External Hard Drive/clean-up, Defragmentation, apps, FW hard drives Options

[jarret the gobli...]

Hi,
Can anyone recommend to me a website that sells decent external hard drives (firewire/about 160GB) that wont cost me to much?
Im running Mac OS 10.2.8, soon to move to 10.3.

Also does anyone know of any derag/clean-up applications that i can use on my cluttered hard drive?

Thanks.

[jarret the gobli...]

Hi,
Does anyone know of any defrag/clean-up application that i can use on my cluttered hard drive?
Im running Mac OS 10.2.8, soon to move to 10.3.

Thanks.

[nreyes]

There is no need to defrag in the windows sense when using Mac OSX. It takes care of itself (generally speaking).

However, you should use tools like Onyx make sure you use the correct version for 10.2.8, and then install the Panther one when you move to 10.3).

This program allows you to run the OSX in-built maintenance scripts (which are scheduled to run at night, but generally do not because your computer is switched off). It also allows you to verify and repair permissions etc. (though you can always do this using Disk Utility in the Utilities folder on your mac).

There are other similar programs, some free, some not. Most do the same, but Onyx is free & performs its function well.

For more 'extreme' optimisation, I know that Tech Tool & Disk Warrior are often quoted in forums. However, the primary function of these is a diagnostic tool and backup utility. They are, nevertheless, very useful too if you value your data.

[lepetitmartien]

OSX defrags only files of under 20 or 30 MB (I never remember). It's part of things the OS is doing at night if you keep the computer on along other scripts (daily/weekly/monthly) coming from it's BSD heritage.

If you have big files on a drive, the free solution is to move the files elsewhere, reformat the dirve and put the files back on. Else, TTP and diskwarrior usually do their job nively.

To run the maintenance scripts you can use OnyX, Xupport, MacJanitor…

Also each time you install something, run the Apple disk utility or OnyX or Xupport and repair the permissions. It's GOOD practice.

[dockiki]

OWC drives are fast, quiet, reliable and not so expensive. plus, they come with a suite of software tools such as a defrag program.
they are available at this site.......
www.macsales.com