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Orion27 · Jun 5, 2003, 02:46 PM

Having several utilities, I wondered if there was a proper order in which to run them?
DiskWarrior,fsck,permissions? Permissions, fsck,DisWarrior? What's your scheme and why?

tooki · Jun 5, 2003, 03:20 PM

DiskWarrior, then permissions.

No need to run fsck -- DiskWarrior (DW) does everything fsck does, and a whole lot more. (In fact, if you did have data loss, running fsck might destroy any ability DW might have had to fix it.) Running fsck after DW will do nothing at all, since there will be nothing left to fix.

tooki

CatOne · Jun 5, 2003, 09:54 PM

Originally posted by Orion27:
Having several utilities, I wondered if there was a proper order in which to run them?
DiskWarrior,fsck,permissions? Permissions, fsck,DisWarrior? What's your scheme and why?

How often do you do this?

REALLY -- this stuff isn't really necessary as frequent "preventative medicine." For the most part just let 'er go.

I may run "repair permissions" once a month (max) -- more like once every 3 months. And I never fsck my disk. And I don't own DiskWarrior.

Most Mac users I suspect grew up in some voodoo cult of black magic or something. When rebuilding the desktop went out of style with OS X, some snake oil to "keep everything ship shape" must have stepped in. Just let the computer do its job, and do away with the superstitious "Mr. Fix it" stuff.

And back up your home or documents folder every couple weeks.

gthyb · Jun 5, 2003, 10:05 PM

how do you fix permissions?

Zimphire · Jun 6, 2003, 09:11 AM

Originally posted by CatOne:
How often do you do this?

REALLY -- this stuff isn't really necessary as frequent "preventative medicine." For the most part just let 'er go.

I may run "repair permissions" once a month (max) -- more like once every 3 months. And I never fsck my disk. And I don't own DiskWarrior.

Most Mac users I suspect grew up in some voodoo cult of black magic or something. When rebuilding the desktop went out of style with OS X, some snake oil to "keep everything ship shape" must have stepped in. Just let the computer do its job, and do away with the superstitious "Mr. Fix it" stuff.

And back up your home or documents folder every couple weeks.

Eh, running a disk program once a week isn't "voodoo' or what have you. Don't give out bad advice.

There is nothing wrong with making sure your disks are in top shape. Esp if you depend on them for a living.

It can't hurt, and can only help.

For example, I am betting if you ran it once a week, there will be atleast ONE minor probably wrong with your disk. Catch it then, and it doesn't get bigger.

Preventive disk checking makes drives last longer.

malvolio · Jun 6, 2003, 09:35 AM

Originally posted by CatOne:
I may run "repair permissions" once a month (max) -- more like once every 3 months. And I never fsck my disk. And I don't own DiskWarrior.

You should run the Repair Permissions routine every time you install any new software that requires authentication.
The system automatically runs fsck every time you boot up.
DiskWarrior can be a real lifesaver. More than once, it has repaired problems I have had that were preventing drives from being mounted.
And of course you should back up your data frequently.

billybob128 · Jun 6, 2003, 09:50 AM

excuse me for my ignorance but i hear about all these things like disk warrior nut have never accually seen what they are or where to get them

shadybirdstan · Jun 6, 2003, 10:17 AM

I'm also going to have to plea ignorance as well.

If DW can't be run on a startup disk or a disk where it resolves.....how exactly am I supposed to use it?

Orion27 · Jun 6, 2003, 11:02 AM

As all utilities, DiskWarrior must run on a drive or disk other than the drive to be repaired or checked. You can purchase DiskWarrior on a "bootable" CD or download the program and run it from another bootable drive.

shadybirdstan · Jun 6, 2003, 11:08 AM

Ahhh seems like an added headache to me.

Being that I am still relatively new to the Mac world and a daily PC user as well I still can't justify to myself how my Mac does not need to be defragged.

Does anybody use any utilities to take care of defragging?

Orion27 · Jun 6, 2003, 01:42 PM

I use Drive 10 to defrag, But I tend to agree one can get a little obsessive about these things. I like to be tidy and informed. If I don't use a program I can't comment about. I ran DiskWarrior for the first time three months after I bought my Mac and it fixed a lot of things. I've used Drive 10 and it worked for me
though some say defragging is not that big an issue. I think it is so I keep a tidy drive. I run
DW to stay on top of issues. Why not? I think it has served me well. My box has been very solid.

rw · Jun 7, 2003, 10:44 PM

Originally posted by shadybirdstan:
Being that I am still relatively new to the Mac world and a daily PC user as well I still can't justify to myself how my Mac does not need to be defragged.

I doubt your PC needs to be defragged, either. Defragging seems to be the PC version of the snake oil and voodoo mentioned above.

tooki · Jun 8, 2003, 06:31 AM

Running a disk utility will not make the drive last longer (the utilities work on the content of the disk, not the drive mechanics!). Sorry, Zimph.

That said, running DiskWarrior on occasion is sound preventive maintenance. Directory corruption DOES happen, and can lead to data loss. It makes a lot more sense to run the utility before you lose data than running it after data has been lost, since there are no guarantees that any utility can recover lost data.

Fixing disk problems with DiskWarrior also fixes many problems with system "weirdness," as those are sometimes caused by directory corruption and incorrect file flags.

Repairing permissions is NOT necessary after every application install. For one thing, it only repairs permissions for those software packages that leave behind a receipt (in /Library/Receipts). Only programs that use the Apple Installer or the Software Update system preference leave behind receipts. (Never mind that occasionally, the receipts contain conflicting permissions info, causing permissions on a given item to be changed, and then changed back!)

I think that defragmenting can be useful on occasion, but it's not something I do more frequently than a couple of times a year, if that. (I use Alsoft PlusOptimizer.)

What is totally unnecessary is prebinding, as OS X 10.2 does it on-the-fly any time it is necessary.

tooki