance. The Windows® 2000 operating system does this through a built-in system tool called Disk
Defragmenter. Disk Defragmenter was developed through a collaborative effort between Microsoft
Corporation and Executive Software International.
Fragmentation is caused by creating and deleting files and folders, and installing new software. Computers
do not necessarily save an entire file or folder in a single space on a disk; they’re saved in the first available
space. When you delete files or folders, the empty spaces left behind are filled in randomly as you store new
ones. This is how fragmentation occurs. The more fragmented the volume is, the slower the computer's file
input and output performance will be.
Even a new computer system will experience disk fragmentation because loading the operating system results
in both file and free space fragmentation.
During the developmental stages of Windows NT, defragmentation application programming interfaces
(APIs) were developed and built into Windows NT to ensure that files could be moved safely—without data
loss, system crashes, or corruption—while the operating system was running. In Windows 2000 these
defragmentation APIs have been enhanced, tested and certified by Microsoft to make certain that files created
using Windows 2000 can be defragmented without risk.
File fragmentation can negatively affect operating system speed and performance. To maintain peak
performance when using Windows 2000, the condition of your disks should be analyzed on a regular basis—
preferably once a week for moderate-to-heavy use; less frequently for intermittent use—and defragmentation
performed as needed.
In the Ethernet Audio System, fragmentation can affect the number of simultaneous files that can be played
back. This is because it increases the number of times the disk must seek to find the next data. Systems that
use many simultaneous playouts from net drives should be analyzed and defragmented regularly.
In systems where many recordings are made to the server simultaneously it is essential to defragment
regularly. In extreme cases, it is advisable to create multiple partitions on the hard drive and distribute net
drives for recording over those partitions.
The disk defragmenter utility built into Windows 2000 is designed for use on local disks only. It is not
intended to defragment other disks on the network. Administrators who require network controls, automatic
scheduling, and the capability to simultaneously defragment multiple partitions, and MFT and paging files,
should consider upgrading to a third-party, networkable defragmenter.