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wayned · Jun 11, 2003, 01:04 AM

Hey there. I have a 17 inch powerbook. I would like to optimize the hard drive after installing many man apps. I am of the "OS X DOES need to be optimized" school of though so please spare this thread those discussions...

The problem is I have tried making a boot CD with Diskwarrior 3 and Drive 10 to no avail. These Powerbooks don't seem to want to boot from any CD except the Apple Care with Tech tools Deluxe. Unfortunately, that app does not have an disk defragmentation/optimization option...

I made a boot cd with the app "Boot CD" by Charles Srstka but it did not work... anyne have any success creating a boot cd for a new powerbook 17 inch?

Thanks!

Waynecontact@sharemyworld.net

ibook_steve · Jun 11, 2003, 04:55 PM

The thing is you can't make a boot CD. The only way you could do this, for now, is to either install an OS on an external drive and boot from it, or boot your 17" into target disk mode and connect it to another Mac, running the defrag software from there.

Steve

Axo1ot1 · Jun 11, 2003, 07:27 PM

Dude, OS X drives don't need to be optimized.

coolmacdude · Jun 11, 2003, 08:46 PM

Originally posted by ibook_steve:
The thing is you can't make a boot CD.

WRONG! With BootCD you most certainly can. Works fine for me. If you are having problems with it, pm or email CharlesS with specifics of your problem, he is the developer.

chabig · Jun 11, 2003, 08:53 PM

When I read your thread title, I though you meant you had a hard disk with 17 inch platters.

wayned · Jun 11, 2003, 10:20 PM

OK... I'll give it another shot, maybe bur the disk image with toast rather than disk copy...

thanks.

Wayne

Lebensm�de · Jun 11, 2003, 11:30 PM

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
Dude, OS X drives don't need to be optimized.

Could you please explain in simple terms why not?

Thanks.

Mastrap · Jun 12, 2003, 12:10 AM

Originally posted by Lebensm�de:
Could you please explain in simple terms why not?

Thanks.

Because with today's fast drives defragmentation after install really isn't needed. You'll do far more harm than good, showing perfectly good data about, risking read/write errors. We're not in the age of 40MB drives anymore where it did make a difference.

pcummins · Jun 12, 2003, 12:52 AM

I'd say after a generous amount of use any HDD generally gets quite a few fragmented files. Given that the HDD's in laptops are running at slower speeds and generally have little cache* vs the desktop models you probably would want to optimize your HDD to get it back on track, some profiling would be a nice way to go to figure it all out.

BTW - HDD's are meant to shove data around. If you're worried a defrag is going to lose some bits, I'd rather figure it out right after an install rather than after a few months or so like those IBM DeathStar drives. People should check for bad blocks on laptop drives, never know if a bad jolt is going to cause some issues down the track. Either that, or have a good backup system!

* The newer HDD's are 5400 RPM and have 16 MB cache, but not many people have those!

iohead · Jun 12, 2003, 02:21 AM

Originally posted by pcummins:
I'd say after a generous amount of use any HDD generally gets quite a few fragmented files. Given that the HDD's in laptops are running at slower speeds and generally have little cache* vs the desktop models you probably would want to optimize your HDD to get it back on track, some profiling would be a nice way to go to figure it all out.

BTW - HDD's are meant to shove data around. If you're worried a defrag is going to lose some bits, I'd rather figure it out right after an install rather than after a few months or so like those IBM DeathStar drives. People should check for bad blocks on laptop drives, never know if a bad jolt is going to cause some issues down the track. Either that, or have a good backup system!

* The newer HDD's are 5400 RPM and have 16 MB cache, but not many people have those!

Fragmentation is a filesystem thing, NOT a HDD thing.

-A

bradoesch · Jun 12, 2003, 07:14 AM

Originally posted by iohead:
Fragmentation is a filesystem thing, NOT a HDD thing.

-A

I think he knows this. I don't see anywhere in his post where he mentions any other file system except for the assumed HFS+.

coolmacdude · Jun 12, 2003, 07:41 AM

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
Dude, OS X drives don't need to be optimized.

It really depends on what your doing. If you just do Office work (Word, etc.) you proably aren't going to notice any difference. If you do stuff with video or large graphics files though, defragmentation is a must, as there is a rather large performance hit if those files get badly fragmented.

wayned · Jun 12, 2003, 08:50 PM

Obviously people don't READ... I said I didn't want to waste this thread on a discussion of whether or not OS X needs to be defragged...

Has anyone had success defragging a powerbook with a G4 in firewire target disk mode?

Thanks.
W

pcummins · Jun 12, 2003, 11:26 PM

Firewire Target mode -should- work fine with any HFS+ optimizer (I was using PlusOptimizer 1.3 from DiskWarrior 2.1, but check first). Since I don't have the new version 3, have to do this under MacOS 9 with the volumes mounted up under Target mode.

urrl5201 · Jun 12, 2003, 11:27 PM

I also tried bootCD on my 17" and after about 3 min or longer it DID boot up, but plus optimizer and diskwarrior would not work. error 22 or something. I was amazed that it would boot at all.

randomdef · Jun 13, 2003, 12:08 AM

I'm sorry, would you show me ANY drive that is in a standard mac/pc that has a 16meg cache, get real. 8meg is basicly top dog right now, 2meg is the standard.

pcummins · Jun 13, 2003, 03:11 AM

For randomdev :

Sure. Toshiba's 60 GB GAX, model number MK6022GAX (HDD2184). Specs are 5400 RPM, 12 ms average seek times, 16 MB disk cache.

Toshiba 60 GB GAX

You can pick one up from TransIntl for $279 US.

You won't find these as a standard PC or Mac laptops, but that's as they are new and only for people who -really- want one and want to install it themselves, hence my footnote.

PC - Keeping it real.

urrl5201 · Jun 13, 2003, 07:18 AM

Keep in mind there are other factors that make hard drive faster. IBM made a 40 GIG with 8 MB cashe that outperformed one with 16 MB cashe according to barefeats.com

pcummins · Jun 13, 2003, 07:53 AM

Sure there is, glad you mentioned it - looks like the GAX is not well equipped to handle random writes (looks like that 16 MB cache is holding onto data a tad too long - but I question whether true random writes turn up in real life), but up to the end user - do they want raw speed+noise or do they want bigger and quieter? In any case, have to see how this new Hitachi 7200 RPM drive stacks up to the 5400 model and the GAX when it comes out, so maybe I should hold off for one of those!