Q. I recently bought a netbook with Ubuntu as its operating system and would like to know if there is any simple way to defragment the drive. The help manual for the system talks only about a complete start-over with reinstalling the OS, rather than defragmenting it.
A. Ubuntu Linux uses a different file system, or method of storing and organizing data, than other operating systems do. Most Ubuntu systems use the ext3 file system, which does not need regular defragmentation like a Windows system does.
Windows uses either the NTFS or FAT file systems, which do not always store all the pieces of a file near each other on the hard drive. Running the built-in Disk Defragmenter program reorganizes these fragmented file parts near each other for faster access by the system.
The ext3 system used by Ubuntu Linux, however, keeps all the parts of a file together (or nearby), making regular defragmentation unnecessary. A page on the Community Ubuntu Documentation site has a full explanation at bit.ly/4iKt4.
It's not impossible to defragment a Linux system, however; the Web Upd8 blog has some tips for doing so at bit.ly/4r2yS1. A newer version of the Linux file system, ext4, includes a built-in defragmenting program.
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