▁into ▁a ▁" cons istent " ▁state , ▁the ▁attempt ▁to ▁" fix " ▁the ▁incons isten cies ▁will ▁cor rupt ▁the ▁filesystem . ▁ ▁Def ragment ation ▁ ▁There ▁is ▁no ▁online ▁ext 3 ▁def ragment ation ▁tool ▁that ▁works ▁on ▁the ▁filesystem ▁level . ▁There ▁is ▁an ▁off line ▁ext 2 ▁def ragment er , ▁e 2 def rag . ▁However , ▁e 2 def rag ▁may ▁destroy ▁data , ▁depending ▁on ▁the ▁feature ▁bits ▁turned ▁on ▁in ▁the ▁filesystem ; ▁it ▁does ▁not ▁know ▁how ▁to ▁handle ▁many ▁of ▁the ▁newer ▁ext 3 ▁features . ▁ ▁There ▁are ▁users pace ▁def ragment ation ▁tools , ▁like ▁Sh ake ▁and ▁def rag . ▁Sh ake ▁works ▁by ▁alloc ating ▁space ▁for ▁the ▁whole ▁file ▁as ▁one ▁operation , ▁which ▁will ▁generally ▁cause ▁the ▁alloc ator ▁to ▁find ▁cont igu ous ▁disk ▁space . ▁If ▁there ▁are ▁files ▁which ▁are ▁used ▁at ▁the ▁same ▁time , ▁Sh ake ▁will ▁try ▁to ▁write ▁them ▁next ▁to ▁one ▁another . ▁Def rag ▁works ▁by ▁copying ▁each ▁file ▁over ▁itself . ▁However , ▁this ▁strategy ▁works ▁only ▁if ▁the ▁file ▁system ▁has ▁enough ▁free ▁space . ▁A ▁true ▁def ragment ation ▁tool ▁does ▁not ▁exist ▁for ▁ext 3 . ▁ ▁However , ▁as ▁the ▁Linux ▁System ▁Administr ator ▁Guide ▁states , ▁" Mod ern ▁Linux ▁filesystem ( s ) ▁keep ▁fragment ation ▁at ▁a ▁minimum ▁by ▁keeping ▁all ▁blocks ▁in ▁a ▁file ▁close ▁together , ▁even ▁if ▁they ▁can ' t ▁be ▁stored ▁in ▁consecutive