Defrag not necessary?

[DougY]

I was told in the Apple Store that defragging an iMac isnt necessary. Why is that? Does anyone use any Mac utility software to keep the HD clean and running smooth?

 

[gr8tfly]

It's generally not necessary as OS-X automatically defrags small files.

If you do want to defrag large files to consolidate empty space or optimize file organization, I'd recommend iDefrag. But, again, it's not necessary for general maintenance

 

[Badger^2]

It's generally not necessary as OS-X automatically defrags small files.

If you do want to defrag large files to consolidate empty space or optimize file organization, I'd recommend iDefrag. But, again, it's not necessary for general maintenance

Ditto. No Mac running OS X needs it. (not just your iMac)

There is a tech article on the Apple support site if you really want to know the specifics, just search for it. Might be under "optimization"

 

[Semimorphus]

I'm trying to find a link to a very interesting article I read in this regard.
I agree with previous posts, this isn't necessary. That article did some tests and the Mac even ran slower to perform some tasks then it was before defragmentation.

Bottom line, don't worry about defragging it's not a way to optimize Mac performance. For other ways to optimize your mac's performance just do a quick google search about mac optimization.

 

[BelowTheBelt]

I was told in the Apple Store that defragging an iMac isnt necessary. Why is that? Does anyone use any Mac utility software to keep the HD clean and running smooth?

Here is the article from Apple.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375

As I work with very large video files even on OS X you must defragment them to have full performance.

Apple does state this on their support document as well.

If your disks are almost full, and you often modify or create large files (such as editing video, there's a chance the disks could be fragmented. In this case, you might benefit from defragmentation.

I do agree with the other users here, there is little need to worry about this until you are trying to manipulate video files that are gigabytes in size on a drive that is just about full.

Is the system fool proof for it, defiantly not; however OS X have wonderful management built right into look after the small stuff mate.

Relax and enjoy.

 

[300D]

Defragging on an OSX machine is only good for wearing out the hard drive.