GPS FORUM

> I wonder if there might be a risk of fragmentation now so should
> I (and can I) uninstall and reinstall the files on the SD card?

>On 2007-12-01, Scott wrote:
>
>> I wonder if there might be a risk of fragmentation now so should
>> I (and can I) uninstall and reinstall the files on the SD card?
>
>Fragmentation isnt an issue on solid-state media such as SD cards, at
>least not to any practical level. Its only an issue on hard discs
>because in order to move from one fragment of a file to another, the
>hard disc has to move a read head and then wait for the relevant part
>of the disc to rotate around. For a solid-state media like SD or
>other flash-based systems, file access times dont depend on where the
>file is in the media, one fragment takes as long to get to as the
>next, unlike on a hard disc.
>
>Secondly, with a dataset like a map, fragmentation isnt a huge issue
>even on discs as the data tends not to be read linearly, so on a disc
>the system would have to flip the head around the disc anyhow as you
>access different parts of the map, rather than trying to read the
>whole map in as one big linear chunk.
>
>In short, dont worry about it ;-)