Alternatives to iDefrag?

[KingYaba]

For 30 bucks it is really not worth it. I'd much rather re-install OS X and save the money. Before I do, is there any alternative to iDefrag that does the same exact thing? Or close? I have OnyX but it doesn't seem to do what iDefrag is supposed to do.

 

[Bern]

You don't need to defrag OS X, you're not in a Windows world

 

[mad jew]

Bern's right as usual. OSX will automatically defrag your hard drive on the go for files under 25MB or so.

Defragmentation is an even bigger myth than repairing permissions. I'd argue that many people spend more time each year defragging their hard drive compared with the amount of time the increased speed of a fully defragged hard drive would give them. If you have plenty of free space and are not constantly moving very large files around between partitions/drives, then defragging shouldn't be necessary. Some people even find that defragging OSX drives does more harm than good because of OSX's inbuilt defrag feature.

 

[bousozoku]

There is some automatic de-fragmenting within the operating system itself. If a 20 MB or under file is opened that doesn't have continguous space, it's moved to some continguous area, if available.

iDefrag is the cheapest product that does de-fragmenting. Tech Tool Pro 4 and Drive Genius combine de-fragmenting with other tools.

However, unless you have a serious slowdown that you can definitely diagnose as fragmentation, don't bother.

Since 1985 and HFS, Macs have been fragmentation-resistant.

 

[mad jew]

Ahh sorry, I think bousozoku's right. It's 20MB files and under, not 25MB. Sorry.

 

[KingYaba]

Interesting. Could my harddrive be damaged or wearing out in some way? My eMac has been used by multiple people for almost three years so I'm thinking the heavy usage may be taking a toll?

 

[bousozoku]

Interesting. Could my harddrive be damaged or wearing out in some way? My eMac has been used by multiple people for almost three years so I'm thinking the heavy usage may be taking a toll?

It's possible that it could be slowing down because of fragmentation. However, as someone who de-fragmented his hard drive regularly before Panther, it's a huge trade off. Most people don't have a back up plan and you certainly need one to use before you start de-fragmenting.

When you spend all that time backing up your drive, you may not feel that you have time to de-fragment because it will likely take more time.