Defragging HD really works!

If you are already doing that may as well just clone to HD boot from that clone back to normal drive takes about an hour and saves time, $$ by using the already included tools in OS X to achieve the same result...

 

Agreed

 

I don't understand why Mac folks are so down on defragmenting. It's as if the word embodies all the hate and derision they feel for Windows.

I've been defragmenting my Mac since the old Norton Speed Disk days, through my G3 tower, then my Core Duo iMac, and now my new i7 iMac. Yes, the same results could possibly be realized by copying all the data off the drive, erasing the drive, then copying the data back, but to me that seems more invasive and "scary" than just running a program to do it in place. I guess there are risks either way. What if the defragmenting program fails and you lose data? What if the backup drive gets an error and you lose data? There's risk either way.

Regardless of the risk, I've almost always seen performance improvements after defragging. Even on my new iMac: after upgrading to 10.6.8 my boot time increased to something like 48 seconds. After iDefrag did its thing, it was back to the low 30s. The most dramatic differences were on my G3 tower; I think slower hard drives benefit most.

Anyway, I agree with the OP, but I wish this particular tool didn't have such a polarizing effect in the Mac community. Nobody cares if you don't use Apple's built-in mail program, for example, but people get quite excited if you try to buy a defragmentation application.

 

Waste your money if you want on a BS program I draw the line at fools telling other people they need to waste theirs when OS X has built in free tools that accomplish the same idea.

 

Thank you, you made my point on how polarizing this topic is.

Don't resort to name-calling. We are not fools and nobody told anyone to buy a defrag tool. You can use your backup/erase/copy method if you want for free (plus the cost of a second drive) -- nobody is disputing that that method works. One good thing about computing is that you have choice, so I happen to want to use a 3rd party tool and you happen to want to do it manually. There's no reason to get so upset about it. The point is that defragging can often speed up disk access and thus the computing experience, sometimes dramatically.

 

The first post reads like spamvertizement so don't tell me no one is not telling others to buy BS and you chimed in right along to support it...

 

Nice attitude.

The original poster has been on this forum since 2004, I really doubt he's advertising. I'd be pretty stoked too if I ran through a process that made my computer run better. That same guy also made a similar post in 2009 about Snow Leopard -- are you accusing him of shilling for Apple? And for the record, I supported the act of defragmenting your files, not any particular utility.

iDefrag isn't "BS", it does what it claims to do. Don't use it if you don't want to. But get over yourself and realize that not everyone wants to undertake a manual backup/erase/restore process. Just because you do it that way doesn't mean iDefrag doesn't have some utility to people.

 

Aside from cost, using 3rd party tools like iDefrag can in theory do more harm than good. These tools can improve things in many (or most) cases, but it can screw things up.

From iDefrag's very own FAQ page:

Backup, erase, and restore is the safest proven way to defrag.

 

Only thing missing in that first post for full blown spamvertizement is affiliate link so you get over yourself.

Exactly.

 

I have never defraged my Apple nor did I defrag the Linux box it replaced...I dunno how "necessary" it is. My boot time never really increases nor do my beachball occurrences. I guess it probably would help academically but I've never tried.