Repair Permissions?

I heard that i should do this every 2 weeks? Is it true? Why should I do it? Can i do it without the operating system discs, I don't have them?

No, you don't have to do it at all - but it might smooth out problems every now and then.
Any system needs a bit of maintenance, so it might not be a bad idea to get an maintenance app to do it for you!

OnyX, Cocktail, Macjanitor are 3 that spring to mind - google them, or check versiontracker.com, download whichever one sounds best and run it to keep your system in ship shape.

Btw - no you don't need the system discs to do this.

See also http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751

do i need to restart after i repair disk permissions?

Repair permissions is an option for everyone: Applications --> utilities --> disk utility then click repair permissions. Fixes file permissions (I think that has something to do with file paths and addressing- sorry, I'm a hardware guy.) and it should keep your system in trim.

Supposedly OS X does a lot of the "maintenance" things automatically (like defrag.) Anybody for sure on this one? That's what the Apple Store guy said, but he might have been blowing smoke to make a sale. (still it wouldn't surprise me... OS X is a darn good system!)

Yes OS X does do it on its own, but only if your system is up 24/7 and DOES NOT enter sleep. It will not come out of sleep to do the maint. scripts when they need to be run. I only sleep my display and let it do things on its own.

like defrag

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This it'll do every time you install something with a installation screen: You know at the end it tells you it is optimizing system? Well that's basically a quick defrag being done. (I believe)

I repair permissions when my computer starts to run more slowly. It seems to help a lot! :headphone

Coming from a linux background, I find it hard to believe that repairing permissions would magicly speed anything up. If something isn't working, then repairing permissions might help, but I don't see any other reason to do it. Anyone want to explain?

mscnln said:

Coming from a linux background, I find it hard to believe that repairing permissions would magicly speed anything up. If something isn't working, then repairing permissions might help, but I don't see any other reason to do it. Anyone want to explain?

Click to expand...

You are for the most part correct. Repairing permissions is quite often (though not always) voodoo mechanics.

For an extreme differing opinion read this: http://www.unsanity.org/archives/000410.php

I repair permissions once a week or if I install or uninstall a program, does it help?? Probably not, but in my mind it does.. Since I have a PB, I use MacJanitor once a week.

I do notice a slight increase in speed after repairing permissions, not sure what it does.

For a maintenance program, I like Yasu. It has about 50 check boxes letting you choose exactly what gets done, then it just does it.