Do we need to defrag Mac like PC?

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Ei guys!!! Sorry again for being troublesome with all my questions and queries. Still new with MACs and still have a lot more to learn. Hope you can help me out.

Anyway, my question is do we need to defrag MACs like in PCs? I've been a long time PC user and I always defrag my hard disk at least 2 a month. Is it also applicable to MACs?

And lastly, any advice what should i do to keep my mac (the system) troublefree?

Hope some one can clarify this for me. Thanks!!!

Cheers!!!
 
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You don't really need to defrag your Mac. Sometimes though, defragging (is that a word?) to put some data back in order.
(I am sure that some one with greater knowledge about defragging will chime in)

To answer your question about how to get your system trouble free, I suggest CleanMyMac. The app will run system checks, and you can have it get rid of languages you don't speak. This will free up some hard drive space.

Good luck, and don't hesitate about asking questions :D

- Kyle
 
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johndope83
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You don't really need to defrag your Mac. Sometimes though, defragging (is that a word?) to put some data back in order.
(I am sure that some one with greater knowledge about defragging will chime in)

To answer your question about how to get your system trouble free, I suggest CleanMyMac. The app will run system checks, and you can have it get rid of languages you don't speak. This will free up some hard drive space.

Good luck, and don't hesitate about asking questions :D

- Kyle

thanks took your advise and tried cleanmymac. got rid of 850 MB of unwanted files thanks!!!
 
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@osxx - hmmm...what you sent seems really interesting. thanks for sharing
 
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OSX defrags files under a certain size automatically. There are programs out there that are supposed to defrag larger files, but from what I've heard, they can cause system instability. If you want to free up some HD space, just do a clean install and use a Time Machine backup to restore your files. I did once and regained almost 30gb of space!
 
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There are programs out there that are supposed to defrag larger files, but from what I've heard, they can cause system instability.

I've used TechTool Pro to Optimize for at least 6 years. (OS 9 and OS X) I've never had it cause any sort of problem.
 

chscag

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Tech Tools Pro is good and perhaps even better is iDefrag. The problem with using iDefrag, however, is that for a complete defrag including consolidating free space is that it reboots the machine and takes control during the process. Depending on how large your hard drive is, it could take hours on end to finish. Rather inconvenient.
 
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But the bottom line is NO, you don't need to defrag your Mac like you did your PC.

If you WANT to do it from time to time, there are several methods -- some of which are mentioned above -- but for a typical user it is by NO means mandatory.

I use the "clone, nuke, pave, restore" method maybe once a year or so -- and I use my Mac professionally so its on for easily 12-14 hours a day, doing all kinds of different things.
 
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The problem with using iDefrag, however, is that for a complete defrag including consolidating free space is that it reboots the machine and takes control during the process. Depending on how large your hard drive is, it could take hours on end to finish. Rather inconvenient.

TTP gets the job done in an hour or two. I get it started just before going to bed.
 
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To answer the original poster.

No. You do not need to.
But if you are a little paranoid you can follow the advice of others above or:
try out the "Maintenance" app.
Titanium's Software • Home

Tat little App is very good and keeps your Mac clean and ready to go.
 
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I'm (once again) going to go against the grain, simply to provide a different perspective. I don't think that anybody here can say with certainty, how the OP uses their computer, so with that in mind, I'll direct said person to a post I made for a similar topic last week (or so)

First of all: There is NO REGISTRY in OS X, so don't even worry about that for half of a nanosecond. Secondly, Fragmentation in OS X doesn't really occur in the same way as it does in Windows. Check out this article for a pretty simple run down on the process and why using a defrag app is still useful: (read all the way through and don't skim)

Link:
Disk Fragmentation & OS X: When Does it Become a Problem?: Apple News, Tips and Reviews «

Onyx is a gem of a tool. Useful for several different things, and is a one stop shop for maintenance. (doesn't defragment though)

I've had my MacBook Pro for a bit over 3 years, and all I have ever done is run Onyx, keep all my photos and music on an external hard drive (keeps lots of disk space free) and once a month calibrate the battery. I have to do this though, since it's always plugged in as I use an external monitor for photo editing.

I'll admit, when I upgraded to Snow Leopard I did a fresh install and wiped the previous data with the ol' 7 x wipe. (writes over the data 7 times) Total overkill, but I'm anal like that.

Everybody here has given the same good advice. You really don't need to go overboard with maintenance as you would with Windows. Try keeping your home folder and download folders clean, don't store unnecessary data etc..


Doug
 
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There are programs out there that are supposed to defrag larger files, but from what I've heard, they can cause system instability.
It seems Apple also thinks they can cause system instability.

About disk optimization with Mac OS X
Note:Mac OS X systems use hundreds of thousands of small files, many of which are rarely accessed. Optimizing them can be a major effort for very little practical gain. There is also a chance that one of the files placed in the "hot band" for rapid reads during system startup might be moved during defragmentation, which would decrease performance.
 

chscag

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It seems Apple also thinks they can cause system instability.

Microsoft said the same thing about NTFS. "It never needs to be defragmented or optimized" and it may cause problems. We found out it wasn't true and their warnings were ill founded. That's why they now include their own defrag program with Windows.

Granted, Unix is not Windows nor NTFS, but it does fragment over time. And I haven't heard of anyone who has made their system unstable by running a Unix defrag program. (iDefrag, Tech Tools Pro, etc.)
 
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I've got a problem with my "new" refurbished iMac, so I tho't I would do some research in here before i went any further. I don't know if anyone is still monitoring this thread, but I looked over all of the posts, and I think I know a couple of things I'll try that were recommended.

My iMac is a lot slower now than when i got it 1.5 months ago. My issue is that I have moved a LARGE amount of files in and out of this iMac, and I don't know if that has affected the speed. My wife is a photographer, and we have been waiting for the day that we could upgrade from PC to Mac, but I am still scratching my head with how to go about fixing this. On my PC, I would just defrag the computer and it should pretty much return back to normal speed, for the most part. With this iMac, I am just not sure what I should/can do to get back to my original speeds.

Because my iMac was so much faster as burning discs than my PC, I moved a bunch of large (10MB+) images files over to the iMac, burnt the images to discs, then I deleted the image files to make room for more image files to burn. I have a 1TB hard drive. All-in-all, I probably moved a total of 1.5TB of image files onto and off of the iMac, just so I could burn them to disc faster. I now have about 700GB still on the iMac, but everything seems slow: web browsing, navigating thru Finder, opening programs, etc. I would greatly appreciate any advice that anyone can offer. It may be a simple fix, but I am not over that learning curve, yet.

Thanks in advance.
 

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I don't know if anyone is still monitoring this thread...

Well we are now! Now that you "woke up" an old thread!;)

No you don't have to defrag. a Mac like you do with Windows computers..and...your slowness issues may not have anything to do with the hard drive at all.

My first question would be...how full is your hard drive. If it's say more than 85%-90% full...then maybe this could slow things down. But otherwise (assuming there are no hardware issues with the computer)...follow these tips:

- Restart your computer every once in a while...versus just putting it to "sleep" each night. I do this probably once a week.
- Repair Permissions (launch Disk Utility, and click "repair permissions")
- Don't have too many applications open at the same time. This just "fragments" the ram between too many applications...and then there's not enough ram for any single app. to run at it's best. Of course the more ram you have...the more apps. open at the same time can be supported without any performance penalties.

HTH,

- Nick
 
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Thanks, Nick! I'll attempt to repair permissions as soon as I can get my wife off of the computer! She does have a tendency to have 8 applications running at the same time (sometimes that's an exaggeration, sometimes it's not), but I have noticed that even when I only have a browser going (Firefox or Safari) that it can be sluggish, too. Maybe I need to take that up with my ISP.

I'll let you know how it goes.
 

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