Mac OS X Defrag: Is It Really Necessary?
April 8, 2011
Mac OS X defrag is not necessary all the time because the operating itself has its own built-in journaled files system that already handles defragmentation automatically. But it is still advisable to choose the right third party defragmenting applications that will deal with the files in the hard drive and reorganize it together and improving the system’s performance in the process.
File Fragmentation: What Is It?
Fragmentation of files happens when it is scattered on different locations on the hard drive. This happens when large files are frequently created, modified and deleted. This is quite true when you create new files and delete the third one. If the new file that has been created is larger than the third file, the Mac OS X file system will store the new file to the space occupied by the third file and the remaining will be stored to other locations. If you want to access this file, the system will have to look at different places thus taking longer time to access this file.
Is There a Need To Defrag Mac OS X?
For Mac users they don’t need to worry about their hard drive getting defragmented because the system itself does not need to be frequently defragmented because it is already built with routine maintenance that deals with defragging process automatically. Although fragmentation happens in the system but this does not affect the entire performance of the Mac system. But if you still frequently create and delete large files this can really bring significant degradation in the Mac performance.
How to Defrag Mac OS X?
If you already notice that the Mac system already slowed down its performance it is about time that you use and install third party defragmenting applications for Mac OS X. Although the Apple itself does not recommend any defragmenting tool for their Mac but you can choose from the widely available defragging software in the market and even the Macintosh Products Guide will tell what defragging software to choose for your Mac system.
When it comes to defragging the Mac OS X, one of the best and recommended tools is the iDefrag that is quite easy to use and uses five different defragging algorithms. It even supports journaling, case sensitive filenames and HFS+. You can also use its free trial version and you can purchase the application at a price of $37. If you plan to run defragging software in your Mac make sure that you are not using your Mac because it can take several hours to defrag Mac OS X.
When defragging Mac hard drive it really requires large amount of data to be reorganized and rearranged. There is a larger risk that you might lose some important data in the process so it is important that you backup all the important files before defragging the hard drive. Once the defragmentation process is done, you will notice that the Mac’s performance has greatly improved and accessing files takes faster time.
Mac OS X defrag is quite beneficial in the process because this can tweak the performance of your Mac system and even resolve the issues on fragmented files. You only need to select the right defragging software that will work effectively on your Mac system and make sure that you backup all your important files before you proceed to defragging the Mac system.
