Defragmentation (defrag) has an advantageous effect on the backup performance of systems, according to a new study.
The study, which was conducted by systems tool developer Diskeeper, found that the rime required to back up data from a typical hard drive volume can be decreased and the data transfer rate increased by performing a defrag prior to backing up.
Fragmentation occurs when the data on a disk is scattered around the disk in various pieces. The data can still be accessed, however additional time is required to find the data in a particular file when it is not contiguous, Diskeeper claims.
The study found improvements in backup time by up to 69 percent in a defragmented system – or nearly 1.7 times as fast.
Consolidating directories also improved backup performance, the study found. Times were improved by a further three percent for a local disk backup, and 41 percent for a network disk backup.
More information on the study is available at www.diskeeper.com