This wikiHow teaches you how to defragment a hard drive, a process that rearranges and better utilizes the space on the drive to improve your PC's performance. Though defragmenting a hard drive is not typically advised for Mac users, you can see this wikiHow to learn how (and when) this might be necessary. Learn more 'Auslogics BoostSpeed can protect you from identity theft. Being a useful computer optimization tool, it also includes a number of very useful privacy and security applications. It offers advanced protection where anti-virus software can't help.' 'You can clean up, optimize and defragment your PC using Auslogics's OneButton Checkup. Jun 16, 2013 Step by Step to fix your Mac. So to begin with some facts: 1: Only hard drives require defragging. SSD's no need. 2: You don't need to regularly defrag a Mac's hard drive, OS X writes small files in one batch, eliminating a lot of the need to defrag a Mac regularly. 3: Hard drives are fastest at the beginning of the drive. And slowest at the. May 02, 2015 One of the most recommended programs to use to defrag your Mac is called iDefrag, which is available for $30. Once youâve purchased and installed iDefrag or a similar program, open the utility and follow the instructions for defragging your Mac.
Every Mac that runs a hard disk drive (HDD) stores data on a spinning disk. The data is written in chunks, and fragmentation occurs when related chunks become separated from each other. This means your MacBook runs slower as it searches for all the connecting chunks or blocks.
Of course, you donât want this because it slows down daily work and slowly becomes a hindrance.
But how do you get all those fragments back in the proper place?
Itâs actually simpler than you think- with a common process called defragmentation or âdefraggingâ your Mac.
Do Macs Need Defragmentation?
Macs are known for being ahead of the curve when it comes to necessary functions like antivirus measures and file organization, so defragmentation is actually a process your Mac is already doing automatically. Besides using an advanced file storage system that is less prone to fragmenting, files that are prone to fragmentation are automatically defragged by Mac OS X 10.3 and onwards.
However, there are some limitations to the built-in features and specific scenarios where you would benefit from defragging your MacBook. For example, defragging become more useful the fuller your drive is due to the distribution of space. Additionally, macOS only defrags files smaller than 20 MB so depending on your line of work, your larger files could be creating problems. You can learn more here.
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 â 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.
Before running the defragmentation, you should make sure to create a backup of your files. Then you can select the âdefragmentâ option from the Drive Genius menu and follow the on-screen instructions to select your disk and run the operation.
How To Defragment For Mac
Drive Genius provides a graphical representation of the defragging process, which is great because it allows you to see exactly what is happening to your drive. Depending on the state of your drive, the operation could take several hours to complete.
In addition to the defragging tool, Drive Genius provides several other features that will help you clean up your Mac such as a duplicate file identifier and utilities such as secure file deletion. These will help you keep your MacBook running smoothly.
You can get Drive Genius here.
MacBook Pro with SSD â CleanMyMac
An SSD drive stores data very differently from an HDD. An HDD uses a physical disk, and therefore physically distributes data in blocks which is what leads to potential fragmentation. On the other hand, an SSD uses âflashingâ to write data which is an electronic process.
You shouldnât try and defrag your SSD because all of your data is being stored in algorithms and an SSD will not benefit from having this data rearranged. But if you still want to try and speed up your disk, there is another way you can do it.
An app like CleanMyMac, which is developed by the well-respected MacPaw, will help you keep files from piling up or caches from overflowing with unnecessary data.
Instead of trying to defrag your computer, you can find and remove everything from duplicate documents to year-old device backups hidden inside iTunes. The folder you didnât know existed will be scanned for gigabytes worth of missing storage space. Files can be âshreddedâ instead of just deleted for extra security.
All of these, among a plethora of other features, will keep your MacBookâs SSD in tip-top shape by removing unnecessary data. Additionally, youâll be able to make space for more important files in the future.
You can get CleanMyMac here.
Keeping Your Mac Drive in Good Shape
Defragging is definitely not the only way you can make sure your drive stays in working order for as long as possible. Here are a few tips and tricks that will help you stay on top of things.
Clean Regularly: The trash and the downloads folder are both easily accessible and fill up quickly. By clearing out these two on a regular basis, youâll keep things neat and reclaim some space
Offload Old Data: Whether you prefer external drives or cloud storage services, moving your older files off of your HDD or SSD will significantly speed it up. While you do need to be careful to create at least one backup of each data item and to completely transfer all part of project files, this is generally a great long-term solution for a crowded drive. Free video editing for mac.
Upgrade the RAM: While this solution wonât give you more storage to work with, it will give your computer a greater degree of efficiency to work with what it has. This works best when paired with another cleaning method, but can have great results even if used on its own. You can learn the best RAM for MacBook Pro here.
Wrap It Up
We all want our Macs to run as smoothly as the day we took them from the clean white box and opened the MacBook lid. However, the reality is that daily work and use over time can bog you down and make using your laptop a tedious chore.
By keeping your drive in shape with regular maintenance and third-party tools, youâll help reduce the effect of your use. The extra process of defragging your MacBook Pro (which is only recommended for HDDs under specific circumstances) can be very helpful for drives that are almost full, but users using less than 50% of their space likely wonât see a performance difference.
Have you ever defragged your MacBook Pro? Tell us what program you used and how your MacBook worked afterward in the comments below!
Question:
Stephen writes: I have a 2011 Mac mini with a traditional hard drive thatâs starting to slow down. Iâd like to try defragmenting the drive. Whatâs the best option to do this in OS X?
Defragment App For MacAnswer:
With that in mind, OS X includes an âalways activeâ defragmenter. This process, called âhot file adaptive clustering,â 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 Appleâs 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 Prosoftâs Drive Genius, which performs a variety of disk and system maintenance functions in addition to drive defragmentation. At US$99, itâs 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.
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 Macbook
In the absence of specialized defragmentation software, users can still obtain the benefits of a defrag with a ânuke and paveâ restore of their hard drive. Backing up your data to an external drive via a clone process, reformatting the Macâs 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 itâs 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!
Featured image via Shutterstock. https://treeoption497.weebly.com/blog/paperport-for-mac.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |