In
computing,
file system fragmentation, sometimes called
file system aging, is the tendency of a
file system to lay out the contents of
files non-contiguously to allow in-place modification of their contents. It is a special case of data fragmentation. File system fragmentation increases disk head movement or
seek time, which are known to hinder
throughput. In addition, file systems cannot sustain unlimited fragmentation. The correction to existing fragmentation is to reorganize files and free space back into contiguous areas, a process called
defragmentation.