no "defrag" in Linux?

[Gilles Gravier]

http://linux.maruhn.com/sec/defrag.html

James Gray wrote:
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> Peter Clutton wrote:
>   
>> ext3 is better than windows file systems like fat and ntfs, it is soo
>> unlikely you would reach more then 0.1 percent fragmented.
>>     
>
> I agree - defragmenting ext2/3 is more a waste of time than anything
> else, but I have to challenge your assertion that >0.1% fragmentation is
> highly unlikely.  I've been running Linux both in the server room and on
> desktops since the mid-90's.  It's not uncommon for ext2/3 (or
> jfs/xfs/reiserfs too) to be between 5-10% fragmented.  However, this
> amount of fragmentation on these file systems, coupled with the way the
> Linux kernel uses buffers and caching for disk access, results in no
> appreciable reduction in performance.
>
> I've only occasionally seen more than 10% fragmentation and that was on
> extremely small and busy partitions (like 100MB /temp partitions).  As
> the partitions were small, it's pretty easy to drop to single user mode,
> tar up the partition to /somewhere/else then reformat the partition and
> untar the files back where they came from.  Back into run level 3 and
> /temp is 0% fragmented.  Voila.
>
> Using /temp as an example is rather trivial but highlights the
> conditions required to cause significant fragmentation:
> 1. small partition.
> 2. lots of files being created/deleted with varying sizes.
> 3. a lot of time.
>
> Cheers,
>
> James
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