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Every now and then i defrag my HDD partitions to maintain my PC, and each time i notice fragmented files that i haven't read/wrote-to in a while. For example npm-cache, i haven't used Node for ages!

I have Windows Search disabled, and i can't think of any action or application that would randomly read random files on my HDD, all that uses my HDD on Idle are uncharted system processes, constant and small read/writes.

What causes unused files to get fragmented?

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  • How much disk space do you have left?
    – James P
    Sep 13, 2013 at 12:57

2 Answers 2

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Windows7 by default schedules an automatic defragmentation on a regular basis (daily iirc). Defragmentation will move files adjacent to fragmented files it wants to rewrite, and will often leave you with more fragments than you started with, but hopefully in less used files. This becomes more true as the disk fills up. Multiple passes can eventually reduce the number of fragged files. You can never predict what files will be touched or moved around during a defragmentation.

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  • I +1 this because it looks plausible, however I have the scheduled defragmentation disabled and I have a large and old video that gets fragmented all the time. I had fully defrag my drive and a couple weeks later there are lots of fragmented files that I don't use, including that old video.
    – DGaleano
    Jun 6, 2017 at 20:13
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One possible candidate is that Windows Update can can affect files that the user isn't touching.

The Windows update process can touch or check for the existence of files in order tell if an available update should be downloaded. The application of the update can touch files that you may not expect due to some dependency within the update.

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  • With that theory, Windows Update could touch MP3 files and decide if i need a Windows Media Player update?
    – VCake
    Sep 13, 2013 at 12:33

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