[MacDV] Re: Disk fragmentation

[Mark M. Florida]

> 
> On Monday, April 14, 2003, at 10:30  PM, Mark M. Florida wrote:
> 
>> 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.
>> Yes, stay away from Norton.  Bad ju-ju.  For most disk problems, Disk
>> Warrior can do the job --
> 
> It depends on how you define "most disk problems". In truth, Disk
> Warrior does one thing and does it very well -fix directories. I think
> other disk utilities have earned a bad rep because they try to fix a
> lot of different things (bad dates, bundle bits, corrupted files...).
> Some of those things you only want to do if you're having serious
> problems and nothing else is working (last resort).

I guess I meant that Macs are more prone to damaged directories (most common
disk-related problem), and DiskWarrior is the best at fixing/optimizing the
directory, and therefore eliminating most problems -- and if used regularly
(like once a month), it's a good form of preventative maintenance to prevent
those "other" problems.  Those other things that Norton and TechTool fix I
would classify as "file" problems rather than disk problems.

>> 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 --
> 
> It does come with one called PlusOptimizer. If you have DiskWarrior,
> PlusOptimizer is the way to go for a basic defrag utility. I say
> "basic" because AFAIK it does not optimize disks specifically for OS X,
> where Norton (IIRC) can.
> 
>>  I usually don't have a problem
>> with fragmentation,
> 
> I'd say its one of the most overfixed "problems" around (fixing
> permissions quickly gaining ground).

Agreed.  ;-)

>> 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...
> 
> No, you can "erase" (reformat) a single partition, if that's what you
> select (I've done it more than once). Its only if you re-partition that
> you lose data on all partitions.

In Mac OS X?  I know it's simple to do in Mac OS 9 with the Finder, but OS X
doesn't give you the same basic formatting option from the Finder.  Is it
possible to reformat a single partition of a multi-partition disk with Disk
Utility?

- Mark