Defragger - Real Linux disk defragmenter with GUI
Show HN: I missed the moving blocks, so I built a real Linux disk defragmenter
Defragger is a real graphical disk defragmenter for Linux, written in Rust and Qt Quick/Kirigami. It provides a visual block map that shows how files, free space, and metadata are allocated, making the filesystem legible. It can analyze fragmentation, defragment ext4 files online, and compact offline FAT16/FAT32 volumes. The GUI and CLI run unprivileged, with privileged operations handled by a PolicyKit-authorized helper. It's alpha software, but offers a safe demo with a temporary loop device. Perfect for those nostalgic for Windows' defrag tool or needing reproducible storage layouts.
The old block map was one of those accidental interfaces that made the machine legible: you could actually watch the filesystem reorganize itself.
- blobdole
Beautiful.
Defragmenting my drives manually is one of those things like closing apps on my phone I am not using. Everyone says there is no need to do it. It might even be slightly worse overall. I even have enough self control to avoid doing it and have for years...
But deep down in my heart, I truly FEEL like if I did it would improve things... somehow.
- jewel
This made me think of https://e4rat.sourceforge.net/, which moves boot files into sequential runs, which was helpful on spinning disks where seeks were slow but sequential reads were fast.
Just as an idea for a feature your defragmenter could have.
(Also this is a side thought; but I wonder if AWS AMIs and EBS volumes will boot faster if also organized sequentially.)
- collabs
I have a question about disk defragmenter. I've asked a couple of people before and they've said it is not possible but iirc if I stated disk defragmenter and then even so much as moved the mouse after it started it would start with the first boxes again. Do you remember this too?