I am very happy with the switch to Mac, but I am wondering whether there is anything I need to do periodically such as "defragging" or cleaning up my hard drive? Any advice would certainly be appreciated! Thanks!
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How To Maintain My iBook
- Thread starter Chris Walsh
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I've been wondering the same thing about the hard drive...
I also just purchased an iBook(and loving it!)...and have been doing lots of video. I used to defrag my drive back before OSX came out, but unsure whether it's still necessary in this day and age. I'm working on an iMovie/DVD project right now, and the project w/video is around 30gb, which I've been adding-to, copying, moving, deleting, etc. Was wondering how much that all effects the drive's long-term health. I got the 80gig, so I still have about 30virginGB that've never been touched.
But I've still got one of those Norton-Defrag-colored graphic visions in my head getting all chunked up as I move all these big files around.
I also just purchased an iBook(and loving it!)...and have been doing lots of video. I used to defrag my drive back before OSX came out, but unsure whether it's still necessary in this day and age. I'm working on an iMovie/DVD project right now, and the project w/video is around 30gb, which I've been adding-to, copying, moving, deleting, etc. Was wondering how much that all effects the drive's long-term health. I got the 80gig, so I still have about 30virginGB that've never been touched.
But I've still got one of those Norton-Defrag-colored graphic visions in my head getting all chunked up as I move all these big files around.
yep, that's what my ibook is for too! mostly iMovie stuff, and eventually (i guess) Final Cut. i wonder the same thing- does having big big big a.v. files sitting there cause problems at all? if so i'll just load finished projects to an external drive (they're so cheap), but i'm only going to do that if/when i have to. for now i've just been saving iMovie files as highquality QuickTime files (once i've decided for sure that the editing is done). the Quicktime versions are far smaller (but of course can't be edited anymore). that way i can trash the actual iMovie files which frees up lots of room (but you have to REALLY know you're done editing!)
so there's no monthly sort of maintaince we have to do to keep the mac running smooooooth? it can't REALLY be no maintainance, can it?
🙂
so there's no monthly sort of maintaince we have to do to keep the mac running smooooooth? it can't REALLY be no maintainance, can it?
🙂
James Philp
macrumors 65816
This has been asked before, but that's not your fault.
MODS _ can we maybe have a sticky on this subject, as a lot of noobs want to know this information.
On topic:
Your Mac should not need defragging, files over a certain size automatically get defragged.
One thing you will want to do is to repair the drive permissions from time to time. Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility Click on your drive and then click "Repair Disk Permissions".
Do this especially after installs/updates.
Also leave your Mac on overnight from time to time; the Mac OS X runs "janitor" programs during the middle of the night to keep things tip-top automatically.
Hope this helps. Try a search of these forums (and of course Google) to find out more! "Mac Maintenance" would be good keywords.
MODS _ can we maybe have a sticky on this subject, as a lot of noobs want to know this information.
On topic:
Your Mac should not need defragging, files over a certain size automatically get defragged.
One thing you will want to do is to repair the drive permissions from time to time. Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility Click on your drive and then click "Repair Disk Permissions".
Do this especially after installs/updates.
Also leave your Mac on overnight from time to time; the Mac OS X runs "janitor" programs during the middle of the night to keep things tip-top automatically.
Hope this helps. Try a search of these forums (and of course Google) to find out more! "Mac Maintenance" would be good keywords.
GreeneGirl7
macrumors regular
Also leave your Mac on overnight from time to time; the Mac OS X runs "janitor" programs during the middle of the night to keep things tip-top automatically.
Leave it awake overnight? Or sleeping? And if sleeping, isn't it good to let it sleep more often than shutting it down anyway? 🙂
Leave it awake overnight? Or sleeping? And if sleeping, isn't it good to let it sleep more often than shutting it down anyway? 🙂
wordmunger
macrumors 603
GreeneGirl7 said:
Yep, leave it awake. You can set the monitor to dim, though. It won't run the service programs if it's asleep. Normally, I never shut down my iBook -- just sleep whenever I'm not using it. But occasionally I leave it on all night for this reason.