When browsing the web, what I love most is stumbling across this kind of site: absurd, outdated, useless, and yet indispensable. And that's exactly what Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator, a Windows 98 disk defragmentation simulator in your browser, could be.
This site is probably the best ASMR site for all geeks over 40. As a side note, while writing this article I was on the train with music in the ears. When I started the defragmentation simulation, I didn't notice that my computer's sound was activated... For a few dozen seconds my computer produced hard disk scratching sounds typical of mechanical disks... causing a few surprised or amused heads to rise in the TGV carriage...
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator: Simulate old-school disk defragmentation
Defragmentation is almost part of the history of computing since it was reserved for mechanical hard drives which have mostly disappeared from our modern computers (no need for defragmentation on an SSD). Basically, the goal of defragmentation is to reorganize scattered file fragments so that your mechanical hard drive access your data faster.
Of course, Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator Being a simulator in your browser, it has absolutely no impact on the organization of files on your hard drive.
So what's Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator for? It's nothing but a way to give you a moment of pure computer nostalgia.
In fact, this very simple site displays the file defragmenter window in your browser. Windows 98, faithful to the original. Few options available to you, in the lower left corner, the "Settings..." button allows you to select the "virtual" hard drive that you are going to defragment and two checkboxes enable or disable the simulator sound (something I should have done before starting the defragmentation on the train...).
From then on, you just have to click on the "Star" button to start the defragmentation... As with a real defragmentation, the clusters represented by small squares will light up one after the other to show the progress of the process. And in parallel, the site will simulate the sound of a hard drive scratching, a great effect!
Once the process is complete, you can close the Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator window with the feeling that your computer will run faster now that your files are virtually neatly reorganized on the hard drive.
In short, this site is really an opportunity to experience defragmentation if you haven't experienced it before... or to relive that great moment of hope for a slightly faster computer with a well-organized hard drive.
