Norton System Works Options

[c.frederik]

I am aware of the negative advices about Norton for Mac, but since I have Norton, I like to use it anyway.

To speed up my external disk and my non system disks (partitions), Norton System Works is just fine. But when I want to speed up my system disk, it has to be done from the Norton Cd. Start your Mac up with the Cd inserted and hold down de "C" key, tells the User Guide. But when I do so, nothing happens except the Mac is starting up as normal.

Somebody know how to speed up / defragment my system disk?

[dixiechicken]

Norton Systemworks 2.0 will not boot into Mac OS X.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[c.frederik]

Thanks for your answer, but I still cannot defrag my system drive.
Because I have a little fear for defragmentation (yes, I made a backup) can I use Disk Warrior to defrag the system drive? I have Disk Warrior 3.0?
What are the risks?
Norton has checked the disk and did not find anything wrong.

[dixiechicken]

The risk is almost none, as you have backed up and norton didnt find anything wrong.

However Diskwarrior does NOT defrag your drive. It repair & rebuilds your directories.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[c.frederik]

Maybe I have to ask the questions in an other way but first my reasons why I ask that question.

As far as I was told over the years in the PC world, it is a good thing to defrag your hard disk(s) frequently. Norton System Works do that job without any problem on a Pc and Windows itself can do also the job as most people know. So far my experiences with defrag HDD on Pc's.

So -new with Apple- I suppose to defrag my Apple HDD as well, but Norton do not do the job, Disk Warrior do another job..........

1. Is it usefull to defrag a HDD/ system drive on a Apple computer?
2. If the answer is yes, can you advice me with what kind of tool I can do the job?
3. When do you defrag and when use Disk Warrior to repair (I mean do you have to do both things)

Thanks for your time.

[dixiechicken]

1A:)
It is NOT as useful as under Mac OS 9. The issue is complex but to simplify...
Any *nix system has much better memory/file management than either Mac 9 OS
or any version of windows.
The Unix/Linux kernel never page out/or write anything to disk -
unless it absolutely has to. The net result is much less of a fragmentation problem
compared to Windows & Mac OS 9.

1B:)
This issue is complcated by the fact that modern harddrives has their own built in logic
and writes files to the harddrive,
in such a manner as to expedite fast reading/search times for locating stuff on on the HD again.
This process DOES NOT neccessariley write the files in contigous block/sectors on the harddrive.

Because of fast rpms on the platter the files are read faster if they are interleaved on the drive.


2:)
At present only one tool I know of does it all.
Micromat:s "Drive 10".
Symantecs System Works 3.0 is supposed also to do it all -- when it arrives.
( I think Symantec are taking pre-orders now??? )

3:)
After running Drive 10 - you DONT have run Diskwarrior - in principle.
However keep in mind that diffeerent tools might well have different strengths
an weaknesses. Some people recommend using several tools, because of this.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[c.frederik]

Thanks very much for your professional answer that teached me a lot about fragments, OS / HDD's.
It is the answer I was surching for!!!!

[arjen_1]

Hi,

I have great experiences with Norton & OS9.x. Defragmentation of my hd definitly speeds up the entire system. Especially while doing HD-recordings it's a must have!

Greetz,

Arjen

[dixiechicken]

Doing simple timings - after using "Drive Ten" on my iMac 800MHz OS X, system. I cannot detect any speed advatages after doing both defragmentation & file repairs.

That's not to say that I wouldn't for pre-emptive purposes in this way keep my harddrive in good working order.
Best thing you can do to keep your computer/DAW in good working condition, is to keep your system lean & simple.
Leave enough empty space on your hardrive, rule of thumb some 20-30%. Seems like a waste of space but Ata/Ide-drives are fairly cheap these days.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[c.frederik]

Thanks Dixiechicken, I'll keep that in mind!!