I disagree
Hard drive fragmentation may not have as much of an impact on file I/O performance as it used to, thanks to the faster seek times that newer drives have; but it still does have a negative impact. The more fragmented your files are, the more often your drive heads need to move around during file access. Since seek times will always be slower than read times, each time your drive has to transition from read to seek and back, your overall file access slows somewhat. This is also causing a lot of unnecessary head movement, increasing wear and tear on the drive mechanics, ultimately shortening your drive's life.
Bottom line: Just because the effects of file fragmentation on drive performance are not as pronounced as they used to be doesn't mean they aren't there. Periodic drive defragmentation is still one of the best and cheapest ways to "tune up" your system's overall performance.
