NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #26/NN_1992_26.iso/spool/comp/sys/next/hardware/2557

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-06 | 1.6 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!dziuxsolim.rutgers.edu!gandalf.rutgers.edu!szatrows
From: [e-mail] (John Kheit)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
Subject: Re: Fragmentation & performance
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 6 Nov 92 04:30:31 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 22

I've had my swap file grow to 400+ megs!!!!  But that wasnt what
really trashed my drive.  I was moving literally hundreds of thousands
of files around and some were HUGE and some were incredibly tiny.
Anyway if you move that much stuff around you hard drive things start
to get mushed to and fro after time.  Again after doing a rebuild the
system was running at least 50% faster.  The swap space may have been
part of the problem.

    I know that unix takes measures to prevent fragmantation but
nothing to take care of the INEVITABLE fragmentation that will occur.
On the mac there used to be an init (daemon more or less) that used to
defragment the drive in the background.  Something like this would
work wonders for a NeXT system; the NeXT seems to be a BIG mover of
data-- much more data flow than your average workstation or PC (at
least from what I've seen).

    later, John
--
NeXT Campus Consultant---Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey |my    %^)
John Kheit/monoChrome  |                                             |fried %-)
173 Westgate Drive     | Audix#5512                                  |brain %>)
Edison, NJ 08820-1163  | [e-mail],[e-mail]