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Why is my PC running slower and slower?
Almost all of us have ever experienced how our computer responds more slowly as time passes.
Sometimes it happens in the computers that we use to work so it can not be blamed that there are many file downloads or too many programs installed.
A reduced performance could be due to many factors, and the first thing that is usually thought is that the PC lacks RAM or that you have to buy another more powerful machine perhaps with a superior processor because the one we have has stopped giving us enough performance.
Technology has not progressed so rapidly for a long time, so the need to renew our PC or laptop is not as usual as before. Nowadays an average computer can give us service for several years since the requirements for its use in office automation, navigation, etc. They are not elevated.
Then, why now our computer responds so slowly? Why did I open everyday applications in just a second and now it takes a lot more than a year ago?
A critical component for PC speed
Today we want to focus on one of the most important components of a computer, the one in charge of having available practically all the necessary information so that the computer can be useful as a working tool; we talk about the hard drive.
The hard drive is where both the operating system and the applications we use daily are stored, our files and raid data recovery, and many other elements necessary for proper operation.
In order to understand the possible cause of our computer running more and more slowly, we need to first have a basic idea of how the files are stored on our hard drive.
To do this, we will compare the disc with a shelf in whose holes we will be placing books as we go buying them.
The hard disk: shelving more and more full …
When we begin to fill the new shelf, we may have only 4 or 5 books so we can place them together on the first shelf. As soon as we need one of them, having few, we will find it right away.
As time goes by, the bookshelf will be more and more full, but we will still have some empty spaces since we will have been getting rid of some books.
Let’s imagine that we have 10 free holes. Of course, having removed the books from different shelves will not be all the holes together. Now we receive a new encyclopedia of 8 volumes, and as we want to put it quickly on the shelf, we are placing each volume in one of the free holes that are scattered so the 8 volumes will be separated.
Now let’s say that this bookcase has thousands of shelves with hundreds of thousands of books and encyclopedias whose volumes have been randomly placed in the gaps that have been free. How long would it take to gather all the volumes of an encyclopedia? And of several encyclopedias?
Depending on the number of books we have stored, it could take us a long time to find each of the volumes, remove them from the shelf and place them in their correct order.
Fragmented hard drive = messy bookshelf
Well, in a way, that’s how the files are on our hard drive. The disk is filled and as they are free holes (because we are erasing some files), the system is placing new files in those holes. If there are large files that do not fit in a single hole then you will fragment the files into several parts so that you can put each of them in a different location.
Thus, when trying to open those large files, you will have to search all its parts and put them together in the correct order, which will cause the time it takes to open this type of files each time is larger (do not forget that the files can grow). Consequently, our computer will go more and more slowly. This process is known as “fragmentation”.
Also read: How to Fix Corrupt OST File?
