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what is the effect of moving files to the end of the disk? if it is slower, is there a way to move files that shouldn’t be there back to the beginning of the disk?
I would like to know as I want to place files in the best positions I can.
Answer: Reviewed Answer to give clarification – To see original answer please see edit history
Utilizing the outer edge of the disk will allow for higher read speed
This is a highly simplified image the storage segments of a HDD
Now there are plenty of arguments for both there is a mix of opinion and fact surrounding them and in modern HDD’s there is less of a need to worry about this however…
Argument for outer edge
By placing data on the outer edge you are able to access more data with each spin of the drive. Lets say you have a 7200RPM HDD this means that every minute the HDD will spin upto 7200 times or 120 times a second. Now given it can store larger amounts of data your HDD can access larger amounts of information with each spin. This will make it benchmark much higher so if you wish to go for measured speed this is your best bet.
Argument Inner edge
There is no real need for the outer edge when dealing with small files. if you have a file that takes up 80% of a spin in the centre of the platter it will be accessed 120 times a second. This same file might take up 20% of the data of each spin on the outer edge but it will still only be access 120 times a second because a full rotation is required every time either way.
Ideally (imo) what you want to look at doing is grouping data that will be accessed together so that the head of your HDD has less distance to travel. Every time data needs to be accessed it still requires the HDD to spin. However by grouping data you can reducing the distance that the head needs to travel reducing access times.
Image of HDD structure for reference
Note/Disclaimer:
Information provided here is opinion based. I’m not a Hardware engineer the information has no hard evidence provided. The information I’ve provide has come from healthy discussion with colleagues and various other IT professionals
Take everything with a grain of salt