Mac OS X: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by shneader - 8/20/04 11:09 AMI'm new to Macs. I am using a PowerMac G3, with Mc OS X. I am just curious if there is something like Window's Disk Defragmenter or Disk Cleanup for Mac? The Mac is very slow and I just want to know if there are some small things I can do to speed it up. If you know of any other easy speeding-up tricks, let me know.
Thanks,
Nick
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by R. Proffitt
- 8/20/04 11:52 AM
In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneader
Type MAC DEFRAG into Google and you'll find your answer.
About slow? Get RAM?
Bob
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by donlevy - 10/24/04 3:01 PM In reply to: Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by R. Proffitt
You're right on about RAM, especially on a G3. Beige models are generally limited to 768 MB of RAM (you'll need every bit of it to get optimum speed and performance), and Blue & White tower model G3's can take up to a full 1GB (better).
Also of great importance is the size of the boot hard drive (or boot partition, if there's more than one partition).
On beige G3's it's particularly an issue: they require that the boot partition be under 8 GB and the boot partition must be the FIRST partition. That size makes it pretty tight, and I've found that depending on the machine, you may have to go significantly UNDER 8 GB before the Jaguar Install Disk will let you install the OS onto the partition. If you're boot partition has less than 25% of it's space free at all times, you'll get slowdowns; if it drops way down, you'll have problems running. As much as you can, third-party applications should be installed on another partition than the boot partition, or on a totally different drive. That may still leave a problem if you fill up the boot disk with documents, so save documents you create onto another partition or drive whenever possible. (Naturally, if you have neither another partition or drive on which to put new files, applications, etc., you may need to get a larger hard drive or revert to OS 9.x until you can.)
That still leaves a couple of problem areas:
1. Some programs automatically save to somewhere on the Boot drive. A good example is Entourage from MS Office. It wants to save your email database on that drive. If you save a lot of your email and/or have a big address book, find your user indentity folder (if you didn't name it, it will be called "Main Identity"; it will be within the Documents folder and then in the folder that is Named "Microsoft User Data, and then within that, in either "Office X Identities" or "Office 2004 Identities", depending which version you are using.) and move it elsewhere - another drive or partition. DO NOT CHANGE THE NAME. CREATE AN ALIAS OF THE FOLDER in its new location and leave the alias where it is on the other partition or hard drive, for the moment.
Now, after you're sure you have it copied (an extra backup, if possible, is wise, too), put the old identity folder on your boot drive in the trash (empty the trash ONLY when you're sure all is working smoothly later!)
Go back to the alias you created and copy it to the same location of your boot hard drive as was located the folder you put in the trash: inside the proper Office Identities folder. Once you've done that, go back and delete the alias on the other partition or drive. The alias you just copied to your boot drive now points to the copy that's on the other drive or partition. However, as a last step, at this point, you need to change the alias' name so that it's exactly the same as the folder it points to (be sure to delete a word "alias" AND the space that preceded it. IF THE ALIAS AND FOLDER AREN'T NAMED IDENTICALLY, THIS WON'T WORK.
Now, when you start up Entourage, your computer will find the alias, and the alias will let your data continue to reside where you put it.
As you can see, this is a bit complex. If you don't feel confident, don't try it, and try to live with the minimal disk space.
2. Later in this thread of messages, someone points out that swap files can eat up hard drive space. Swap files are virtual memory - the computer, when it runs out of real memory, grabs and holds a chunk of hard drive space on which to put data temporarily; unlike real memory, it's slow as molasses. And if you are running a lot of applications simultaneously, it may create many. On a small boot drive it's a major issue, as each one temporarily ties up about 76 MB of disk space, and with not much memory, you can soon run out of disk space. There is a program called "SwapSwapVM" which, on a beige G3, can do a similar job as described for Entourage, above, and help you to know how many swap files you're running. You'll soon note a correlation between slow performance and number of swap files you have. You can then close applications/documents or reboot to get full performance back.
Finally, note that if you have a Blue and White G3 you don't have the 8 MB ceiling and can install on a much larger hard drive partition. Just be sure to leave 25% free at all times.
One last point: Mac OS X is designed by Apple to run certain "clean-up" routines at night (about 3 am), all unseen, invisibly in the background. There are daily, weekly and monthly routines. If you turn your computer off at night, they simply won't be run. Over time, wasted disk space will increase and may cause problems if the drive is as small as beige G3's (and older G3 laptops with similar restrictions) require. If you absolutely must turn it off at night, get the application Cocktail that can do the cleanup for you at other times.
Good luck!
Don Levy
The Mac Therapist
Los Angeles
mactherapist.com
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by Yew Anchors - 8/20/04 5:23 PM In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneaderEven with Windows machines, generally the amount of time spent defragging the disk far outweighs any minor increases in speed you might experience.
As for a slow system... G3s aren't exactly speed burners, most people recomend not even bothering with OS X without at least a G4, and you might well need more RAM too.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by huarton - 10/1/04 2:04 PM In reply to: Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by Yew AnchorsI find on older systems, optimizing the drives does make a BIG difference... there are a few options available to you... TechToolPro4, Diskdoctor 8 and Diskwarrior to name a few.
Depending on your hard drive size, this can take a while but if you set up the machine before you go home for the day or to bed (if you are working at home) the time loss is not an inconvenience.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by Eduardo_Calderon - 10/1/04 6:56 PM In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneaderWhat about this. Since you are using Mac OS X you need programs that are compatible with it.
From Micromat 2 choices
Drive 10 V1.1.5, and Techtool Pro V4.0.2
TechTool Pro makes a partition in your HD and you can install an e-Drive that will allow you to reboot from it and run TechTool Pro from it.
From Symantec
Norton Utilities V8.0
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by marysmac - 10/8/04 7:43 AM In reply to: Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by Eduardo_CalderonOS X defrags on the fly and many users don't bother with defrag at all. Some do. It doesn't really hurt but I don't know that it really does a lot of good. Other optimization techniques might do better.
You might also tell us about the speed of your processor. My partner has a G3 with a 900mHz CPU and a gig of RAM. It kinda flies but not as good or as fast as my old 1.3G4 with 740 mb RAM. So what you have can be souped up, probably, to run faster but there are limits to a G3.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by Jkirk3279 - 10/8/04 10:07 AM In reply to: Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by marysmacDefrag on OS X can actually cause trouble, or so the experts say.
But what you're looking for is Fix Permissions.
Boot from your OS X CD and when the install screen comes up you can ditch out of that and run the Disk Utility.
Fix Permissions will do a lot to help. Adding RAM will too.
As for the G3 comment previously, it's true that OS 9 runs faster on a G3.
But OS X on a G3 600 Mhz feels just as fast as running OS 9 on my old PowerMac. Without the annoying pauses while the system thinks or tries to spool to the printer.
And OS X is LOTS more stable. Whenever I have to boot back to OS 9 I am surprised at the speed and cringe when it crashes.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by kon21 - 10/22/04 1:15 PM In reply to: Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by marysmacthat is what I've heard. Any file under 20MB in size is automatically defagmented by the FileSystem.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by MTGrizzly - 10/8/04 6:46 PM In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneaderThis has nothing to do with degragmentation of a hard drive, but...
The most common reason I experience slow down on my 400mHz G4 system with 1GB of RAM is running out of disk space.
When disk space is tight, writing the swap files gets really slow. I often have a great number of applications running, with a great number of windows in each application. This can cause really long pauses while the swap file is writing to the HD. Quitting unnecessary applications and closing unneeded windows can help. Relaunching the Finder can also help, a little, with Finder operations. Restarting really speeds things up, although it is a pain when you are busy.
Some other UNIX variants I have used have problems when the memory partitions allotted to an application get full, or near full, causing increased use of the swap file. This is a possible cause of slowing of Mac OS X computers, too. Although I have never looked at the exact reason the computer slows down, it is cured the same way.
OS X, as much as I love it, isn't a speed demon on older Macs... Pre-emptive multitasking and protected memory are worth the delay. I haven't had a system crash since I started with OS X v10.1 and I am now on v10.3.5.
Be sure and upload your security updates, too...
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by taboma. - 10/8/04 9:17 PM In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneaderHello Mac noobie. Have you ever rebuilt your desktop on a regular basis? The idea is to give your Mac an oil change without rebuild the engine. Go to restart and press the Apple key and Option key and hold them while the system re-boots. The system will start and a screen will come up asking you if you really weant to rebuild the desktop? Click OK and the system will rebuild the desktop allocating memory issues. Do this on a daily or weekly basis and the Mac will run better. I do this every week at work on a Monday weather or not I had a problem. If you have a bomb happen, restart and hold down the command & 0ption key everytime to restart the computer otherwise you will have countless problems untill you rebuild the desktop. Works great!
Kevin/Taboma
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by jazz4kurt - 10/12/04 10:17 PM In reply to: Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by taboma.Is this not for OS X??? I have done this about ten times so far and it starts normally, with no prompts or warnings of any kind.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by Gar Harris - 10/22/04 2:08 AM In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneaderThere are two on-line firms that sell both defrag software (I happen to use Norton)and speed-up hardware. First try Other World Computing (OWC) and then try Mac Res-q. They are both excellent to deal with and you will find plug-in speed-up kits for a number of older Macs and very reasonable prices.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by Brains - 10/22/04 2:32 AM In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneaderOn MacOSX defragmenting is not necessary. The best you can do is get the maximum RAM you can put into your machine, and get the latest release of OSX. Panther (10.3.x) is a lot faster than the previous versions. 128MB RAM e.g is a minimum 256 MB is much better with 512 MB OSX will nearly start to fly.
Re: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag?
by revans3 - 10/22/04 8:06 AM In reply to: Mac n00bie with question. Defrag? by shneaderGe yourself a program called Disk Warrior or Tech Tool Pro. Both are invaluable utilities for the Mac and OS X. Tech Tool Pro will defrag your hard drive for you; Disk Warrior is used to rebuild corrupted directories and files.
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