Rather, OS X Panther automatically degragments files whenever they are opened.
Journalling and defragmenting are seperate things. Defragmenting consolidates files on disk for faster opening. (Panther also uses "hot file clustering," which groups frequently accessed files together, to improve performance.)
Journalling helps to prevent errors in the event that a file system write is interrupted (by, say, a power outage.)
But anyway, trpnmonkey41 is right in that no defragmenting is necessary.
So long as we're on the topic of maintenance, though...you might want to look into running cron jobs manually, though. Cron jobs are maintenance tasks that normally run very early in the morning. Since most people keep there Macs asleep or off at 3AM, they often don't get run. MacJanitor will do this on command.
I also use System Optimizer X which is designed to improve system, internet, and disk speed and stability using proven system-level operations and tweaks:
it is a shareware and can be found at http://www.mkd.cc/sox/
Even if you don't leave your machine on overnight all the time, on the occasional time that you do, it will run any of those things that it missed when it was sleeping.
How so, because while I am not a computer beginner I am new to my powerbook and I dont want to mess anything. Can a get some hints/tips or maybe even a better program to use.
I've never had OnyX cause problems with either of my systems, but if you're looking for something basic and "fool-proof", try Maintenance by Titanium Software (creator of OynX). It will allow you to run all maintenance scripts with a single click, but you'll have to use Disk Utility to repair permissions.
Macman: What should I be careful about on on OnyX?
Padawan, thanks, I do already have OnyX downloaded and used it a few times so I want to see what else macman has to say but AI will definately check out that site after I get the story on OnyX.
dont clear any caches if you dont know what it is used for, dont checkmark anything to be done if you dont know what it is. Ive seen too many times a user go click happy, check everything, run it, then their computer wont startup. macjanitor, macaroni, cocktail, and maintenance are all good apps. theres also tinkertool.
So basically if I just leave it alone, because obviously my computer still works, and just use it now and then but on default I shouldn't have any problems?
pretty much, just routine maintenance every now and then, I use cocktail. I also use system optimizer x every few months or so, but cocktail about once a month.
actually, that isnt 100% correct. i used to not think that either, but then i got tech tool pro and used their defrag tool. the process took about 3 hours, but my system ran so much faster afterwards. I dont think it needs to be done very often, but it definately helped
oh yea, again my 2 cents on SOX (system optimizer) i like it for most of its utilities, but i think the permissions repairs actually screw up the permissions. whenever i run the entire optimize client, and then restart, my computer is SOOO SLOW. then i run the disk utility permissions repairs, it finds a good 7-8 errors, and it runs back to normal.
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