Fragmentation
(1) Refers to the condition of a disk in which files are divided into pieces scattered around the disk. Fragmentation occurs naturally when you use a disk frequently, creating, deleting, and modifying files. At some point, the operating system needs to store parts of a file in noncontiguous clusters. This is entirely invisible to users, but it can slow down the speed at which data is accessed because the disk drivemust search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file.
In DOS 6.0 and later systems, you can defragment a disk with the DEFRAG command. You can also buy software utilities, called disk optimizers or defragmenters,that defragment a disk.
See “Learn How to Defrag Your Hard Drive” in the Did You Know…? section of
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- frame
(1) In graphics and desktop publishing applications, a rectangular area in which text or graphics can appear. (2) In communications, a packet of transmitted information. (3) In video and animation, a single image in a sequence of images. See under fps. (4) In HTML, refers to dividing the browser display area into separate sections, each […]
- frame buffer
The portion of memory reserved for holding the complete bit-mapped image that is sent to the monitor. Typically the frame buffer is stored in the memory chips on the video adapter. In some instances, however, the video chipset is integrated into the motherboard design, and the frame buffer is stored in general main memory.
- frame rate
(1) The frequency that video frames are displayed on a monitor. See refresh. (2) In video and recording, frame rate refers to the number of frames per second that are recorded and played back. Frame rate is measured in frames per second (fps).
- frames
A feature supported by most modern Web browsers than enables the Web author to divide the browser display area into two or more sections (frames). The contents of each frame are taken from a different Web page. Frames provide great flexibility in designing Web pages, but many designers avoid them because they are supported unevenly […]
- frameserve
Frameserving is a process by which you directly transfer video data from one program on your computer to another, with no intermediate or temporary files created. The program that opens the source file and outputs the video data is called the frameserver. The program that receives the data could be any type of video application. […]