Question

Differentiate between Fragmentation and Defragmentation.

Answer 1

Fragmentation occurs on a hard drive, a memory module, or other media when data is not written closely enough physically on the drive. Those fragmented, individual pieces of data are referred to generally as fragments. Defragmentation, then, is the process of un-fragmenting or piecing together, those fragmented files so they sit closer - physically - on the drive or other media, potentially speeding up the drive's ability to access the file.

Answer 2

Fragmentation ordinarily happens when old files are opened, modified and subsequently saved.  

One example of this would be where a previously saved file, let's say, a document is opened and added to. This will cause the file to be larger in physical space than when it was first saved. The operating system will then break the file into 2 or more pieces, and store those pieces (fragments) in different parts of the storage area.  

As noted above, the process of defragmentation rejoins the fragmented parts of a file. It loads the file fragments and then saves them in consecutive parts of the storage.  

The process of defragmenting can be time-consuming, however it is one of the easiest ways to increase the performance of your computer. The frequency at which a PC ought to be defragmented will directly depend on the amount of usage area.