How To Defrag Mac Osx?

[windwarddesigns]

What is the best way to defrag my HD in OSX? Don't have Norton. Should I just buy it or is there another way?

[Silence04]

Unix file systems (Mac OS X) don't suffer from fragmented drives, defraging is not necessary...

as long as there is about 5-10 gigs of free space, everything will be fine.

however, if for some reason you've been using windows your whole life and can't comprehend "not" defraging :P, then you can do this:

make an Image of your main hard drive and save it to a different hard drive... then restore that image back onto your main drive. (but that's a lot of work for no noticeable difference)

[budafist]

No need to defrag, but don't forget to Repair Disk Permissions under Disk Utility though.

[windwarddesigns]

problem is slowness, lagging - plenty of hard drive space...

[Silence04]

what are your computer specs? and what OS and software are you using?

[urstwile]

If you turn your computer off, there are some things that OS X does late at night that may not be taking place on your machine. You can force the issue with several different utilities that do these functions for you at your command. I use one called Tweak Freak. Others use a program called Onyx.

This Macworld article (http://www.macworld.com/2005/01/features/preventmacdisasters/index.php) offers steps you can take when your Mac isn't performing the way it should.

[Silence04]

If you turn your computer off, there are some things that OS X does late at night that may not be taking place on your machine. You can force the issue with several different utilities that do these functions for you at your command. I use one called Tweak Freak. Others use a program called Onyx.

This Macworld article (http://www.macworld.com/2005/01/features/preventmacdisasters/index.php) offers steps you can take when your Mac isn't performing the way it should.

Yeah, good point urst, that could be the issue alone... and often is.
you can also do that "force maintance" by going into terminal and type:
sudo periodic daily
sudo periodic weekly (takes the longest)
sudo periodic monthly

:D

[JPnyc]

5 or 10 GIGS of free space? OY! That's nuts. Is that really a requirement of macs?

[urstwile]

It's actually based on the percentage of free space on the hard drive, I think. So 5-10 gigs would be minimal with the size of most newer Macs. At work, I only have 3 gigs free, which is more than 10% (small hard drive, older Mac), and it's just fine.

[urstwile]

Yeah, good point urst, that could be the issue alone... and often is.
you can also do that "force maintance" by going into terminal and type:
sudo periodic daily
sudo periodic weekly (takes the longest)
sudo periodic monthly

:D
I'm a terminal scaredy cat, Silence, so I just use Tweak Freak to do the same thing.

[PrintDriver]

One of the other things besides the maintenance routines that really slow a mac down are the Adobefnt.lst files.
Do a search for Adobefnt then delete all EXCEPT the .db files. Deleting .db files will kill your Adobe apps but the Adobefnt0x.lst (where x is a number) are like a frigging virus. There are free scripts for removal available at VersionTracker if you don't trust yourself.

Also, CS2 apps are very power/space hungry. PhotoshopCS2 especially. If you often work with large images it helps to shut it down and clean your caches once in a while. There are a couple of good shareware/freeware maintenance utilities available as well. Cocktail, Onyx, Macaroni, and MacJanitor to name a few in no particular order.

You can optimize your drive (defrag) using one of the utilities like TechTool Pro or Disk Warrior or maybe even Norton. Check the Mac Tech sites to see which version will work best with your OS version. Some tools haven't kept up with the OS updates. They are coming too fast.

["Technical" Terry]

Yeah, good point urst, that could be the issue alone... and often is.
you can also do that "force maintance" by going into terminal and type:
sudo periodic daily
sudo periodic weekly (takes the longest)
sudo periodic monthly

:D

I've never seen these commands written this way. I decided to give it a try. I really like the simplicity of the command, but it doesn't give you any feedback. If you want to know what is happening when you run these, use this format instead:

sudo /etc/daily
sudo /etc/weekly
sudo /etc/monthly

Same thing just a different way of doing it.

[panzer]

oi PD

in onyx it has remove .db files

i think our boss did that
(he is a windows man obv) it wont fudge everything up will it

[PrintDriver]

OnyX is not recommended for people who don't know what they are doing. You can create havoc with that utility...especially if you don't know mac systems.
I don't know what your boss may have done.
Are you having probs with programs?

[MD]

whoa - deja vu

[LeftBrain Artist]

Deja Vu indeed.

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16953&page=1&pp=10

Here's one I found pertinent to the focus of this topic:

Maintenance Myth #4: Most folks with an opinion will probably tell you that Mac's running OS X never need to have their hard drives defragmented.

Here is a quote from a MicroMat technician, that I think is very insightful:
The claim that installations of Mac OS X on HFS+ volumes do not fragment is a myth believed by people who do not have disk optimizers that allow them to see how much fragmentation their disks have. It is an example of ignorance that is not able to be removed by any amount of evidence. I think theologians call that “invincible ignorance.” It is now a widespread form of the pollution of information space.


-for the record, I didn't say it, hee hee.

[Ned]

No, I'm sure you wouldn't have used terms like, "Invincible Ignorance" and "Pollution of Information Space", would you, LBA? You've got more tact than that. :D

[PrintDriver]

Macs get fragged just like any other computer. The thing that lulls many people is the "Optimizing" you see happening on updating. But you can't actually totally optimize a drive without unmounting it first, ie with a disk utility.
Ignorance is bliss, and the Mac techs' income source.

[Ned]

My brain gets fragmented, too.

Where's the utility for that?

[PrintDriver]

Beer.

[Ned]

There's my problem, PD. I've been using Absinthe instead.

[urstwile]

How Lautrecian of you, Ned. :D

[Ned]

Huh? What? I used to know what that means... 6 bottles of absinthe ago. :D

[urstwile]

Heehee. Whenever I hear the word absinthe, I always think of Toulouse Lautrec.

[The_Black_Knight]

Heehee. Whenever I hear the word absinthe, I always think of Toulouse Lautrec.And I always think of this painting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Degasabsinthe.jpg) by Degas.