Most people think defragmentation speeds up data access speed in mass storage devices. But, should it always be true?
Defragment in sense is the process which reduces fragmentation within a file system. This attempts to arrange content of files in sequence which they are accessed. This increases the compaction of the file system and also attempts to create large continuous regions of free space. The objective of this ordering is to reduce the time taken by the drive to locate the next data segment of the sequence.
It is only in electromechanical drives that such locating operations take time significantly. For example, in a drive such as a hard disk, to locate and read a data segment, the read-write head has to move across the respective platter and platter has to rotate. This mechanical operation takes time. Since defragmentation arranges relevant data segments in sequence, mechanical work that has to be done reduces significantly.
But, flash drives are not electromechanical devices. They do not have moving mechanical parts and thus are referred to as solid-state devices. So, access time in these drives is independent of the arrangement of file fragments. Therefore, defragmentation is unnecessary on flash drives (EEPROMs). In contrast, defragmentation may have a disadvantageous impact on flash drive lifetime.
Lifetime of EEPROMs are limited to usually about 10,000 to 100,000 write/erase cycles. Defragmenting could waste some precious (limited) cycles.
Still you there's no barrier to defragment your Flash drive. But, think twice before doing it.
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