Overfilled hard drive,
obsolete hardware configuration, accumulation of system-generated waste, and
many more factors, though, are responsible for minimizing the performance of
Mac; fragmentation, nonetheless, is one of the foremost causes of the poor
performance of your Mac system. Meanwhile, you come across a colored spinning
beach ball, sluggishly booting Mac, and poorly executing applications and
files.
Ever since you purchased this
so-called excellent computer (i.e. Mac), it is proving itself exactly how you
had heard about it. However, this excellence does not last long and it starts
facing performance issues as mentioned above. In such a painful situation, many
of the users do not even know what the actual cause of this annoying state of
Mac is and directly contact with Mac technicians. Well, taking help from
experts is a wise decision, but it does not guarantee that the same issue will
not arise again just as every other issue does. On the other hand, a few users
even ask why to optimize Mac, as it is the finest computer that does not
require optimization at all. However, all such users need to know that
excellence lacks a lot to meet perfection. This means that performance degradation
is a state that is strongly associated with every machine and so does with Mac.
Apart from the typical causes of
slowdown of Mac computers, fragmentation is also a major cause of poor
performance of computers, since it is responsible for scattering of data segments
on the hard drive. For demonstration, go through this article carefully.
“Fragmentation refers to a deprived state of the hard drives
that involves data being scattered or stored randomly.”
Mac OS X employs HFS+ file system
for allocation of storage blocks to data. Well, formatting a hard drive as Mac
OS Extended (Journaled) splits its storage space into blocks of certain sizes
to store data. When you save a large file to your Mac drive, based on its size,
Mac file system divides it into a number of segments of smaller sizes and each
of these segments gets a separate storage block. The storage blocks occupied by
all segments of a single file are logically connected to each other. However, due
to some poor storage allocation algorithms, file segments occupy blocks that
are at distant locations on the drive. Likewise, because of the variance in the
sizes of these segments and the storage blocks, many storage blocks contain
free spaces, whereas several others require these segments to undergo
segmentation again in order to be able to fit in those blocks.
However, not only these internal
factors are responsible for fragmentation, but some external factors are as
well. For example, when you move a large file from one location to another on
your Mac, then a slew of storage blocks are emptied simultaneously. Mac users
believe in the fact that Mac OS X does not face fragmentation issue, as it
employs HFS+ file system to format its hard drive. This means, if Mac OS X does
not face fragmentation issue, they why to optimize Mac? Well, you might
be thinking this; it is also a fact that the HFS+ file system only minimizes
the need for defragmentation on Mac OS X, but it does not eliminate fragments. Let
us discuss how Mac file system deals with fragmentation:
“Defragmentation involves rearranging all physical blocks on
the hard drive in a logical order aspiring to reduce the response time of data
stored onto them. During this process, all fragments are eliminated throughout
the allocated regions on the hard drives, which results in improved performance
of the Mac systems.”
Every time you open the files
stored on your Mac, HFS+ file system thoroughly scans each file for fragments.
In case, if a file is found as highly fragmented (i.e. having eight or more
fragments), the file system defrags it automatically. However, not every file
satisfies the criteria set (i.e. it works on a fragmented file only if it is
not more than 20MB of size) for automatic defragmentation. Therefore, since Mac
is unable to defrag large files (more than 20MB of size), you have to use a
professional disk defragmentation tool for Mac to get its performance improved
significantly.
A professional Mac disk
defragmentation application thoroughly analyzes your Mac drive when it is
initiated. This analysis includes scanning all storage blocks, storage
algorithm used for storage blocks allocation and the remaining free blocks as
well. In technical terms, defragmentation involves maintenance of the work done
by the file system and yields the highly efficient and contiguous storage
blocks with reduced number of fragments. Thus, it minimizes the response time
of data and improves the performance of your Mac system. For this, all storage
blocks in non-contiguous regions on the hard drive are rearranged in a logical
order, which results in improved productivity of your Mac. Besides, it uses
compaction mechanism to impede fragmentation to occur again by creating larger
regions of free spaces on your Mac drive.
Since a slew of disk
defragmentation apps for Mac OS X are available on the Internet, when it comes
to selection of a reliable and efficient one, many users get confused and
select a random one. However, selection of such an inefficient Mac app may
adversely affect your Mac system. In general, an unreliable Mac disk
defragmentation app may cause data loss. What all you come across is reliant on
the selection of the app. Therefore, in case you are confused or unaware of
which app is to choose for your Mac, you can take the help from Mac experts.
Besides, make sure you properly go through the user manual provided with the
app before using it, as the security of your data as well as the Mac system is
must.
