File Defragging

[kps]

Came as a pleasant surprise...apparently Panther has file defragging built in.

There are some limitations, but it should prolong having to use a third party defragging utility.

Read about it HERE!

[CyberPet]

Yeah, but it doesn't defragment the disk, which is the biggest culprit in my opinion. The file fragments are seldom that big, but the disk fragment is usually very big and the one that takes most time to get rid of.

[krissel]

I can see how this remapping of frequently used files can speed up the seek time for them.

However, in my mind I'm seeing the many tiny spaces left behind all over the disk, which combined with the larger untouched files may indeed seem to fragment the disk itself all that much sooner. Files won't be as fragmented but the disk will need optimization, though from some posts at ARSTech it seems that there is a hot and cold area on the disk that are reserved for certain files.

Whew.
All the more reason to wait for a disk utility that is truly geared to Panther.
 

[Gary S]

I read the ARSTech thread and have to agree with the person who mentioned that they listen to a lot of MP3 files so......do you want them at the fastest part of the drive.....no!

I never choose to defrag or optimize for frequently used files myself. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense and I think it is a poor idea. But what do I know.

Another reason I'm holding with 10.2.8 until the dust bunnies clear with Panther.

I'm not the adventurous pioneer like I used to be with Apple's OS's, I'm kind of sitting in the back of the stagewagon until the arrows stop hitting the side of it.  

[beacher]

I'm with you, Gary. . .I think that I started using Jaguar about a year ago, after working with OSX for quite a while, and I'm pretty happy with it.  I just don't see much in the literature that makes me anxious to change.  I have to admit, that I'm looking forward to being able to pick up a used G5 2 gig DP in a couple of years, though!

[Mrious_be]

QUOTE(krissel @ Oct 31 2003, 7:31 AM)

However, in my mind I'm seeing the many tiny spaces left behind all over the disk, which combined with the larger untouched files may indeed seem to fragment the disk itself all that much sooner.

 Good thought, but isn't this what the normal "optimization" is build in for, to keep the harddrive clean from garbage and bad disk use?