Defragmentation

In the maintenance of file systems, defragmentation is a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the mass storage device used to store files into the smallest number of contiguous regions (fragments). It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using compaction to impede the return of fragmentation. Some defragmentation utilities try to keep smaller files within a single directory together, as they are often accessed in sequence.

Defragmentation is advantageous and relevant to file systems on electromechanical disk drives. The movement of the hard drive's read/write heads over different areas of the disk when accessing fragmented files is slower, compared to accessing the entire contents of a non-fragmented file sequentially without moving the read/write heads to seek other fragments.

Causes of fragmentation

Fragmentation occurs when the file system cannot or will not allocate enough contiguous space to store a complete file as a unit, but instead puts parts of it in gaps between existing files (usually those gaps exist because they formerly held a file that the operating system has subsequently deleted or because the file system allocated excess space for the file in the first place). Larger files and greater numbers of files also contribute to fragmentation and consequent performance loss. Defragmentation attempts to alleviate these problems.

DeFRaG

DeFRaG (also capitalised as defrag, abbreviated as df) is a free software modification for id Software's first-person shooter computer game Quake III Arena (Q3A). The mod is dedicated to player movements and trickjumping. It aims at providing a platform for self-training, competition, online tricking, machinima making, and trickjumping. Hence it constitutes an exception among other Q3A mods.

The mod includes a variety of features—timers and meters, ghost mode, cheat prevention and learning tools. Specially designed maps are provided that will rely on the player's movement abilities to be completed up to the finish line, while standard Q3A maps and Capture the Flag (CTF) fast captures are supported as well. Furthermore gamespace physics from both the original Q3A and the Challenge ProMode Arena (CPMA) mod are supported.

The modification was released to the public in ca. September–October 2000. In 2002 DeFRaG was selected as "Mod of the Week" at Planet Quake.

Overview

DeFRaG was initially designed for making possible a new kind of competition based on timed runs. Those competitions called "DeFRaG runs" differ from common speedruns in several ways. Unlike speedruns, DeFRaG runs are not done in maps from an out-of-the-box original game, but in specially designed and customed DeFRaG maps, and there are no opponents to be vanquished during the run. Because of their design many of these maps cannot be completed by normal player skills; rather trickjumping skills are indispensable. Furthermore start-, checkpoints-, and stop-triggers are built into the maps. As a proof of the accomplishment the mod automatically records a demo of every map completed successfully. Along with the demo, the precise time in which the map was completed is stored.

Defrag (disambiguation)

Defrag may refer to:

See also