Disc Defragment and Scan Disc?

randomfactor · Oct 17, 2005

Having switched from windows to Mac I'm used to scanning my HD and defragmenting it in Windows, is there something like that on MacOSX or is it not necessary on Macs. I have TechTool Deluxe and I've had a go on Disc Utilty but all I did was check permissions (?). I also just downloaded onyx if that helps.

Avalon · Oct 17, 2005

A little hint:
Loose your old habits, it'll make your Mac experience much more pleasant.

Mac OS X isn't Windows, and therefore there are things you need to do on one system, but not on the other (and vice-versa).
Mac OS (X and earlier) uses HFS+, a filesystem that's very different from FAT32/NTFS. It avoids fragmentation on-the fly, so there's no need to defragment.
You can verify the disk with Disk Utility, which is pretty similar to scanning the disk in Windows.

OS X is a UNIX-based system, therefore is a bit picky when acces permissions on files are wrongly set. Repairing those permissions can sometimes solve little problems.

etes · Oct 18, 2005

Avalon said:
A little hint:
Loose your old habits, it'll make your Mac experience much more pleasant.

Mac OS X isn't Windows, and therefore there are things you need to do on one system, but not on the other (and vice-versa).
Mac OS (X and earlier) uses HFS+, a filesystem that's very different from FAT32/NTFS. It avoids fragmentation on-the fly, so there's no need to defragment.
You can verify the disk with Disk Utility, which is pretty similar to scanning the disk in Windows.

OS X is a UNIX-based system, therefore is a bit picky when acces permissions on files are wrongly set. Repairing those permissions can sometimes solve little problems.

That is IF you leave your Mac on 24/7. cause these "auto" defrags happen when system is idle. now if you turn your mac off at night there are utilities out there that take care of this problem.

iWonder · Oct 18, 2005

Like OnyX, my favorite little program that does everything you need for cleanup.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/onyx.html

technologist · Oct 18, 2005

etes said:
That is IF you leave your Mac on 24/7. cause these "auto" defrags happen when system is idle. now if you turn your mac off at night there are utilities out there that take care of this problem.

No. The system defrags files when they are opened, according to specific criteria. It does not matter how long your Mac is on, or when.

The system does run chron jobs in the early morning hours, which is what OnyX and MacJanitor do as well.

immdb · Oct 18, 2005

Apple's article 25668 explains when total disk optimization could be benificial.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668

Avalon · Oct 18, 2005

etes said:
That is IF you leave your Mac on 24/7. cause these "auto" defrags happen when system is idle. now if you turn your mac off at night there are utilities out there that take care of this problem.

technologist gave you the right answer to this. What you mean are the cron-jobs, which isn't defragmenting.

Disc Defragment and Scan Disc?

randomfactor

Avalon

etes

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iWonder

technologist

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Avalon

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