e4defrag

About

e4defrag is ranked #6 of 22 in disk defragmentation software on Inferse. It runs on Linux. There is a free plan.

Compared on disk defragmentation software

Filesystem support

multi-filesystemgithub.com

Facts

Purpose

e4defrag is an online defragmenter for extent based files on ext4 filesystems.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Targets

It accepts a regular file, directory, or device mounted as ext4; a directory target covers its files.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Defragmentation

It aims to give targeted files more contiguous blocks, which the manual says improves file access speed.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Fragmentation check

The -c option reports current and ideal fragmentation counts and a fragmentation score without defragmenting the target.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Verbose output

The -v option prints error messages and each file’s fragmentation count before and after defragmentation.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Supported filesystem

The source checks for ext4 and reports an error when the filesystem is not ext4.github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Unsupported files

The manual says e4defrag does not support swap files, files in lost+found, or files allocated in indirect blocks.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Other mount points

When given a device or mount point, it does not defragment files belonging to another device’s mount point.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Free space

Fragmented or insufficient filesystem free space can prevent e4defrag from improving a file’s fragmentation.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Use while active

The manual says it is safe to run on a file while another application uses it, though shared memory and disk bandwidth can slow both.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Permissions

Non-privileged users can run it on their own files, but the fragmentation score is not printed for -c runs unless run as root.man7.org · 4 Oct 2026

Project

The maker’s README describes e2fsprogs as second extended filesystem management programs and says it supplies instructions for building and installing them.github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Support

The project README directs bug reports for its programs to Ted Ts’o by email.github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Authors

The e4defrag source credits Akira Fujita and Takashi Sato as authors.github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Where it ranks on Inferse

• Best Disk Defragmentation Software in 2026#6 of 22

Sources

• man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/e4defrag.8.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
• github.com/tytso/e2fsprogs/blob/master/misc/e4defr· checked 4 Oct 2026
• github.com/tytso/e2fsprogs/blob/master/README· checked 4 Oct 2026