[badtz]

Does anyone have any ideas on this topic?

I'm thinking about setting up my Mail database using Mail.app on my 2nd (non-OS) HD, to prevent fragmentation all over the place on the primary OS HD.

Since I leave mail.app running (checking email every 10 minutes), this will make the 2nd HD never spindown.

Is this a bad idea?

[Sharky K.]

Why are you so scared for fragmentation? The OS automatically organizes files when you open them, so the hard disk won't be fragmentated.

[badtz]

i thought OS X only defragments newly created files by putting them in contiguous sectors? [does it rearrange it after it's written?]

[Old Toad]

With OS X the only time you might need to defrag is if you're doing some heavy digital video importing and work. But for normal usage OS X optimizes the directory and that's the key factor. It's not like OS 9 or PCs any more.

[badtz]

i will be doing dv work.

when you say optimizes, what exactly [technical] does OS X do?