Repairing Permissions with Onyx

jmac049 · Jun 9, 2012

I've read a few articles online about repairing permission and how it can help my iMac perform better but I've seen warnings about doing this as well. Has anyone done this? Is it safe? I'm recently had a few crashes and was wondering if this would help.

GGJstudios · Jun 9, 2012

jmac049 said:
I've read a few articles online about repairing permission and how it can help my iMac perform better but I've seen warnings about doing this as well. Has anyone done this? Is it safe? I'm recently had a few crashes and was wondering if this would help.

Some people repair, or recommend repairing permissions for situations where it isn't appropriate. Repairing permissions only addresses very specific issues. It is not a "cure all" or a general performance enhancer, and doesn't need to be done on a regular basis. It also doesn't address permissions problems with your files or 3rd party apps.

Five Mac maintenance myths

Repairing permissions: What you need to know
About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature

Disk Utility repairs the permissions for files installed by the Mac OS X Installer, Software Update, or an Apple software installer. It doesnt repair permissions for your documents, your home folder, and third-party applications.

You can verify or repair permissions only on a disk with Mac OS X installed.

Does Disk Utility check permissions on all files?

Files that aren't installed as part of an Apple-originated installer package are not listed in a receipt and therefore are not checked. For example, if you install an application using a non-Apple installer application, or by copying it from a disk image, network volume, or other disk instead of installing it via Installer, a receipt file isn't created. This is expected. Some applications are designed to be installed in one of those ways.

Also, certain files whose permissions can be changed during normal usage without affecting their function are intentionally not checked.

There are times when repairing permissions is appropriate. To do so, here are the instructions:

Repairing Disk Permissions

If repairing permissions results in error messages, some of these messages can be ignored and should be no cause for concern.

Mac OS X: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore

Intell · Jun 9, 2012

It sometimes fixes things, but it rarely improves performance. Instead of using Onyx, use Disk Utility. Onyx can be a bit buggy and dangerous.

jmac049 · Jun 9, 2012

Thanks. I'll probably leave it alone for now, but if it gets any worse, I'll take a shot.

rdowns · Jun 9, 2012

jmac049 said:
Thanks. I'll probably leave it alone for now, but if it gets any worse, I'll take a shot.

If what gets any worse? Repairing permissions has nothing to do with performance. If your Mac is running slow, it's likely one of two things- you need more RAM or you have a process eating CPU cycles. Launch Activity Monitor and see what's using your CPU and check your RAM.

jmac049 · Jun 9, 2012

rdowns said:
If what gets any worse? Repairing permissions has nothing to do with performance. If your Mac is running slow, it's likely one of two things- you need more RAM or you have a process eating CPU cycles. Launch Activity Monitor and see what's using your CPU and check your RAM.

It's not really a performance issue and as far as I know, my RAM is fine. Just trying to figure out what causes two recent crashes and why when running any program my memory goes way down. I've got 12 GB but when running Photoshop or Lightroom, it goes all the way down to under a gig. Just trying to figure out why or see if that is normal.

GGJstudios · Jun 9, 2012

jmac049 said:
It's not really a performance issue and as far as I know, my RAM is fine. Just trying to figure out what causes two recent crashes and why when running any program my memory goes way down. I've got 12 GB but when running Photoshop or Lightroom, it goes all the way down to under a gig. Just trying to figure out why or see if that is normal.

You don't need to worry about your free memory available, as inactive memory is also available to apps as they need it. You only need to track page outs. Launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

jmac049 · Jun 9, 2012

GGJstudios said:
You don't need to worry about your free memory available, as inactive memory is also available to apps as they need it. You only need to track page outs. Launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

Page outs are zero. I guess it is working like it should. Thanks.

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Repairing Permissions with Onyx

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