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Linux Gains Tool For Defragmenting exFAT Filesystems (www.phoronix.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/linux@programming.dev
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A new release of exfatprogs is now available as the user-space programs on Linux for the exFAT file-system to complement the in-tree kernel driver for the Microsoft exFAT support.

New to the exfatprogs 1.3 release is introducing defrag.exfat as a tool for defragmenting an exFAT file-system or assessing its fragmentation status. Thus now defragging exFAT under Linux rather than no defrag support at all or having to do so under Microsoft Windows.

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[–] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Defrag is a thing I haven't thought about for like 10 years now. Is this really needed in the age of fast random-access SSDs and such?

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    Because it's not about the files anymore, it's the free space on the disk you care about (Or rather, the filesystem metadata describing it, the free-space bitmap in the case of exFAT)

    If the files are highly fragmented and spread out, then the empty space around the files is also broken up and spread around, which makes it harder for a filesystem to efficiently store new stuff as it now has to break up and pack new file data into the gaps.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Note that you need to use disk space to describe where all the slices of a file are. There are some limitations to how many pieces your files can be in. Not sure on exFATs limit, but on NTFS I know it's a soft cap around 1.5 million parts.

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