Defrag
Is there a defrag process on a MBP? If so, where is it and how do I activate it?
Your assistance is appreciated.
Your assistance is appreciated.
Mac OS X (10.6.6), MBP, WinXP, i(Pod, Touch, Pad), Netbook
Apple KBase article [About disk optimization with Mac OS X|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668]
Different views about defragmentation:
[Optimizing Disks Is a Waste of Time|http://db.tidbits.com/article/7254]
[Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance|http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html#Anchor-31774]
The links above also have links to specific tools you can use. Here's a short list:
iDefrag
SpeedToolsX
Drive Genius
DiskWarrior defragments just the Directory
[Show Volume Fragmentation|http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18451/showvolumefragmentatio n] (free, just shows fragmentation stats.)
There is a difference between defragmentation and optimizing. Defragmentation results in pieces of files or free space occupying contiguous areas (puts them together so they are next to each other). Optimizing puts things in a specific order and order that supposedly makes them easier to which to get access. Techtool has a defragmentation feature. idefrag also does optimizing.
There's also two types of fragmentation; file fragmentation and free space fragmentation. You could have files that are contiguous but the free space may be broken up into tiny bits making it almost useless for file storage, or the reverse. SpeedTools does file defragmentation but does not defragment the resulting free space.
"Tiger automatically defragments files smaller than 20MB." This is a statement copied from somewhere but I have checked my drive and found 2MB files that were fragmented when there was sufficient contiguous space for them not to be fragmented.
[More discussion on defragmentation|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1826622]
[March 2010 post by Klaus1 with extensive discussion of fragmentation|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11247504]
Extensive discussion about defragmentation, also questioning the effectiveness of cloning as a defragmentation process. - [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1962935] Also read [http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12961331#12961331] which has a case study of the effectiveness of file defragmenting and cloning.
I think the bottom line is, unless you have pushed your drive to extremes in terms of large file creation with very little free space you probably don't have to worry about fragmentation.
Message was edited by: Limnos
Different views about defragmentation:
[Optimizing Disks Is a Waste of Time|http://db.tidbits.com/article/7254]
[Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance|http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html#Anchor-31774]
The links above also have links to specific tools you can use. Here's a short list:
iDefrag
SpeedToolsX
Drive Genius
DiskWarrior defragments just the Directory
[Show Volume Fragmentation|http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18451/showvolumefragmentatio n] (free, just shows fragmentation stats.)
There is a difference between defragmentation and optimizing. Defragmentation results in pieces of files or free space occupying contiguous areas (puts them together so they are next to each other). Optimizing puts things in a specific order and order that supposedly makes them easier to which to get access. Techtool has a defragmentation feature. idefrag also does optimizing.
There's also two types of fragmentation; file fragmentation and free space fragmentation. You could have files that are contiguous but the free space may be broken up into tiny bits making it almost useless for file storage, or the reverse. SpeedTools does file defragmentation but does not defragment the resulting free space.
"Tiger automatically defragments files smaller than 20MB." This is a statement copied from somewhere but I have checked my drive and found 2MB files that were fragmented when there was sufficient contiguous space for them not to be fragmented.
[More discussion on defragmentation|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1826622]
[March 2010 post by Klaus1 with extensive discussion of fragmentation|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11247504]
Extensive discussion about defragmentation, also questioning the effectiveness of cloning as a defragmentation process. - [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1962935] Also read [http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12961331#12961331] which has a case study of the effectiveness of file defragmenting and cloning.
I think the bottom line is, unless you have pushed your drive to extremes in terms of large file creation with very little free space you probably don't have to worry about fragmentation.
Message was edited by: Limnos