Do Macs need to be defragged like PCs?

[cmusngi29]

I've always wondered this. If so, then how?

[lordsmurf]

Yes. Defrag software. I believe Norton Utilities for Mac also has Speed Disk.

[cmusngi29]

I was asking because I am think of getting a powerbook. So you have to buy software in order to defrag or can you defrag already in it's stock condition?

[deadsierra]

If you use Panther (10.3) then de-fragmenting is quite unnecessary. The OS does it itself, and in a very intelligent manner. Don't de-fragment with other tools.

[bilestyle]

i've owned strictly apple comps since b4 mac (apple II e) seldom if ever has a defrag been "required" for optimal performance.. i STRONGLY discourage using any "speed disK" type tools in 10.3 as well... its a BAD idea, apple has it all under control quite well.. gotta remeber you are comparing a ford to a ferrari..

[g4cube]

Not to strickly disagre with the experts but i use TechTools Pro 4 to handle all that stuff and i have had no problems. Also on my stock 450MHz cube it really amped up the performance when i was backing up my dvd collection. I am not saying that you must do it its just i do and have had no problems.

[terryj]

Been using macs for years since the Performa line.
Been servicing macs professionally since 1997.

While I've never seen a Mac get to the point where a Hard Drive
had ENOUGH disc errors where file structures could benefit from defragging, I have seen QUITE OFTEN that a MAC could get
seriously out of wack due to errant B-Trees, a corrupted Volume
Bitmap, a corrupted Desktop Database, etc. have halted many an operations.

Even in OS X, it still holds true:
Run Disk Utility ( formerly Disk First Aid) at least once a week
to clear out the crap, and let OSX's cron scripts ( the reason they
say to leave your computer on overnight) to do its job, and everything
will be fine.
Should you run out and buy Tech Tool 4 or Diskwarrior 3?
They are handy to have, but I've only had to use them ( since
the inception of OS X) for like less than 10% of the service calls I get,
mostly to troubleshoot stuff that ended up being Hardware related
( a blown FW port, a bad ATA controller, a worn out HD).

The majority of what I use is still:
Disk Utility
A Cron GUI utility like Cocktail, Macaroni, or Onyx
and Safe Mode's ( command -S at startup) fsck -y command.

[thoughton]

I'd second the suggestion NOT to use any Norton products on OSX. If you are sure you have some disk problem which disk utility cant fix, use Tech Tool Pro or Diskwarrior.

[willrob]

Norton, whose tools for OSX have neveer been that reliable, has officially said they will no longer support the Mac, except for Virus protection. Apple's own position of defragmenting (optimizing) is don't do it. Here's their Knowledge Base article on the topic:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668

william

[galactica]

if you really must defrag
1. use drive 10
2. inatilize/reformat the drive [as in a scratch or project drive] after each project

otherwise, its not something that is needed as it is in the PC realm
dont use norton products in OSX

[bilestyle]

i didnt say anything about not running diagnostics.. running disk utiltiy or fsck -y in single use mode are both incredibly important and valuable for the unkeep of the computer.. i was just saying running outside utils ESPECIALLY crappy norton ones, is seldom necessary. Disk warrior is phenomenal for recovering harshed drives and tech tool pro is a good over all util to check all the little thing about each section of your computer to make sure everything is running at its best, or at least running properly at all.

[macsys]

And here's my 2¢. I had read somewhere that the OS needs at least 15% of the hard drive free to correctly rewrite directory information. That's 15% continous free space. If not then directory errors could result.