Running slow. Do I need to defrag my HD?

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Level 2

180 points

Running slow. Do I need to defrag my HD?

My MacBook Pro is running slow. It often takes over 5 min. to boot or shut down. It frequently takes a vacation -- the beachball pops up and spins for 3 or 4 minutes at random intervals and in random apps. The system is essentially locked up until it is done doing whatever it is doing.

My HD is 100 GB, however for the last year or so it has fluctuated between 4.5 and 0.5 GB of available freespace. I often run large photoshop and illustrator files, and frequently run out of disk space. I finally bit-the-bullet and cleaned off the junk, and now have around 17 GB available. I've run Disk Utility and Onyx; and performed all the optimizing, cache-cleaning and schedule-scripts available. Still no joy.

Since I've had the HD maxed out for so long, I wonder if I'd benefit from a defrag? I've heard that there is a risk that important "hot band" files can be moved and actually slow things down. What's your opionion? If defrag's the answer, what's a good utility to use? How can I get that "my system is wicked fast" feeling back?

Macbook Pro,2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB SDRam, OS 10.5.8.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 26, 2012 10:15 AM

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Answer 1

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a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 26, 2012 10:20 AM in response to jshock

Macs defrag themselves on the fly for files under 20 MB. That said, Defragging also runs the risk of data loss. Onyx and similar optimization tools are only good as troubleshooting tools for backed up systems in anycase. Mac OS X generally has been found to be only functional with 15% or more free space. You are seriously under that amount, which can explain most of your slowdown. As it dynamically assigns swap space, it will always be pushing that limit when you are under 15% free. You are going to have to determine which files do you need on your system permanently, and which you can move off to external storage. Read my backup FAQ*: http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html And disk full FAQ*: http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html You may be overdue for a replacement internal drive.

Note, be careful the drive you get supports 1.5 Gbps bandwidth, and unless you have a 17" model, is 9.5mm high.

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Answer 2

jshock Author

Level 2

180 points

Mar 26, 2012 12:28 PM in response to a brody

Thanks a brody. Your words are wise. I've been overdue for a new drive for a long time, but have been putting it off. I dread swapping drives. Although I use SuperDuper regularly and have a bootable mirror, it never goes as smoothly as expected.

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Answer 3

Mar 26, 2012 1:32 PM in response to jshock

Boot in Safe Mode. See What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X)

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392 Takes a while to run, but it usually "fixes" problems.

I've found that doing backups is faster when booted in Safe Mode.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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