De-fragmentation (revisited)

[lists3-200402]

Randy B. Singer <randy at macattorney.com> wrote:

>lists3-200402 said:
>
>>well, whenever i hear the word "defrag" or "norton" (or both words in
>>the same sentence), i think of the word "inexperienced" or
>>"incompetent".
>
>I think that you may be seeing things in too black and white a manner and
>that you are being too harsh.  This list isn't just for video or audio
>professionals.  And even some professionals look to do things as
>inexpensively as possible for minor jobs.

i didn't think i was being harh...just honest. but if i came across 
harshly, i apologize. i just get fed up with all these costly third 
party over-hyped, over-rated third party "solutions" to a "problem" 
that really isn't a problem if the user follows the common sense, 
long-term-solution route.

>  >if the user needs to work on video, sound, photo editing, etc., that
>>person needs a scratch disk. you need room to work on this kind of
>>stuff. a raid-0 scratch disk is ideal (two internal or external
>>drives striped together).
>
>Hobbiests can't always afford to go with the best possible hardware
>setup.  Often they are looking for the minimum setup that will work
>effectively.

i would hardly call getting an additional drive a "best possible 
hardware" setup. what does a 40g hard drive cost? $30? not a bad 
price for a long-term solution. what does a third party "defrag" 
application cost? how long does the user's "perceived" increase in 
speed last? once again, MY goal as a sysadmin is to steer people 
towards a LONG-TERM solution...while marketing people want you to 
spend money on ANYTHING they can sell you without actually "fixing" 
the "problem" (read: norton or any other third party "defrag" 
utility).

>  >using a defrag utility does not address the root issue...having a
>>scratch disk is the solution for these types of workstations. i'm not
>  >talking about educational environments...i'm talking about
>>breat+butter high intensity shops. service bureaus, video/sound
>>production, digital photography shops, etc.
>>
>>...try recommending a defrag utility to any competent mac support
>>person in these types of environments and see what kind of response
>>you get.
>
>You are on a general Macintosh discussion list, not a specialized one for
>multi-media professionals.

the solution is the solution regardless of whether you're a 
professional or a hobbyist. my clients are all professionals but ANY 
user can benefit from having a scratch disk or a larger drive. it's 
not JUST a solution for pros.

>In any case, calling me, or anyone on a list such as this, names, and
>questioning my expertise and motivations when you have no knowledge of my
>background, is, in itself, uncalled for and unprofessional.

i wasn't name calling....but the words "incompetent" and "norton" in 
my (and in may other sysadmins) opinion belong in the same sentence. 
that's an opinion that i'll stick to...i've seen techs RUIN terabytes 
of data by whipping out ttpro (whached modification dates in a shop 
of 300+ prepress pros)...i've seen many 600g raids destroyed by techs 
who foolishly ran "speed disk" on it (how long do you think it takes 
to restore 600g of data from backup tapes?).

a person's skill level is reflected by their approach to resolving 
issues...not by their background. i've trained many mac techs with 
yeeaaarrsss of experience but little common sense. many of them live 
and die by third party utilities and gui wrappers...until they're 
shown a different approach. the ones that listen retire norton and 
stick to fsck/applejack/diskwarrior, and ditch the rest of their toys 
in favor of long term solutions.

>We welcome  your participation here and contributions, but please 
>leave the invective for the schoolyard.

stop being so sensitive. your posts are so geared towards third party 
software solutions that one can only think there's a financial 
motivation to steering people away from the tried-and-true, common 
sense solutions (buying a scratch disk as opposed to running a 
"defrag" utility).

having a "co-author" signature doesn't excuse you from acknowledging 
there are OTHER solutions, many that are better than some of the 
third party solutions you're suggesting. claiming that home users 
should use solutions different from "professional" solutions doesn't 
fly...and you know it.

there's absolutely NO reason to steer people away from getting a 
scratch disk. only a marketing person or someone who has something to 
gain from "defrag" utilities would suggest otherwise. in some cases 
(and this is a general statement), incompetence and inexperience 
steer people to the highly marketed "solutions". if that offends some 
people, then those people need to step back and re-think the whole 
"issue" of degragging.

none of my comments were offensive...just honest feedback based on 
what i've read on this list. there's no reason to split home users 
and pro users into different groups with different solutions. 
knowledge is power (at least the marketing folks know that).

don

>Randy B. Singer