Just having gotten my new Powerbook, I'm wondering how you defrag in OS X. Can I do this w/o buying Norton? I simply don't want any Norton utilities on this computer. Do I need to defrag this computer?
Well, the auto defrag isnt perfect, but once a file gets allocated into fragmented space it will get auto defraged ( as long as its small enough ). Its a bit round a bout.
Panthers auto defrag certainly doesnt remove the need for a defragger, and previous versions of Mac OS have most definately needed. OS X hides fragmentation somewhat by caching files in memory. But that doesnt stand up well under load ( low memory, lots of disk accesses ).
The perenial duct tape technique for defragging is to copy your drive to another empty disk ( which defrags it, because files are copied one at a time ). The copy back if you feel the need ( eg: to get the data back off of an external drive ). OS X is a bit finicky about copy drives and keeping the bootable, so Im not sure how well it works. I back up my disk, then do a clean install and copy back again ( not very often ).
Just having gotten my new Powerbook, I'm wondering how you defrag in OS X. Can I do this w/o buying Norton? I simply don't want any Norton utilities on this computer. Do I need to defrag this computer?
if you just got your powerbook, why would already need to defrag it????
Just having gotten my new Powerbook, I'm wondering how you defrag in OS X. Can I do this w/o buying Norton? I simply don't want any Norton utilities on this computer. Do I need to defrag this computer?
Easy: Every 3 months, reformat your drive and zero all data followed by a fresh clean install.
Just having gotten my new Powerbook, I'm wondering how you defrag in OS X. Can I do this w/o buying Norton? I simply don't want any Norton utilities on this computer. Do I need to defrag this computer?
Quote:
Originally posted by the cool gut
Easy: Every 3 months, reformat your drive and zero all data followed by a fresh clean install.
Comments
Even prior to that though, fragmentation has *never* been a problem with MacOS, at least not like under Windows.
Originally posted by Kickaha
With MacOS X 10.3, the filesystem does a lot of defragging on the fly automatically.
Even prior to that though, fragmentation has *never* been a problem with MacOS, at least not like under Windows.
If only it could auto-defragment free space...
Panthers auto defrag certainly doesnt remove the need for a defragger, and previous versions of Mac OS have most definately needed. OS X hides fragmentation somewhat by caching files in memory. But that doesnt stand up well under load ( low memory, lots of disk accesses ).
The perenial duct tape technique for defragging is to copy your drive to another empty disk ( which defrags it, because files are copied one at a time ). The copy back if you feel the need ( eg: to get the data back off of an external drive ). OS X is a bit finicky about copy drives and keeping the bootable, so Im not sure how well it works. I back up my disk, then do a clean install and copy back again ( not very often ).
Originally posted by Sn1PeR
Just having gotten my new Powerbook, I'm wondering how you defrag in OS X. Can I do this w/o buying Norton? I simply don't want any Norton utilities on this computer. Do I need to defrag this computer?
if you just got your powerbook, why would already need to defrag it????
Originally posted by mmmpie
Panthers auto defrag certainly doesnt remove the need for a defragger, and previous versions of Mac OS have most definately needed.
Compared to Windows, it's truly an optional thing to do.
In 19 years of Mac use, I've never seen a drive over 20% fragmentation, and only a couple over 10%.
Compare and contrast with NT4, where it would hit 40% after a week's use post-defrag... *sigh* Man, that was a pain.
Originally posted by Sn1PeR
Just having gotten my new Powerbook, I'm wondering how you defrag in OS X. Can I do this w/o buying Norton? I simply don't want any Norton utilities on this computer. Do I need to defrag this computer?
Easy: Every 3 months, reformat your drive and zero all data followed by a fresh clean install.
Originally posted by Sn1PeR
Just having gotten my new Powerbook, I'm wondering how you defrag in OS X. Can I do this w/o buying Norton? I simply don't want any Norton utilities on this computer. Do I need to defrag this computer?
Originally posted by the cool gut
Easy: Every 3 months, reformat your drive and zero all data followed by a fresh clean install.
oh man, ...
Originally posted by ipodandimac
if you just got your powerbook, why would already need to defrag it????
well, i am officially paranoid, that doesn't mean that i am not being followed.