Do you have to defrag a Mac?

[Gregg2]

Um, that was nearly three years ago. I doubt you'll get a response from that person. But, they had more sophisticated tools back then...🙄

Why drag up such an old thread to do that?

(I'm getting better at looking at the dates! 😉 Heck, when I see an interesting topic with many posts that I don't recognize from the last few days, I'm suspicious.)

 

[Loono]

all I do for maintainance is repair permissions once a month or so lol

 

[roadbloc]

I have never had to. I was under the impression that the HFS file system looked after it'self.

 

[maflynn]

The only time I've defragged was to create a large contiguous segment of free space so I can use bootcamp

 

[mabaker]

I would recommend defragmenting the START-up drive as often as once in 4-5 months. Last time I used iDefrag it sped up my startup by about 10 seconds.

 

[npep]

If it is not needed, why would it be something that ProCare members get when they sign up for the ProCare service???

Strange Apple, strange...

 

[MisterMe]

If it is not needed, why would it be something that ProCare members get when they sign up for the ProCare service???

Strange Apple, strange...

The answer to your question is simple: If you have joined ProCare, then it is possible that you need to defrag your Mac's hard drive.

Look. Just because someone somewhere can benefit from a service does mean that the someone is you.

mabaker claims that defragging his Mac improved his startup time by 10 seconds. Assuming that it is true, this is a savings that requires to stopwatch to measure. OTOH, my own experience with Windows is that the improvement by defragging was substantially greater than 10 seconds.

Defragging your Mac is a waste of time. Apple has already explained to you that it can do more harm than good. Therefore buying defragging software is paying the "Fool's Tax." We tend to choose our own groups in life. Have you chosen yours?

 

[MacDawg]

As noted previously, this is an old thread resurrection

Here is Apple's support article on the subject: Disk Optimization

Under normal conditions, defragging for OSX is not needed
There are times (like running Bootcamp Assistant) when contiguous space is not free and people confuse that with a need to defrag

 

[ubercool]

As noted previously, this is an old thread resurrection

Here is Apple's support article on the subject: Disk Optimization

Under normal conditions, defragging for OSX is not needed
There are times (like running Bootcamp Assistant) when contiguous space is not free and people confuse that with a need to defrag

Well, it's probably true that it's not as critical an issue as in Windows, but I used TechTool Pro to defrag Leopard on a regular basis and I think it improved performance noticeably.

I will upgrade to the new 5.0.7 version that handles Snow Leopard and continue to do the same. 🙂

 

[MisterMe]

... I used TechTool Pro to defrag Leopard on a regular basis and I think it improved performance noticeably.

...

It is called the "Placebo Effect."

 

[ubercool]

It is called the "Placebo Effect."

What shall it be Neo, the blue pill or the red pill? 😀