File system fragmentation

When you store something on your computer, it gets saved as a file. When you want to get it out of your computer, you need to find it. That’s where the file system comes in. It keeps track of where everything is stored.

Fragmentation means that when a file is stored, it might get split up into small pieces and stored in different parts of the file system. That can be helpful because it means the file can take up less room, but it can also make it harder to find. Your computer has to do extra work to collect all of the pieces back together to be able to open the file. In addition, as more files are stored, it can cause the file system to get more “cluttered”, making it take even more time to find the pieces you need.