Is Defragmenting a Macintosh HD Necessary?
First, if I've posted in the wrong section I apologize. But because this is a Hard Drive question I figured it belonged in the Hardware section.
I was originally under the impression that only Windows needed defragmenting. I just switched to a Mac on Nov. 30th 2007 so it's still a learning process for me which has been quite smooth and pleasant.
The reason I asked this question is because I came across this defragmentation tool for the Mac http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php I was wondering if this is necessary on a Mac Hard Drive?
I was originally under the impression that only Windows needed defragmenting. I just switched to a Mac on Nov. 30th 2007 so it's still a learning process for me which has been quite smooth and pleasant.
The reason I asked this question is because I came across this defragmentation tool for the Mac http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php I was wondering if this is necessary on a Mac Hard Drive?
Comments
First, if I've posted in the wrong section I apologize. But because this is a Hard Drive question I figured it belonged in the Hardware section.
I was originally under the impression that only Windows needed defragmenting. I just switched to a Mac on Nov. 30th 2007 so it's still a learning process for me which has been quite smooth and pleasant.
The reason I asked this question is because I came across this defragmentation tool for the Mac http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php I was wondering if this is necessary on a Mac Hard Drive?
Macworld just ran an article about this, among other things. Check it here.
Macworld just ran an article about this, among other things. Check it here.
Thanks for the link. It seems the following quote from MacWorld's site answers this question in part, "Defragment Your Disk As you use your computer, individual files get split into numerous pieces on your hard disk, a state known as file fragmentation. In addition, the files or file fragments may be scattered all over your disk, reducing the amount of contiguous free space; this is known as disk fragmentation. Ordinarily, neither condition is problematic, given today?s large, fast hard drives?so for most people, defragmenting a drive has little (if any) benefit. However, fragmentation can become a real problem when your disk is nearly full or when you?re running lots of programs that depend heavily on virtual memory. Your drive must do extra work to reconstruct all the pieces of every file it uses. Fragmentation can also be a problem with audio or video programs that must transfer very large chunks of data to or from your disk in real time, and that therefore function much better when there?s enough free space to store those files in contiguous units.
OS X automatically defragments smaller files, but larger ones may still be in many pieces."
As far as maintenance goes on my new Macbook, I use Onyx so I guess defragmenting my HD won't become a problem. I don't work with video files and I don't run multiple programs at the same time that require lots of virtual memory.
It ended up slower.
Don't waste your time.
C.
I defragged my Mac.
It ended up slower.
Don't waste your time.
C.
Interesting. I guess OS X auto defragmentation process is enough. In addition with 4GB of RAM and Onyx on my new MacBook running Leopard, that should be enough. Onyx by the way is just awesome. It really helps to maintain a lean and fast Mac.
Macworld just ran an article about this, among other things. Check it here.
My gawd! That article is so dated I would swear they just did a cut-paste of OS X over OS 9. Overall the advice there is heinously bad.
Defrag -- NO!!!!!!! OS X running HFS+ defrags any file 20MB or smaller on the fly. Frequently used files are relocated to the "Hot Zone". Doing a manual defrag will destroy that and make the machine slower.
Don't even think about memory management unless you only have a gig or less in the machine. Then only run what you need until you can put more RAM in. Ignore every other word about memory in that article it is so wrong about how things work.
My gawd! That article is so dated I would swear they just did a cut-paste of OS X over OS 9. Overall the advice there is heinously bad.
Defrag -- NO!!!!!!! OS X running HFS+ defrags any file 20MB or smaller on the fly. Frequently used files are relocated to the "Hot Zone". Doing a manual defrag will destroy that and make the machine slower.
Don't even think about memory management unless you only have a gig or less in the machine. Then only run what you need until you can put more RAM in. Ignore every other word about memory in that article it is so wrong about how things work.
Thanks for the insight. I'll stick with OS X auto-defragmentation and Onyx which was just released out of beta for Leopard today!