Fragmentation

In computer storage, fragmentation is a phenomenon in which storage space is used inefficiently, reducing storage capacity and in most cases performance. The term is also used to denote the wasted space itself.

There are three different but related forms of fragmentation: external fragmentation, internal fragmentation, and data fragmentation. Various storage allocation schemes exhibit one or more of these weaknesses.

Fragmentation may be acceptable in return for increased speed or simplicity.