Editing File system (section)

=== Fragmentation ===

[[File:File system fragmentation.svg|thumb|File systems may become [[File system fragmentation|fragmented]]]]

As a file system creates, modifies and deletes files, the underlying storage representation may become [[File system fragmentation|fragmented]]. Files and the unused space between files will occupy allocation blocks that are not contiguous.

A file becomes fragmented if space needed to store its content cannot be allocated in contiguous blocks. Free space becomes fragmented when files are deleted.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSMJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA524|title=Embedded Microcomputer Systems: Real Time Interfacing|edition=Third|last=Valvano|first=Jonathan W.|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|date=2011|access-date=June 30, 2022|page=524|isbn=978-1-111-42625-5}}</ref>

This is invisible to the end user and the system still works correctly. However this can degrade performance on some storage hardware that work better with contiguous blocks such as [[Hard disk drive#Performance characteristics|hard disk drives]]. Other hardware such as [[Solid-state drive|solid-state drives]] are not affected by fragmentation.