Mac users, need help w/defraging&optimizing hard drives - non dual boot

[Billy Burnett]

How do you defrag and optimize the boot drive and Firewire drives on a non dual boot Mac OS 10.3.x?

On my older dual boot Macs (dual booting and Classic running 10.x.x and 9.2.x) one has to use software that comes on a 9.2.x boot CD. I use Alsoft's Diskwarrior for this and it works perfectly.

Question is, what software is available for the newer non dual boot 10.3.x Macs?

I can't find any, and last time I checked Alsoft doesn't have a working OS 10.x.x boot CD with a 10.x version of Diskwarrior.


What do DU's Mac users use?



Thanks

[htuttle]

1. I don't

The HFS+ file system does a pretty good job of keeping itself defragged, and the experiences I had with defragging utilities (Norton) on OS9 were pretty disastrous.

The only reason I could think of doing it was if I was doing pro audio production with something like ProTools that was really sensitive to realtime HD speed, and I wanted to squeeze out a few extra rpms.

[Billy Burnett]

2. I agree. Norton screwed me. That's why I use Diskwarrior.

Problem is, that I need to get a new Mac and the new ones don't do 9.2 (although some do Classic they won't boot 9.2.x).

Frag inducing multi track audio production is my biz. If I don't defrag regularly I start losing track ability and get 'hiccuping' (due to increased seek times).


I need optimization/defrag software on a 10.x.x boot disk. I can't find any.


Help


Thanks.



on edit:

BTW, my Alsoft Diskwarrior has a disk fragmentation analyzer, and I did notice that HFS+ disk directories (BATs, FATs, resource forks, etc) do get fragmented pretty badly with normal long term use. AND THOSE DAMN "HIDDEN" FILES! After optimizing the HD AND the directories (not all Mac disk defraggers defrag AND optimize the directories fully) with Diskwarrior my OS 10.X dual boot Macs are really fast on boot-up and function.

[htuttle]

3. You could burn your own boot CD/DVD

The 'BootCD' program purports to be able to burn an OSX boot CD:
http://www.charlessoft.com/

It says Drive10 works fine from it, but Norton does not yet.

Here's some alternate instructions for burning a boot CD on OSX:
http://www.macmaps.com/bootcd.html

I'd make a boot DVD, though, so I had plenty of space to put DiskWarrior on the disk.

Finally, if you have another mac available, or an additional firewire drive, iPod, etc, you could install another copy of OSX onto it, boot from it using Startup Disk prefs, then use DiskWarrior on your original boot disk. Then switch back to the other hard drive with Startup Disk prefs.

[Billy Burnett]

4. Thanks. Diskwarrior runs on 9.2.2

New macs don't run anything 9.x. :-(

Creating a 10.x boot disk won't help.

There is no real 10.x.x defragger/optimizer for new Macs yet.

This sucks.

:shrug:



I'm fucked!

[htuttle]

5. Diskwarrior 3 works on OSX

I think version 3.0.1 runs on 10.3.4:

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html#Panther

They don't have a boot CD for the newer non-OS9-booting macs yet, but the program itself will run on OSX. You would just need to make your own boot DVD or alternate boot drive.

[Billy Burnett]

7. Thanks. Not yet. New bugs/"features"

I called them. Its not fully functional yet. Apple has really screwed the pooch on this one.

I have to wait just a "little longer" while toting around my dual boot just for optimizing.

:argh:

[myomy]

6. IÕve had good results from Tech Tool Pro

ItÕs bootable in OS X

[Billy Burnett]

8. Someone told me that it doesn't optimize the directory files fully

Does TT have any disk graphing utility, that includes the analyzing the BATs, FATs, resource forks and trees?

Thanks for your help and any suggestions.

[myomy]

9. I use DiskWarrior for that.

TT Pro and DiskWarrior make a great team for me.

[Billy Burnett]

10. Thank you.

I'll break down and get TTP.

Thanks.