With the increasing popularity of Virtual Machines comes an issue that many may not be aware of. This problem is an age-old issue that has affected systems from the very early days of storage. It can cause hard drive failure leading to expensive data loss scenarios necessitating data recovery professionals. This problem is, of course, fragmentation.
Virtual machines must still make use of the slowest part of any modern computer system: hard drive technology. Hard Drives can be partitioned to appear as dedicated individual devices, these devices are then often utilized to store virtual partitions and virtual operating systems. Underneath this "virtual" layer, the hardware is storing data as it always has, in a fragmented inefficient manner.
Hard disk fragmentation occurs when files are split in to multiple chunks as they are slotted into spare space on the hard drive. If you are running a solitary OS chances are you have already noticed considerable slow down in your system since purchase. Just imagine two or more OS's running causing the same file fragmentation! Pretty soon your system could come to a grinding halt.
Fragmentation will not only slow down your computer or server but due to the excessive and unwarranted extra movement of the heads, the life of your storage device(s) can be seriously reduced. The problem is not only limited to single drives however, even if you have a very well specked raid set up, fragmentation can get so severe that the only viable option is data recovery or server rebuild.
Operating systems handle fragmentation in different ways. Microsoft Windows, for example, pays little or no attention to the degree of fragmentation on a storage device, whereas Mac OS X goes some way to helping by automatically defragmenting files under 20 MB in size. Other Operating Systems handle file fragmentation in various ways, with varying levels of success.
Defragmentation utilities can take care of this problem, however, running them practically ties up the machine until completion, slowing the machine to a crawl. So what can be done to remove this issue? There are a number of possibilities that can be tried.
Scheduling a defragmentation is a good bet as you can let it run whilst you are doing another task or perhaps out to lunch. Third party applications can do this extremely well.
Use separate hard disks for your Virtual Machine software. While this may appear to fly in the face of VM's in the first place, having a robust and business capable solution is in most cases the driving factor. Some astute companies will even have a dedicated hard disk array solely for the purpose of running VM software if there is a business case for it. - 16738
Virtual machines must still make use of the slowest part of any modern computer system: hard drive technology. Hard Drives can be partitioned to appear as dedicated individual devices, these devices are then often utilized to store virtual partitions and virtual operating systems. Underneath this "virtual" layer, the hardware is storing data as it always has, in a fragmented inefficient manner.
Hard disk fragmentation occurs when files are split in to multiple chunks as they are slotted into spare space on the hard drive. If you are running a solitary OS chances are you have already noticed considerable slow down in your system since purchase. Just imagine two or more OS's running causing the same file fragmentation! Pretty soon your system could come to a grinding halt.
Fragmentation will not only slow down your computer or server but due to the excessive and unwarranted extra movement of the heads, the life of your storage device(s) can be seriously reduced. The problem is not only limited to single drives however, even if you have a very well specked raid set up, fragmentation can get so severe that the only viable option is data recovery or server rebuild.
Operating systems handle fragmentation in different ways. Microsoft Windows, for example, pays little or no attention to the degree of fragmentation on a storage device, whereas Mac OS X goes some way to helping by automatically defragmenting files under 20 MB in size. Other Operating Systems handle file fragmentation in various ways, with varying levels of success.
Defragmentation utilities can take care of this problem, however, running them practically ties up the machine until completion, slowing the machine to a crawl. So what can be done to remove this issue? There are a number of possibilities that can be tried.
Scheduling a defragmentation is a good bet as you can let it run whilst you are doing another task or perhaps out to lunch. Third party applications can do this extremely well.
Use separate hard disks for your Virtual Machine software. While this may appear to fly in the face of VM's in the first place, having a robust and business capable solution is in most cases the driving factor. Some astute companies will even have a dedicated hard disk array solely for the purpose of running VM software if there is a business case for it. - 16738
About the Author:
About the author: Mike White is a technology enthusiast with a keen interest in business computing, Hard Drive Recovery, Raid Recovery consumer electronics and design and technology trends.
