Question:
The only exception where you may need to defragment Mac is the following circumstance: You have an old Mac with an old hard drive, which you use for professional work with video or audio. This means that the hard disk can be clogged with video and audio files or various large projects of programs such as Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop. Some people believe there is no need to defrag HDD on Mac. Also, they often add that you can’t use this procedure on SSD (solid-state drive) because it may be harmful to it. Although these assertions are partly correct, it is still important to discuss what defragging is regarding Mac before making conclusions.
Stephen writes: I have a 2011 Mac mini with a traditional hard drive that’s starting to slow down. I’d like to try defragmenting the drive. What’s the best option to do this in OS X?
- So while the need to defrag a Mac is fairly rare, it is still a useful process and could potentially help improve your workflow. MacBook Pro with HDD – Drive Genius. Since you need a third-party tool to defragment a MacBook Pro, we decided to highlight Drive Genius, a well-reputed computer cleaning tool with an efficient defragging feature.
- You can defragment your disk with the built-in tool from Microsoft, however we recommend using the faster and more avdnaced version in Auslogics BoostSpeed.' 'Removing junk files manually can be a tedious process, but a nifty software from down under called.
Idefrag
Answer:
![Defragment For Mac Defragment For Mac](/uploads/1/2/4/8/124896617/768594458.png)
With that in mind, OS X includes an “always active” defragmenter. This process, called “hot file adaptive clustering,” automatically takes small, regularly used files and moves them to the portion of the drive that the system can access most quickly. The relocation of these files necessarily results in defragmentation, as they are stacked next to each other on the drive's 'hot zone.' This process happens regularly in the background with no user intervention required.
But Apple’s built-in OS X approach will only take you so far. For highly fragmented drives, which for most users is a drive that has been in regular use for longer than 18 months, a full defragmentation that addresses all data on the hard drive is likely to result in perceivable performance improvements. OS X does not include any built-in tools that allow a user to perform a full defragmentation, but there are several third party software applications on the market that handle this very task.
One of the best is Prosoft’s Drive Genius, which performs a variety of disk and system maintenance functions in addition to drive defragmentation. At US$99, it’s not cheap, but the TMO staff has found the software to be invaluable on a number of occasions. A cheaper option is iDefrag (US$30.95) which, as its name suggests, is a utility that focuses exclusively on disk defragmentation.
Defragment Tool For Mac
Each application will have its own method and instructions, but in every case a defragmentation means that data will be moving around on your hard drive, slightly increasing the risk of data loss or corruption. Therefore, make sure that you perform a full backup of your important data before performing a drive defragmentation (but you should have regular backups already, right?).
Defragment Mac Hard Drive
In the absence of specialized defragmentation software, users can still obtain the benefits of a defrag with a “nuke and pave” restore of their hard drive. Backing up your data to an external drive via a clone process, reformatting the Mac’s internal drive, and then cloning your data back to the original drive produces the same basic result as a full system defragmentation. This option may take longer than a defragmentation, but it’s a free alternative to expensive software.
A roughly annual defragmentation of a mechanical hard drive is, in general, a good idea and will often result in noticeable performance improvements. Just remember to back up your data first and, again, never perform a defrag on a solid state drive!
Defragment Software For Mac
Featured image via Shutterstock.