[MacDV] Disk fragmentation

[Mark M. Florida]

On 4/14/03 10:31 AM, "Dorothy Hennings" <hennings at verizon.net> wrote:

> I use an external firewire LaCie HD for my iMovies. I suspect it needs
> defragmentation.
> My internal superdrive has 1 partition with Jaguar and another with
> OS9.2
> What app can you suggest? Before Jaguar I  had Norton SystemWorks 2.0
> on each of the partitions.
> A few wks  after installation I could not get on line. Two Apple help
> guys had me try a million things without success. I removed Norton.
> After I  installed Jaguar the problem was cured. Two Apple guys said to
> stay away from Norton.
> 
Yes, stay away from Norton.  Bad ju-ju.  For most disk problems, Disk
Warrior can do the job -- use version 2.1 for Mac OS 9, or the soon-to-be
released 3.0 for Mac OS X.  I don't know if there's a defragging utility
included with DiskWarrior 3, though -- there's a defrag utility with
DiskWarrior 2.1, but I've never used it -- I usually don't have a problem
with fragmentation, and if I do, I just back up my files, reformat and
restore.  Just re-writing the files in one pass (after backing up and
reformatting) is in itself a method of defragging a drive.

> Do you think Norton from the OS 9.2 partition addressing the external
> firewire would be OK?

On the other hand, if you used DiskWarrior first, then Norton SpeedDisk (not
Norton Disk Doctor!), then DiskWarrior again after the fact, that's probably
a safe way to defrag the files without reformatting your hard drive.

Now remember, if your hard drive is already partitioned, reformatting will
wipe out ALL of your partitions, so that's probably not the best bet...  But
just moving all of the files to another drive or partition temporarily,
trashing the originals (and empty the trash), then re-copying the files back
to their original location will also defrag the drive.

> Another application?

Micromat Drive 10?  Again, I know it has defragging capabilities, but I've
never used them...

Hope that helps?

- Mark

(I think my allergies are seriously affecting my mental capacity)  :-\