Sep 28, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

Best Defragmenter For Mac

Product Version 9.0.0.0. Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro is the advanced version of Disk Defrag Free with extended functionality, including file placement and scheduling options. DiskTools Pro is available for $79.99. This is the ultimate system optimization tool. The Mac OS X defrag will not harm your hard disk, but boot your Mac’s performance. How to Defrag Your Mac Hard Disk Drive. Different from the Windows system, the macOS doesn’t provide a built-in feature to defrag the Mac. So, if you really want to defrag a Mac, you can use a third-party program. I’m wondering how to defrag a Mac hard drive and make it faster because my MacBook seems to run slower after updating to the latest macOS. Is there an app I can use for Mac defragment? Unlike Windows that provides a built-in Disk Defragmenter (now called Optimize Drives in Windows 10), macOS does not have a utility or feature like this.

At some point, it is common that your system becomes slow. Whether you have the latest Mac system or an old one, experiencing performance issues are common. Most people know how to defrag the Windows system but the Mac File system isn't designed like Windows. Thus, if you feel like you need to defrag Mac, then you still have some other options.

Here, we will discuss in detail how you defrag a Mac and why do you need it. Along with the process, we will also look for some alternatives to defragging.

Part 1. Overview of Defragmenting Mac

Defragment is the process where scattered files from the storage are organized. It erases the gaps from the files and stores them as a single whole part in the same location. In simple words, defragging Mac hard drive moves everything in order and fills the holes which exist while using the files. Ultimately, defragmentation saves time to search and read the files thereby improving the performance of your system.

Do You Need to Defrag Mac?

In general, Mac doesn't need defragmentation. It is due to the fact that the Mac OS X version after 10.2 has a different file system than Windows. Apple uses the HFS+ format which has a special function of Hot File Adaptive Clustering. This function works merely to automatically prevent fragmentation in the drive in the first place. As a result, there is not much need to defrag MacBook manually.

It is rare but maybe at some point, you might need it. Once in a few years, you might have to defrag Mac during the update, upgrade, installation, or reinstallation of some software.

When to Defrag MacBook Pro?

The one and only exception when you surely need to defrag MacBook Pro is when the storage space is left only 10%. Once that much storage space is occupied, the Mac OS won't be able to perform automatic defragmentation. Thus, you will have to consider either removing extra and useless files or expanding the storage so that your Mac system performance won't decline.

So, either you have to go through defragmentation or remove some of the big files from your Mac.

Part 2. How to Defragment Mac?

This is a matter of concern as there is not a particular tool on the Mac system that can tell you how to defrag a MacBook. But you can rely on third-party tools for that if you want to. Here, we are providing you top-listed tools for defragmenting in case you need them.

Solution 1. MacKeeper:

This tool is specially designed so that the performance of your Mac system can be improved significantly. Even though it is popular for its cleaning features of removing unused and redundant files, it can also help to defrag Mac computer.

The performance improvement features make sure that the disk is fragmented to maximize the space. As a result, Mac works better. These tools also have other useful features like restore, undelete, backup, and remote tracking too in case your Mac gets stolen.

Solution 2. iDefrag:

For Mac OS defragment disk, you can rely on iDefrag to work efficiently. It is a useful tool to defrag and optimize your computer. You just have to reboot your computer and the software will provide you options to defrag the system. With this software, you will be able to defrag the whole drive easily. It can even perform selective defragmentation. Along with this, the software is simple, organized, and improved so you don't have to struggle to learn how to operate it.

Solution 3. DiskTools Pro:

One of the best tools that can tell you how to defrag MacBook Pro is DiskTools Pro. The software has three main features, i.e. defrag, backup, and repair. This software makes the repair and maintenance of the Mac system easy and fast. There is a bundle of tools for other tasks too which include creating a bootable disk, fixing bad sectors, test disk integrity, analyze drive capacity, and so much more.

There are lots of other tools too which can help you to defrag Mac as quickly as possible so you don't have to compromise with your work.

Part 3. Some Facts About Defragging Mac

If you are experiencing performance issues with your Mac and you are considering defragging Mac, then you should know a few facts about it. Here, we are giving you proper knowledge and facts to begin:

1. Keep in mind that only hard drives require defragging. If your Mac has a Solid State Drive, then there is no need for defragging Mac.
2. There is no need to defrag Mac regularly. The OS X already writes the small files in one batch so that you don't have to put in efforts for defragmentation.
3. Hard drives work fast at the beginning of the drive and slow down as the data is written to the bottom. Data don't take up the available space and it creates several hols which causes a delay in booting or loading of programs.
4. Over the years of using Mac, the system slows down with addition and reduction in data. And the OS X upgrades and normal operation makes the data less optimized. Therefore, the defragging Mac becomes important.
5. The Mac OS gathers a group of small files dynamically and then combines them in a large space. The automatic process of writing files defragments the files in a proper manner.
6. Mac's HFS+ File system makes sure that the recently freed file space is not used on the disk. Therefore, the system looks for the larger free area which is present on the drive. Thus, there is no room left to defrag apple Mac just so your files fit into the available space.
7. Even when you open a file, the Mac system checks the storage to verify if the files are fragmented or not. In case it is, the OS automatically defrag Mac files.

Part 4. Alternative Way to Defrag Mac

If yourMac has performance issues, then instead of using defrag tools for Mac you can try out the alternative ways. Here are some methods that would optimize Mac and make sure that is works efficiently.

Method 1. Install Latest Updates of Your MacOS:

The latest update will provide stability, better performance, and security to your Mac. It will not only update the installed software but optimize the system to work in an improved way without a Mac defragging software.

1. Open System Preferences from the Apple menu and tap on the Software Update option to check for updates.
2. If the update is available, click on the Update Now option to install it. You can take a look at the specifics of the updates.

Free Defrag

Once the software is fully updated, make sure that the applications are updated too.

Method 2. Clean Unnecessary and Big Files:

By deleting the files which are big and useless, you can improve the performance of your system. This way you don't have to worry about defragging Mac drive. Follow the steps below to delete extra files.

1. Open the drive that you want to search and open the search window.
2. Click on the '+' icon at the bottom of the Save button and customize the file size that you want to search. You can tell Mac to look for files using the 'Greater Than' column to find the files which occupy the maximum space.
3. Once the results are listed on the screen, you can select the files which you don't need. Right-click on the file to move it to trash or click on the Trash icon in the Dock. And make sure that you empty the trash too

Method 3. Boot Mac in Safe Mode:

Another way to eliminate the performance issue and avoiding defragmentation on Mac is by booting the system in Safe Mode. This way, no additional application will run automatically and it will erase the cache files too.

1. Restart your Mac and immediately press and hold the Shift key until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
2. You can release the Shift key when you see the login window. You might have to log in two times, once to unlock the startup disk and second to log in to the Finder.

Safe mode will erase the cache or directory issue as you start up and you'll have enough space left on your Mac. To exit the safe mode, you only have to restart Mac without pressing any additional key.

Part 5. More Tips to Speed Up Mac:

As you clean up the Mac, the need for Mac OS defrag will decrease and the system will start running smoothly. It is likely that your system will work fine now. But here are some additional tips that will speed up Mac:

• Update Software regularly as most of the issues happen due to the use of outdated software. The system update will also fix bugs and other reasons that are declining Mac performance.
• Prevent Programs from Launching Automatically when you turn on Mac. There are lots of apps that run in the background. So, you need to filter the list to free up resources to make sure that no extra space is occupied by them.
• Offload old data that is stored on online servers or external drives to make up space for new files.
• Clear Regularly: Apart from the system, you have to clean the Trash too. Even though the files are deleted from Mac, space is occupied by the trash. So, you'll have to empty the trash more frequently.
• Upgrade RAM: This solution won't help you to prevent fragmentation but it will improve the system performance.

Conclusion

So, now when anyone asks you can you defrag a Mac, you know that you can say yes. With every detail you have now, you can easily resolve performance issues with your Mac. And if somehow during cleanup or defragging Mac with third-party tools, the data gets deleted, then Recoverit Data Recovery can help you to retrieve the deleted files. Share the guide with your friends and family to let them know that there are easy ways of keeping up the Mac system.

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Hello and welcome to my User Tip

You might be experiencing some performance issues with your Mac, spinning beach ball, just general slowness and you knew from your PC days about defragging computers.

Well that's for Windows because the way it writes files it breaks them all up, OS X doesn't do that on small files, so it eliminates the need for MOST users to require a regular defrag. Perhaps once every few years after many updates, upgrades, program installs and reinstalls may one require it on a Mac, then rarely again.

I outlined a safe way here that always gives you a bootable backup to check, plus it really optimizes the hard drive in the process. Also it stays optimized and faster longer when defragging software tends to require it again and again to regain the performance.

If you have Filevault enabled this procedure will not work because it's one giant encrypted image, this is designed to acquire it's results by copying the parts of files into one piece again and back into a alphabetical order according to the root level directory for optimal results, especially of fast loading of Applications into memory.

First if your experiencing computer problems, backup your personal information to a storage drive first, then consult the fix it options as defragging won't necessarily solve problems in software.

So to begin with some facts:

Defrag My Computer

1: Only hard drives require defragging. SSD's no need.

2: You don't need to regularly defrag a Mac's hard drive, OS X writes small files in one batch, eliminating a lot of the need to defrag a Mac regularly.

3: Hard drives are fastest at the beginning of the drive. and slowest at the very end. Data is first written on the top of the drive and works it's way down. However data doesn't magically move up to take available space, holes can develop with a lot of reads and writes. Also things can get out of order, the heads have to travel further all over the drive to boot or load programs for instance.

4: The first 50% of the drive is faster than the second 50% due to more sectors in each track which the heads have less to move and can gather more data at one time. So preferably if you can contain yourself to the first 50% of a hard drive, it will perform fast forever.

I always get twice as much boot hard drive space as I'm ever going to need, I can always partition the unused space and use it as a backup clone for on the road, or rare used items, emergency storage etc.

Defragmenter For Mac

5: Over time (like years) a Mac can slow down as the adding and reduction of data, OS X upgrades and normal operation tends to move data making it less optimized.

6: If one wants to create a Bootcamp or second partition on the boot drive, there might be OS X data near the bottom where the second partition will go, it's sometimes not easy to move this data further up on the drive.

7: If there are bad or failing sectors on the drive, it can substantially slow down read speeds and the spinning beach ball effect occurs.

Unfortunately the only way to remedy this is by backing up users data off the drive to a external storage drive (not TimeMachine or clone) and then using Disk Utility to Erase with Zero (Security option or move slider one space to the right) the entire drive (10.6) or the Macintosh HD partition (10.7 or later) then reinstalling OS X fresh, followed by programs and return of verified user files.

8: I don't advise using defragmentation software on a 'live' system, it's dangerous and if it messes up your stuck. If anyone has defragged a PC before knows it's never really completes in actuality, but this method I have here will do so wonderfully. 🙂

So my solution is if your serious about performance, have large files like video that stretch across many sectors and want it in one piece, want to reduce bad sectors that can corrupt large and even small files, need to free up space for a partition or large file.

How to proceed

1: Reduce your boot drive user content (files, try movies first) so it's less than 50% of the drive filled (ideal) but never more than 80% filled as a full boot drive will make the computer not boot up.

Use Activity Monitor for this and reboot to see the changes if needed. (reducing user content isn't mandatory below 50% filled but preferred if you want to see the best performance)

See Storage Drive here: Most commonly used backup methods

2: Use a blank powered external drive (formatted GUID and OS X Extended Journaled in Disk Utility) and a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the OS X boot partition (aka Macintosh HD) to the external drive using the default settings and a full clone.

Defragmenter For Mac

3: Then reboot the machine holding the option/alt key down (wired or built in keyboard), you can now boot from the clone using Startup Manager. Test the clone out for some time so your positive it's solid and reliable, catch any unknown issues (I haven't heard of any) and alleviate any fears you may have.

4: While booted from the clone, use Disk Utility to Security Option > Erase with the 'Zero' or second secure selection (on 10.7/10.8) the internal OS X boot partition (Macintosh HD), or the entire drive if there is no Recovery or Bootcamp partition (10.6 users) this will 'Zero' out all the bits, and when it reads it back for confirmation, map off any bad sectors in the process, never to be written to again. It will take some time and it's a very worthwhile step as failing sectors take longer to read from than perfect ones.

Note: You only need to do this once per drive, you might have to Erase Free Space > Zero perhaps one more time in the next year, but that should be it. Provided you don't move the computer/hard drive while it's operating (a big no no!)

Disk Defragmenter For Mac Os X

5: When completed, reverse clone. the external onto the internal partition. Run Disk Utility > Repair Permissions on both and all the OnyX (Macupdate.com) maintenance and cleaning aspects and reboot. OnyX cleans out the caches and lets them rebuild.

See #12 OnyX Routine here: Step by Step to fix your Mac

You will solve your Bootcamp partition formatting problem, your bad sectors problem, your defrag problems, corrupt or bloated caches and your optimization problems all in one batch. Also have a working bootable backup in the process which is loads safer than a live defrag.

Your Application's will be written to the 'hot zone' the fastest part of the drive. They will load as fast as possible.

Your OS X system files will be written next, followed last by your User account data last which tends to grow, expand and contact, suffer with more changes so the defragmentation that occurs will occur at the end and into the slower sections of the hard drive, not where Applications and System are.

Sure over time with OS X updates, upgrades, new app installs and such you can start seeing a loss in performance again (over many years), but another clone/reverse clone will solve that problem.

Also if you want to backup and defrag Windows Bootcamp partition (CCC doesn't do that), there is WinClone for that. I don't know how effective it is as I haven't used it.

There you go enjoy the new performance! 🙂

Note: If this doesn't work to improve your performance, you likely don't have enough RAM, or the OS X version is to new/bloated for your hardware or perhaps some other issue like a failing hard drive. See this and perhaps it will assist in narrowing down the cause.

If this User Tip has benefited you, please rate it below. Thanks 🙂