Do we need to defrag Mac like PC?

[pigoo3]

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),

The number of open apps. also depends on how "ram hungry" the apps. are....and how much ram you have. If the computer only has 1-2 gigs of ram...8 apps. will certainly have an impact.

If the Powermac G5 listed in your profile is the computer we are talking about...4.5gigs is pretty decent. But you are:

- using an older Powermac G5. These aren't bad...but they are 5-8 years old (depending on the model). So the cpu & gpu aren't the fastest.
- using an older OS version (10.5.8)...which is the "newest" OS version you can run on a Powermac G5. So you are stuck with that.
- sounds like you only have had this computer for about 6 weeks. Maybe, maybe not enough time to know how fast/how slow it is...especially if you have been doing different things with it recently.

I personally usually only have my e-mail program and internet browser open...and then maybe a couple small apps. like the "Calculator" and "Activity Monitor". With a Mac Pro and 12gig of ram...I could certainly have many more open! But with my MacBook Pro with only 2 gig of ram...not a great idea to have too many apps. open simultaneously.

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.

Maybe...maybe not. But you're certainly right...if you have cable modem service...this is a shared service (bandwidth is shared with your neighbors). So during peak times, things may be slower.

But other than ISP issues...restarting the computer every so often, repairing permissions, and not letting your HD get more than 85-90% full are areas to consider as well.

- Nick

 

[Surfside]

Thanks again, Nick. I performed the "Repair Disk Permissions" process, and it seemed to speed things up at first, but after using the machine for 2-3 hours, it is moving very slow again within applications (not web browsing).

Re: profile info - Even though I transitioning into Mac, I am also collecting a few. I now have 2 MacBook Pros, 1 MacBook, a PowerMac and this iMac that I am struggling with - talk about "trial by fire"! I am LOVING the Apple products, but I am just not quite up to speed yet on the OS operation. The iMac specs are as follows:

27-inch
OS X 10.7
1TB HD (286GB avail)
2.7 GHz Intel Core i5
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB

This is the only Mac that I have purchased from Apple. It is a refurbished model. All of the others were bought from private parties.

I don't know if this does anything to help you help me, but I figured the info wouldn't hurt.

Now, issue #2. Can you direct me to the correct area of the forum to ask about where to find the proper replacement cooling fan in my 2007 MacBook Pro that is out of warranty?

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[harryb2448]

Download and use Onyx for Lion. For the cooling fan replacement do a Google.


http://news.softpedia.com/news/OnyX-2-4-0-Arrives-for-Mac-OS-X-Lion-Free-Download-217859.shtml

 

[chas_m]

There is no way a 27" i5 iMac w/4GB of RAM should be slow. At anything.

Something in wrong there ... most likely something you (she) is doing, but could also be a mechanical issue.

UPDATE: Wait, just thought of something. Try this:

1. Make a new folder on your desktop. Call it "Desktop Stuff" or whatever you like.
2. Put EVERYTHING (except the hard drive icon!) that is currently sitting on the desktop in that folder.
3. Double-click on the hard drive icon, locate the Home folder. Put the "Desktop Stuff" folder inside the Home folder.
4. If you like, make an "alias" of the Desktop Stuff folder and put that back out on the desktop.
5. Restart the machine.

Let me know if that makes a difference.

 

[Surfside]

That's what I thought! But I don't know enough about it to make statements like that. Do you think Onyx, like harryb2448 suggested, will help?

 

[chas_m]

That's what I thought! But I don't know enough about it to make statements like that. Do you think Onyx, like harryb2448 suggested, will help?

Try what I suggested first and see if that improves things. Call it a hunch.

OnyX is a fine program but I think there is something more going on here.

 

[Surfside]

Also, this off topic, but is there an iPhone app that I can use to access this forum? Tapatalk didn't bring back any results when I did a search.

 

[Surfside]

chas_m: initally, it did seems to speed things up again. But, I opened up a program of two and the traffic jam started again. I think I should explain a thing or two before I make people turn cartwheels trying to figure this out, if I am doing something to cause this.

I am editing photos in a pre-release of Photoshop CS6. Since this is a beta product, I am probably already shooting myself in the foot right there. Also, I still have Photoshop CS5.1 installed, but I am not trying to use both simultaneously. Should I try to uninstall&reinstall CS6 or dump it altogether?

 

[Surfside]

I have downloaded Onyx, and I am about to install it.

 

[Surfside]

Thanks, harryb2448. Installing Onyx now.

 

[chas_m]

If you are not a registered Adobe developer who is beta-testing the product for them, I would suggest you dump it immediately and stick with CS 5.5. We don't help people with pirated products.

If you are a registered Adobe developer, you should be taking the issue to them, not to us -- as this likely violates your NDA.

 

[shanlon]

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!

While I'm sure reinstalling the operating system netted you some free space, it's a lot easier to run a utility that scans the disk and tells you where all the data is being taken up. I use a utility called JDisk Report

 

[Surfside]

chas_m: I am not a developer, and I have no problem dumping CS6. It was given to me by "a friend'. Didn't realize I was breaking any rules/laws. No longer! Thanks for the heads-up.

shanlon: Thanks for the tip.

harryb2448: I used Onyx, and it seems to have really helped. I won't know for sure until over the weekend when we try to shove through the editing of a bunch of images when my wife gets back from her trip. Thanks for the suggestion - I hope it keeps things clear for me.

 

[Doug b]

For the record, it is documented that OS X defragments the HD in the background to a certain extent. What it does not defrag, is larger volumes of data, say.. over 500 MB perhaps? That part is not clear. So moving major amounts of data, leaving non contiguous space will remain fragmented.

This is why I only use an external HD for my scratch disk. If I have to do a job, (photography) then so be it. But I have used iDefrag once, and it did make a significant difference. I've also regularly used Onyx, but the defrag program made a bigger difference overall, considering the amount of video and stills I've had to move back and forth.

Doug

 

[Surfside]

Thanks, Doug_b. I'll check out iDefrag today.

 

[Dysfunction]

For the record, it is documented that OS X defragments the HD in the background to a certain extent. What it does not defrag, is larger volumes of data, say.. over 500 MB perhaps? That part is not clear. So moving major amounts of data, leaving non contiguous space will remain fragmented.

This is why I only use an external HD for my scratch disk. If I have to do a job, (photography) then so be it. But I have used iDefrag once, and it did make a significant difference. I've also regularly used Onyx, but the defrag program made a bigger difference overall, considering the amount of video and stills I've had to move back and forth.

Doug

Here's the logical flow:

When a file is opened on an HFS+ volume, the following conditions are tested:

If the file is less than 20 MB in size
If the file is not already busy
If the file is not read-only
If the file has more than eight extents
If the system has been up for at least three minutes

If all of the above conditions are satisfied, the file is relocated -- it is defragmented on-the-fly.

 

[Doug b]

Here's the logical flow:

When a file is opened on an HFS+ volume, the following conditions are tested:

If the file is less than 20 MB in size
If the file is not already busy
If the file is not read-only
If the file has more than eight extents
If the system has been up for at least three minutes

If all of the above conditions are satisfied, the file is relocated -- it is defragmented on-the-fly.

Good info. Lots of us of course move video, audio and image files far larger than 20 MB on and off our internal HD's to and from externals quite often. This can, over time.. be problematic. I've only had to use iDefrag once, but that one time really did make a substantial difference performance wise.

Doug

 

[chscag]

I used my copy of iDefrag after I updated my 2008 MacBook from Snow Leopard to Lion. It made a world of difference in boot up speed and over all computing. Took all night to run but was worth it. The new iMac had SL preinstalled but did not need to be defragmented when I upgraded to Lion.

It's always a good idea to do the iDefrag analysis first before deciding to run the defrag. Very helpful.

 

[Dysfunction]

Good info. Lots of us of course move video, audio and image files far larger than 20 MB on and off our internal HD's to and from externals quite often. This can, over time.. be problematic. I've only had to use iDefrag once, but that one time really did make a substantial difference performance wise.

Doug

Oh yea, there are plenty of times that many of us are shuffling around files larger than that. The data I got this from comes from, I believe the Panther era.. I'm not sure if this has changed since.

 

[dvdchance]

And CleanMyMac is trash. No one should buy it.

Whats the problem with CleanMyMac? I use it and it seems to free up quite a bit of space for me.