Contiguous: Immediately adjacent. For example, contiguous sectors on a disk are sectors that come one after the other. Frequently, a file stored on disk can become fragmented, which means that it is stored on non-contiguous sectors. taken from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/contiguous.HTML So one could assume that the difference is that contiguous files are files that are stored immediately adjacent from one another (together) and non-contiguous files are not stored adjacently hence are separated or scattered. Hope this was of some help.
A contiguous file in a computer is one that is placed on a storage drive in such a way that it is in sequential portions of the drive. This is generally regarded as advantageous because it results in better performance by decreasing the amount of time it takes the computer to read the data (compared to when a single file is spread over a larger portion of the drive and not located in contiguous sectors). The performance gains experienced from contiguous files is the best reason to defragment a drive.
There are two parts to this. One, the information in the File Allocation Table, as the file might be spread over different sectors, not all contiguous if your filesystem is fragmented. Two, this would be the specific sectors at which the data resides that make up the contents of the file. Cheers, Chay
To organize the way that files are stored on a computer disk, so that all the information belonging to a file, is stored on a single contiguous area on the disk.
The smallest unit of space allocated to a file is a cluster or block, which is a contiguous group of sectors on a hard drive allocated to a single file. The size of a cluster can vary depending on the file system and the size of the disk.
Recovering pieces of a file is called file fragmentation. This process occurs when a file is broken into smaller pieces stored in non-contiguous locations on a storage drive, leading to slower read/write operations and decreased performance.
In essence it's a file that is stored on the filesystem in one piece - that is that all parts of the file are stored from beginning to end in adjascent allocation units instead of being fragmented and each piece of the file stored in separate, non adjascent allocation units. As an analogy, imagine a 10 page document. If you place all the pages on your desk in order from beginning to end without anything in between them you could say it's a contiguous file. If you had room to put five pages down in order but then had to put the other five pages elsewhere on your desk, you could say the file was fragmented. In essence it's a file that is stored on the filesystem in one piece - that is that all parts of the file are stored from beginning to end in adjascent allocation units instead of being fragmented and each piece of the file stored in separate, non adjascent allocation units. As an analogy, imagine a 10 page document. If you place all the pages on your desk in order from beginning to end without anything in between them you could say it's a contiguous file. If you had room to put five pages down in order but then had to put the other five pages elsewhere on your desk, you could say the file was fragmented.
The answer is 246 sectors. 123 x 1024 bytes per KB = 125,952 total bytes in the file. 125,952 bytes / 512 sectors per cluster = 246 sectors
I think you mean: "a 123 kb file uses how many sectors?" It should be 1...
Defragmentation is the process of rewriting non-contiguous parts of a file to contiguous sectors on a disk for the purpose of increasing data access and retrieval speeds. Because FAT and NTFS disks can deteriorate and become badly fragmented over time, defragmentation is vital for optimal system performance.
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A disk becomes fragmented from the moment any one file is no longer contiguous. This can happen whenever a file grows in size, but there is no space to grow into. Thus the end up being split into two parts. The disadvantage is that you cannot simply read consecutive sectors to read a file, the read head must physically move to each part of the file, which reduces performance.