[X4U] De-fragmentation (revisited)

[Crandon David]

What a jerk. I've put a filter on him too.



On Jul 5, 2004, at 9:21 AM, lists3-200402 wrote:

> 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
>