How often do you "repair disk permissions"?

iFanboy said:

I googled the problem and there were a bunch of answers about repairing disk permissions. So I did and there were about 10 entries that needed "fixing".

I did a full reinstall a week ago....? Is this normal? Is repairing permissions something that should be done regularly?

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No, you don't need to do it regularly. Many people suggest it when it isn't appropriate.

Repairing permissions: What you need to know

I've installed Lion a couple times on a couple iMacs, and I've needed to repair permissions each time to quash bugs... icons not drawing, spaces acting weird, etc.

Other than that I generally repair permissions if random weirdness starts popping up, which hasn't happened much at all since 10.7.2.

iFanboy said:

Thanks! That was a very informative article!

Does it still apply for Lion?

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Yes, it does.

Every two days for me.

Michaelgtrusa said:

Every two days for me.

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You're kidding, right?

Only once after I have installed Lion...

GGJstudios said:

You're kidding, right?

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No. Tip from a long term mac user.

iFanboy said:

Can doing it, or doing it to often cause problems?

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Not that i'm aware of.

I use cocktail for Mac. It is scheduled daily to repair disc permissions. I have done this for a very long time and never have issues with my macs. I guess a lot of it is preference. I am anal about keeping my computer organized and running well so I probably do it in excess. I think weekly would be more than adequate or if you start to notice weird bugs popping up.

i use disk repair when my monitors fail to sleep which in turn is when my screen saver quits coming on when i do repair it all works again

Michaelgtrusa said:

No. Tip from a long term mac user.

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"Long term mac user" doesn't necessarily mean that they know what they're talking about. For those who repair permissions frequently - or recommend that others do so - I encourage you to read the link I posted in post #2 of this thread. It's an older article, but the facts and principles remain the same. There are times when it's appropriate and specific issues it addresses. There are times when it's a wasted exercise. Blindly doing it on a regular basis isn't helping your system.

I do it every few days, to keep the list pristine. I have not one permission problem.

Weaselboy said:

Why are you doing this? Just curious.

I normally run it only after an OS X version update.

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I'm always updating apps etc.

I verify permissions then run repair permissions after any software update.

iFanboy said:

Thanks! That was a very informative article!

Does it still apply for Lion?

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GGJstudios said:

Yes, it does.

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GGJstudios, are you sure this still applies to Lion? The article you linked to is from 2006, about 10.4 Tiger. A hell of a lot has changed in OS X since then.

My own experience says permission repair is almost necessary after installing Lion. Regular permission repair may not be needed, for me Lion was almost unusable until I ran Disk Utility. My experience isn't unique:

OS X - I Suggest Repairing Permissions After Installing Lion

Here it is recommended to repair permissions after a clean install or upgrade to Lion:

OS X Lion Fixes and Tips

I've also been told the Repair Permissions tool in Lion has been much improved. I think it may be time to reconsider your article from 2006.

imho, a lot of the bitching and moaning about Lion could be avoided if people would do two things: disable potentially incompatible utilities before installing/upgrading to Lion, and repair permissions after installing/upgrading. Simple, but effective.

edit: actually, a third remedy for the Lion-phobic would be to learn how to turn off or change the features you don't like. If I have to hear another person complain about reverse scrolling... :-O

lotones said:

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I've also been told the Repair Permissions tool in Lion has been much improved. I think it may be time to reconsider your article from 2006.

...

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If anything, you have it backwards. Apple continually improves the "no fuss-no muss" nature of its OS. As for repairing permissions, it is a relatively simple process that would be difficult to improve upon between 2006 and now:

Within the Library folder, there is a folder called Receipts. Each installed software package has a .pkg bundle installed there. Each receipt serves two purposes:

1. It tells the OS that the software has been installed (and does not need to be reinstalled).
2. It mirrors the correct file structure and permissions of the installed package.

When you repair permissions, the OS resets the permissions to those of the receipt bundle. There is not much that can be done to improve permissions repair because not much can be done to improve an anvil.

Permissions repair is one of those things that people glommed onto in the early days of MacOS X because they had no better idea what to do to satisfy their placebo fix.

Since Apple added journaling to HFS+, permissions are rarely changed negatively. And by the way, permissions repair is one of the actions taken when the OS is updated or new applications installed.

lotones said:

My own experience says permission repair is almost necessary after installing Lion. Regular permission repair may not be needed, for me Lion was almost unusable until I ran Disk Utility.

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It's the regular or frequent permissions repair that I'm referring to, not doing so after an OS upgrade or similar process. Repairing permissions daily, weekly, etc. when there aren't specific problems that are addressed by that process is a wasted effort.

I never repair permissions. If something is broken with the permissions, I usually just chown/chmod it to the correct permissions on a per item basis.

I wouldn't trust an automated tool to do something like set ACLs properly anyway.

KnightWRX said:

I never repair permissions. If something is broken with the permissions, I usually just chown/chmod it to the correct permissions on a per item basis.

I wouldn't trust an automated tool to do something like set ACLs properly anyway.

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Absolutely, couldn't agree more. Why trust a tool that Apple designs for their own operating system that they design as well. Heavens no, the repair permissions tool just might cause the computer to explode.

On a different note, Apple has seriously upgraded the power of the Repair Permissions tool in Lion. They have made a point of it as a new feature. I know in previous versions of OS X such as Snow Leopard it didn't do much and when it did do something OS X still didn't run optimally.

In 3 years I've only done it once... when I installed an SSD and cloned my old drive to it.

Repairing permissions is one of the most overused thing in OSX. Repairing permissions can sometimes cause more problems then good.