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iDefrag boot up disk

H

Huddle

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 23, 2009
88
0
Hi, I want to defragment my current disk drive using iDefrag. My only problem is that I need a second boot up disk, so I can boot up on that and then from there defrag my current drive.

I really need to know how to create a second boot up disk - any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
I need my dose of League of Legends, any help is appreciated ;).
 
MacDawg said:
Typically Macs don't need to be defragged
I have never used iDefrag or any other defrag utility since OSX

Disk Optimization

Is there a particular reason you feel the need to defrag?
Click to expand...

Whenever I try to run BCA it says a number of files can't be moved - and I've heard that this is the solution to that problem.
 
Huddle said:
Whenever I try to run BCA it says a number of files can't be moved - and I've heard that this is the solution to that problem.
Click to expand...

That sometimes works, but the issue with BCA really isn't fragmentation of the disk, it is contiguous space. Even if you defrag, it may not leave you enough contiguous space to run BCA.

My suggestion to you is to clone your drive to an external HDD with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, erase your HDD, boot from your clone and then clone back to your internal HDD. This will definitely solve your problem. There have been some who have been successful with iDefrag, but there are many others who followed the whole process and were frustrated in the end. If you clone, you will solve the problem guaranteed.
 
"I really need to know how to create a second boot up disk - any help is greatly appreciated."

1. Get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, a cheap, basic one is all you need)

2. Get a "bare" hard drive from the vendor of your choice (I like Seagate drives from newegg.com)

3. Download CarbonCopyCloner from their website:
http://www.bombich.com/

4. Connect the USB/SATA dock to the Mac, put the bare drive in it, start it up, initialize it with Disk Utility, create one or more partitions as you desire

5. Use CarbonCopyCloner to do a "clone backup" of your main drive to the docked drive.
That "clone" will be an exact copy of your internal drive, and it's bootable, right from the SATA dock.

6. When the clone is complete, restart the computer. As soon as you hear the startup sound, hold down the "option" key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN.

7. The "startup manager" will appear. Use the left/right arrow key to pick the backup drive, and when it's selected, hit the return key. The Mac will boot from the backup drive.

8. The backup drive should appear EXACTLY as your internal did. I recommend that you change the desktop background so that you know it's the backup rather than the main drive (BTW, you will have to do that every time you do an incremental backup).

9. You should now be able to launch iDefrag from your backup volume, and "aim it" at the main drive, and iDefrag can then do its thing.
 
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MacDawg said:
That sometimes works, but the issue with BCA really isn't fragmentation of the disk, it is contiguous space. Even if you defrag, it may not leave you enough contiguous space to run BCA.

My suggestion to you is to clone your drive to an external HDD with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, erase your HDD, boot from your clone and then clone back to your internal HDD. This will definitely solve your problem. There have been some who have been successful with iDefrag, but there are many others who followed the whole process and were frustrated in the end. If you clone, you will solve the problem guaranteed.
Click to expand...

Alright I will borrow an external HDD and try this out
 
I still don't get what you want me to do, I have the program, I have the HDD and I have my mac disks
 
Never mind the last post - I tried partitioning it but nothing happened, but now it is rejecting both my mac and my friends windows. How do I do it so his computer will accept it.
 
MacDawg said:
Exactly what have you done?
We need to know where you are in the process
Click to expand...

I plugged in my friends hard drive and tried to partition it, and I think I somehow erased what was on it or something, I just want to retrieve it. Now when I plug it in it says my computer cant ignore that type.
 
Huddle said:
I plugged in my friends hard drive and tried to partition it, and I think I somehow erased what was on it or something, I just want to retrieve it. Now when I plug it in it says my computer cant ignore that type.
Click to expand...

Ouch
Was your friends HDD formatted for Windows (NTFS)?

Can you see your friend's HDD in Disk Utility from your Mac at all?
 
Huddle said:
Yes I can see it and yes it was formatted for Windows
Click to expand...

And you tried to partition it with Disk Utility?
And now neither your computer or your friend's computer can read the data that was on it?

And you want to restore it so that your friend doesn't lose the data?

Just trying to follow what has happened...
 
MacDawg said:
And you tried to partition it with Disk Utility?
And now neither your computer or your friend's computer can read the data that was on it?

And you want to restore it so that your friend doesn't lose the data?

Just trying to follow what has happened...
Click to expand...

Exactly and the partition was denied.
 
MacDawg said:
And you tried to partition it with Disk Utility?
And now neither your computer or your friend's computer can read the data that was on it?

And you want to restore it so that your friend doesn't lose the data?

Just trying to follow what has happened...
Click to expand...

Please help me out
 
Huddle said:
Exactly and the partition was denied.
Click to expand...

At this point, I would say you should not do anything else with this HDD if you want your friend's data intact. Your friend should run a data recovery software on it, probably something like SpinRite

Someone else may have a better suggestion, but that is what I would recommend for your friend's HDD now
 
MacDawg said:
At this point, I would say you should not do anything else with this HDD if you want your friend's data intact. Your friend should run a data recovery software on it, probably something like SpinRite

Someone else may have a better suggestion, but that is what I would recommend for your friend's HDD now
Click to expand...

I see but either of our computers can access the drive, besides from disk utility
 
MacDawg said:
At this point, I would say you should not do anything else with this HDD if you want your friend's data intact. Your friend should run a data recovery software on it, probably something like SpinRite

Someone else may have a better suggestion, but that is what I would recommend for your friend's HDD now
Click to expand...

So if I get this program now will I be able to recover his data.
 
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