defrag

[RW]

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:08:47 -0400
Mike Jeays <mike.jeays at rogers.com> wrote:

 
> That's true about FAT.  What I have never understood is why Microsoft
> didn't fix the problem when they designed NTFS.  UFS and EXT2 both
> existed at that time, and neither needs periodic defragmentation.

I think they probably did, NTFS took a lot from UNIX filesystems, and
at the time it was released they said that NTFS didn't need any
defragmentation at all. 

I suspect that it's mostly a matter of attitude. Windows users have an
irrational obsessive-compulsive attitude to fragmentation, so they
end-up with good reliable defragmenters, and so less reason not to use
them. We don't really care, so we end-up with no, or poor,
defragmenters, which reinforces our don't care attitude.