IDefrag

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Hey guys
just wanted to ask a simple question

I have a MBP with and Hard Drive of 500Gb
I have iDefrag and every night for 3 nights I left the computer defragmenting....at morning It has only reached 30%
also the next night it starts over again\

my question is? shouldn't it be starting from the same point it was left before???

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks.
 
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The big question I have is why are you defragging? That's generally almost never needed for Macs which is why it's not a built-in system tool.
 

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The big question I have is why are you defragging? That's generally almost never needed for Macs which is why it's not a built-in system tool.

I would ask the same question. It is not needed by most users.


But, it is not starting from the same point. Anything that had been moved the previous night is still moved. It will start from 0% again when you restart it.

As to why it's stopping at 30% defragged, my question is how much free space do you have? If you don't have enough free space, it simply is not going to work.

My last defrag on a 250GB partition with 35% free space took approx. 3 hours. Fragmentation of files was not even worth mentioning, while my free space was over 50% fragmented at the time and only because of the way I use my drive.
 
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ok, so im defragin cause of the 500 gb i have 380 occupied and almost 50% is fragmented

it does pass the 30% the thing is in the 7 hours I sleep it only reaches 30% and I need to use my computer so I have to restart and boot into mac os....so u said that it doesnt start all over again the next time??

cause it seem it does, cause the next morning it has only reached 30%...i hoped 60% but not even close..and i've done it 3 times expecting to reach 90%...but still 30%
 
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@ t4ggs... are you running iDefrag from a DVD, thumb drive or ext HD in "Full" defrag mode?
 
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The defrag will always begin at 0%. If it's not paused during a defrag and you restart the machine, iDefrag simply analyzes the disk again and defrags everything. It's like booting your computer, when you turn it off in the middle of booting, you wouldn't expect it to resume where it left off. Now I'm not saying iDefrag might not have a suspend option, but if it runs from a dvd then it's out of question. If you see that 3 nights in a row it takes 7 hours to do 30% then you will simply need to leave it running for a much longer time than overnight.

And as mentioned above, Mac OS X is said to be efficient in disk usage and defrag shouldn't be needed. I'm not saying don't use iDefrag, just learn to live with the fact that defraging a big drive takes time :)
 
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Im running it from the HD, since its the last version of iDefrag

and I dont want to live with the fact that I have to wait 21 hours to defrag my HD, in Windows I could alway pause and continue from the same point....
in windows i could even use the computer in the mean time

and yes my drive is very very fragmented, cause osx only defragment files smaller than 20mb, but i have a lot of HD movies that are way bigger than 20mb...and pictures too...
 
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No need to defrag when you use mac. :)
 
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That's the thing, you can't fully defrag a hard drive when you're booted off the same drive. Hence the restart into iDefrag. And of course the restart kills any progress and you have to defrag the whole drive again. Yu said yourself, the disk is very very fragmented so it will take a long time.

If you can't live with having to leave the computer, then you will have to live with a fragmented disk.

I should ask, do you experience any significant change in speed?
 
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I have to disagree on not having to defrag a Mac. if you use your Mac for just email, internet and some iTunes songs then iDefrag isn't going to help you at all.
I use huge 700MB+ music files (300GB's total) and I am constantly saving/moving these files around to and from other music programs.
I use iDefrag from a ext HD on "Full" defrag and I can defintiely tell a difference after completing a defrag. It's not a huge improvement but every bit helps when using huge files daily.

my 2 cents...
 
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If you're going to be optimizing, it's best to use a utility from a disc, or at least a "virtual disc" which is how I do it using TechTool Pro's eDrive "partition".
 

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I don't know....I havent completed the defragmentation yet

As you have been advised... Use the iDefrag boot disk method and let it run to completion. In order for it to work smoothly and fast, iDefrag needs complete control over the drive. It can't do that when the drive is mounted and the system is up. I know what the docs say about the new iDefrag 2.0 but you also need to read the fine print.

Regards.
 
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To the OP even if you do have it on your hard drive, it should reboot and run from the program and takes about 2 1/2 hours on average. if you are having problems, and have a registered version, go to the web site and learn how to make a bootable DVD of the software.
 
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To the OP even if you do have it on your hard drive, it should reboot and run from the program and takes about 2 1/2 hours on average. if you are having problems, and have a registered version, go to the web site and learn how to make a bootable DVD of the software.

thanx ill try
 
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chas_m

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Easier, better and free method of "defragging."

1. Use a clone program (SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner) to make a bootable backup of your entire drive onto an external.

2. Boot from the clone just to make sure its totally fine.

3. From the cloned drive, use Disc Utility to erase the original boot drive. I use the "zero out" option.

4. Now clone back.

5. Boot from the fresh (original) boot drive.

I do this about once a year, but I'm a heavy user. Most normal users have no need to do this over the expected five-year life of the machine.
 
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I would suggest the user use SuperDuper to create a bootable external OS drive that has iDefrag installed on it and then run iDefrag form it. It will go more quickly as the drive being defragged is not running the process as well. Do a FULL with verify switched on.

I did this last night but with CCC. Worked like a charm! ;D
 

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