How To Create File System Fragmentation?

Question

Risk Factors for File Fragmentation include mostly full Disks and repeated file appends. What are other risk factors for file fragmentation? How would one make a program using common languages like C++/C#/VB/VB.NET to work with files & make new files with the goal of increasing file fragmentation?

WinXP / NTFS is the target

Edit: Would something like this be a good approach? Hard Drive free space = FreeMB_atStart

• Would creating files of say 10MB to fill 90% of the remaining hard drive space
• Deleting every 3rd created file
• making file of size FreeMB_atStart * .92 / 3

Answer 1

This should achieve at least some level of fragmentation on most file systems:

1) Write numerous small files.

2) Delete some at random.

3) Writing a large file, byte-by-byte.

Writing it byte-by-byte is important because otherwise if the file system is intelligent, it can just write the large file to a single contiguous place.

Answer 2

Another possibility would be to write several files simultaneously byte-by-byte. This would probably have more effect.