Defragware Recommendations For a Mac?
June 11, 2012 7:05 AM Subscribe
Recommendations for software (preferably freeware but paid is fine too) that will defragment my Macbook Pro?
The built in disk utility does not do this because it does not need to be done. You don't need to defragmentation your Mac's hard drive.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 7:24 AM on June 11, 2012 [6 favorites]
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 7:24 AM on June 11, 2012 [6 favorites]
You do not need to defrag your HD in OS x. In fact it's a bad idea.
posted by spitbull at 7:24 AM on June 11, 2012
posted by spitbull at 7:24 AM on June 11, 2012
tylerkaraszewski and spitbull are right, why is it you think you need to defrag it?
posted by Blake at 7:30 AM on June 11, 2012
posted by Blake at 7:30 AM on June 11, 2012
To be a little more clear than "It's not necessary:"
(And, yes, fellow tech-types, I'm about to oversimplify.)
It is necessary. It's important to defrag! Which is why OS X does it constantly. Your Mac is defragging itself all the time, as you use it, moving files around to keep them 'complete' and unfragmented.
Is there a specific reason you're looking to do this, or is it just a habit you're carrying from the Windows world?
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:31 AM on June 11, 2012 [6 favorites]
(And, yes, fellow tech-types, I'm about to oversimplify.)
It is necessary. It's important to defrag! Which is why OS X does it constantly. Your Mac is defragging itself all the time, as you use it, moving files around to keep them 'complete' and unfragmented.
Is there a specific reason you're looking to do this, or is it just a habit you're carrying from the Windows world?
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:31 AM on June 11, 2012 [6 favorites]
Apple Support: Disk Utility 12.x: About disk defragmentation
This older Amit Singh article does a decent job of explaining why it isn't necessary.
posted by zamboni at 7:39 AM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
This older Amit Singh article does a decent job of explaining why it isn't necessary.
posted by zamboni at 7:39 AM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I've gotten conflicting information about this from different sources. I used a program called Drive Genius to run a scan of my hard drive and its telling me that my drive is "31% fragmented", but the program doesn't work properly and won't actually perform the defragmentation.
Reading the Singh article about "on-the-fly" defragmentation, it seems like this truly is unnecessary. Then why do some people insist it is, and why does Drive Genius exist?
posted by Bobby Bittman at 7:53 AM on June 11, 2012
Reading the Singh article about "on-the-fly" defragmentation, it seems like this truly is unnecessary. Then why do some people insist it is, and why does Drive Genius exist?
posted by Bobby Bittman at 7:53 AM on June 11, 2012
Then why do some people insist it is, and why does Drive Genius exist?
Several reasons, any or all of which may apply:
* Because it absolutely is necessary on Windows systems, and some people may not know that Macs work differently.
* Because it absolutely is necessary on Windows systems, and some people reflexively scoff at "Macs work differently" as "oh come on, it's not magic, of course you need the same basic housekeeping as on Windows."
* Because, strictly speaking, small amounts of bad fragmentation do exist even on Macs - it's just that in practice they're not nearly enough to have a meaningful performance impact.
...and, of course:
* Because lying to people about how much they need a product is a time-honored way of getting them to spend money on that product.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:58 AM on June 11, 2012 [6 favorites]
Several reasons, any or all of which may apply:
* Because it absolutely is necessary on Windows systems, and some people may not know that Macs work differently.
* Because it absolutely is necessary on Windows systems, and some people reflexively scoff at "Macs work differently" as "oh come on, it's not magic, of course you need the same basic housekeeping as on Windows."
* Because, strictly speaking, small amounts of bad fragmentation do exist even on Macs - it's just that in practice they're not nearly enough to have a meaningful performance impact.
...and, of course:
* Because lying to people about how much they need a product is a time-honored way of getting them to spend money on that product.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:58 AM on June 11, 2012 [6 favorites]
I had mine done at the Apple Store Genius Bar and they recommended I do it every six months or so. I forget what they called it but it was essentially a kind of defragging. It was also free.
posted by shoesietart at 9:10 AM on June 11, 2012
posted by shoesietart at 9:10 AM on June 11, 2012
I think you can just copy all the data to another drive and then copy it back and it will be defragmented.
posted by bongo_x at 9:46 AM on June 11, 2012
posted by bongo_x at 9:46 AM on June 11, 2012
I think you can just copy all the data to another drive and then copy it back and it will be defragmented.
For various reasons that really won't necessarily do what you want and, inasmuch as it is, it's the kind of defrag process OS X is running continually with every file operation.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:03 PM on June 11, 2012
For various reasons that really won't necessarily do what you want and, inasmuch as it is, it's the kind of defrag process OS X is running continually with every file operation.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:03 PM on June 11, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dfriedman at 7:13 AM on June 11, 2012