Not long ago computers were seen as a helpful tool in business; a means to eliminate bulky filing cabinets, handle payroll functions, facilitate in the drafting of documents, etc. While they served a very useful purpose they weren’t exactly the brains behind the operation, they were more of a complement to the existing procedures that kept a business running. From very humble beginnings computers have evolved into a must-have for any business, no longer just a useful accessory but an essential block in the foundation of a successful organization.
Today companies don’t just rely on their computers but on their computer network system as well. Through this network system employees within a business can share documents, files, software and hardware, communicate through instant messaging, email, and video conferencing, speed up the process of completing tasks and improve their overall efficiency.
As the importance of computer networks continue to grow the drives that support them have advanced in step. Drives that once offered a limited amount of storage space have given way to drives that are capable of storing hundreds of times the amount of information, further facilitating the networks ability to perform at its highest level and as a result improving the operations of any business.
While these advancements in drive capabilities have unquestionably been beneficial to companies they have also led to a greater dependence on their operability. Today a computer network system is the brains behind the operation and while it is capable of taking companies to new levels in their business it can also cause everything to come to a complete stop.
With the advancements in drives we suddenly had the ability to store unbelievable amounts of information on our computers, obviously a good thing. But while those advancements to a hard drives capability were being made the danger of its greatest enemy grew right alongside it.
What makes newer hard drives so attractive is the amount of space they offer which in turn improves a networks ability to operate at a high speed. By design a hard drive puts that space at a premium, constantly trying to maximize its storage capacity. To do this the hard drive saves and store files in a contiguous manner, placing a saved file directly behind the last file saved with no space between the two.
This method of saving and storing files becomes problematic when a file is recalled, modified, and then resaved because the file will no longer fit in the original space. The hard drives solution is to cut the excess information and store it in the next available space; this is now a fragmented file. Because there is no limit to how many times a file can be fragmented a drive can have hundreds if not thousands of fragmented pieces of a single file.
Employees operating on a computer network system typically share the same documents several times a day and each time they are opened and saved they become fragmented even more. Of course the advancement in drives space has made it possible to accommodate such a mess, but only for so long.
Fragmentation will eventually eat away at the networks speed and reliability, causing problems retrieving files, sharing information and software, slowing down Internet browsing, accessing and sending emails, etc. Basically fragmentation will choke the life out of a network system and if it is not addressed it could lead to a devastating crash that wipes out everything that had been stored on the drive.
These crashes are even more dangerous today because of the size of the newer drives. Remember that they have the capacity to store hundreds of times the amount of files from previous drives making the damage caused by a crash hundreds of times worse.
Considered a computer disease, fragmentation is progressive and if your computer network system is not protected against its advancement then it will fall victim. Fortunately there are simple steps that can be taken to protect your drives from such an occurrence and the first thing you should do is install defragmentation software.
With defragmentation software from companies like Diskeeper a company can not only reverse the damage caused by fragmentation but prevent it from coming back. Defrag software essentially gathers the pieces of a broken file, rejoins them, and then saves them as a single unit. This instantly improves a drives speed because it no longer has to hunt for the pieces of a requested file, it can simply retrieve it as one piece. Once the drive has been repaired the defrag software will continue to keep things clean, preventing any current files or future files from being fragmented.
Defragmentation software is not only capable of speeding up a computer network system but extending the life of a drive as well. That means saving money and for businesses trying to survive in today’s market there are few things more important. Take the first step toward maximizing your business’s potential and install defragmentation software today.
