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How much hard drive maintenance on a Mac?

W

wbgordon

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I bought a program named MacWare Disk Tools Pro (below) shortly after I bought my Mac Book Pro in May. It includes, among other things, a utility that can repair permissions (I am now aware you can do the same through Disk Utilities) and another to defragment the hard drive.

I ran many of MacWare Disk Tools Pro's utilities prior to reformatting the Mac's drive a month ago and it seemed to reduce the Mac's performance rather than enhance. I did not reinstall the software after the hard drive reformat.

How essential are these types of utilities to the overall health of the Mac's hard drive? Keep the program or scrap?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TV978LL/A
 
None are needed. Repair permissions after you install something big and keep the drive 20% empty, but no defragging or any other nonsense is needed. Enjoy simplicity!
 
Tallest Skil said:
None are needed. Repair permissions after you install something big and keep the drive 20% empty, but no defragging or any other nonsense is needed. Enjoy simplicity!
Click to expand...

I guess my brain is still so much in a PC mindset that it seems hard to believe these Mac machines are literally plug-and-play. Amazing!
 
Their is no need to defrag or maintain the HD in any way. To keep my computers tiptop I just run Yasu once a month or so to clear out caches and repair permissions.
 
dlhuss said:
don't ask me, but I ran it and programs definitely load faster and my shutdown time was reduced (could be related to cleaning cache?)
Click to expand...

It sounds like the normal maintenance scripts were not running for whatever reason. Onyx will fix that, but OS X does it on its own, given the chance.
 
Some conflicting info here. I get it that repairing permissions is needed if you experience hard drive issues or, as Tallest Skil said, when you download a large file. But are Mac users well advised to periodically use disk optimizing programs such as Onyx or Yasu or, in my case, MacWare Disk Tools Pro (below)?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TV978LL/A
 
wbgordon said:
Some conflicting info here. I get it that repairing permissions is needed if you experience hard drive issues or, as Tallest Skil said, when you download a large file. But are Mac users well advised to periodically use disk optimizing programs such as Onyx or Yasu or, in my case, MacWare Disk Tools Pro (below)?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TV978LL/A
Click to expand...

Typically you shouldn't need to run the maintenance scripts manually
However, if your computer stays shut down during normal maintenance times you may want to do so

Running Maintenance Scripts

Apple's Article

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
The article is correct for the most part... maybe a little overstating, but that's OK

Yes, you can run "repair permissions" from Disk Utility
No, you don't have to do these things typically

Maintenance on the Mac is not something most should ever have to worry about

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
MacDawg said:
Typically you shouldn't need to run the maintenance scripts manually
However, if your computer stays shut down during normal maintenance times you may want to do so

Running Maintenance Scripts

Apple's Article

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Click to expand...

The fine informational piece you link to makes reference to:

By default, the daily script is scheduled to run daily at 03:15 hours local time.


Are we talking every three hours, 15 minutes or is this 3:15 a.m.?
 
3:15 a.m.

I believe some run once a day, while others are once a week and once a month

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
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