You might be experiencing some performance issues with your Mac, and you knew from your PC days about defragging computers. Well, you won’t find any command or utility to do that on Mac. The point is that the Mac File System is designed differently than Microsoft's, and it defragments files automatically. However, there are still some situations when you may need to defrag Macbook once in a few years.

In this article, we’ll tell you how to defrag a Mac, all advantages and pitfalls of doing this, and what alternatives to defragging are out there. Anxious to find out? Then let’s start!

Do you need to defragment a Mac?

Was USD Now USD 24.95. Defraggler Free and Professional are for home use only. Get Defraggler for your Business. We accept payment methods including. Product Version 10.1.0.0. Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro is the advanced version of Disk Defrag Free with extended functionality, including file placement and scheduling options. Get a license for this software. 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. Defraggler, the award-winning hard drive defrag tool from the makers of CCleaner. Optimize your hard drive and free up space. Download the latest version for free.

First of all, let’s find out why we do a Mac disk defrag. To cut a long story short, defragmentation aims to boost a computer’s performance by reorganizing the data on your drive. As a result, the related bits are grouped, and loading files and programs take less time. Simply put, Mac defragment moves everything back in order and can greatly speed up a slow system.

However, despite the obvious advantage, a Mac running any OS X version later than 10.2 generally doesn’t need to be defragmented. This is because OS X and macOS have their own built-in Apple Mac utilities that clean up fragmented files from the hard drive. Therefore, for most users, it eliminates the need to perform a regular defrag. But there is an exception to every rule, and in a few rare cases, a defrag for Mac can make a difference.

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When do Macs need to be defragged?

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If your hard drive is more than 90 percent full, the macOS may have problems with automatic defragmentation routines. This situation is common for multimedia creators who produce plenty of large files in pro tools like Adobe Premiere, Final Cut, or Photoshop.

Therefore, if you have hundreds or even thousands of large (1GB and larger) movies, audio files, or creative documents, you should consider removing them to free up the storage. Another alternative is defragging a Mac.

Concerning the first option, there is a fast and safe way to remove unnecessary files from your Mac — a powerful app CleanMyMac X. It finds above 74 GB of junk on an average computer, including old and large files, app leftovers, and system clutter. It helps to boost computer performance, so you probably won’t even need to defrag a Mac.

However, if you still wonder, “How do I defrag my Mac?” read on. We’ve prepared all the essential guidelines for you.

How to defragment a Mac

One of the simplest and most user-friendly Mac defrag methods is to use a trusted third-party defragmentation program. But before choosing and installing the app, make sure to back up your data. Should something go wrong, you’ll be able to restore all necessary files easily. You can use Time Machine, iCloud, Dropbox, or any other external storage at hand for this purpose.

When choosing the defragmentation app, pay special attention to the compatibility requirements. Macs running operating systems older than OS X 10.2 are not compatible with the latest modern defragmentation software, so finding a relevant tool is challenging.

Once you’ve installed the program of your choice, open the utility and follow the instructions of a disk defragmenter for Mac. Give the process plenty of time to complete without moving your computer anywhere until the defragmentation is finished. Usually, you’ll need to restart your Mac as well.

Will defragmentation harm my HDD?

You may not worry: OS X defrag will not harm your HDD. As you already know, disk defragmentation can greatly speed up the traditional hard drive. It’s because HDD fragments all the data and stores it in multiple locations. And it may take quite a time to read the file with its pieces situated in different places. The procedure for arranging the data is not harmful to your HDD and aims to boost the computer’s performance. And while it is not advisable to turn to such extreme measures, defragmenting a hard drive disk is a safe procedure if, of course, performed accurately.

Why you should never defrag Mac’s SSD

The process described above is applied only to the hard drives. If you have a newer Mac with SSD (solid-state drive), you should never defrag its data. SSDs operate in a different way to a traditional HDD and already have a built-in automatic maintenance process. Therefore, it is not necessary to defrag a solid-state drive to boost Mac’s performance.

Furthermore, all defragmentation attempts can even hurt your SSD. Flash memory used by a solid-state drive has a finite lifespan because of the limited write and read cycles. And disk defragmentation is a process of reading the data from one place and writing it to another. So if you defrag SSD, you will perform thousands of write operations each time on the drive. It can speed up the degradation of a solid-state drive and lead to its wear and tear. And that’s not what you need.

What are alternatives to defragment a Mac?

If your Mac is running slowly, you don’t necessarily need to defrag Mac hard drive. Sometimes it’s not your HDD that’s having problems. Therefore, try some alternative methods that may help you speed up the system without disk defrag on Mac.

Repairing Disk Permissions

“Try repairing your disk permissions” is a standard Mac troubleshooting tip. Permissions are file settings that affect the ability to read, write, and execute the file. And if they are no longer set correctly, software that uses the file may not work right.

Microsoft office 2019 for mac download crack. In OS X Yosemite or earlier, the file permissions on a startup disk can be repaired with the help of Disk Utility. Note that beginning from OS X EI Capitan, disk permissions are automatically protected, and there is no need to verify them with Disk Utility.

How do I repair my Mac startup disk?

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Here are the steps for optimizing your Mac:

1. Open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities).

2. Choose your startup disk.

3. Click the First Aid tab.

4. Click Verify Disk Permissions to check permissions.

5. Click Repair Disk Permissions to repair any inconsistent permissions.

If you don’t want to repair disk permissions manually, you can easily perform the action with the utility we mentioned above — CleanMyMac X. It has the Maintenance module that will help you optimize your Mac, including verifying startup disk and repairing disk permissions. Thus, you’ll ensure that your Mac’s operating system is functioning properly. You can download CleanMyMac here.

Therefore, before defragging your Mac, try to perform the Mac disk cleanup to increase the disk speed. It’s an easy and risk-free process that will not take more than a few minutes.

General speedup tips

Sometimes your Mac needs a good kick-start to run smoothly. Here are some tricks to speed up your computer.

How do I improve my Mac performance?

1. Update macOS software

Try to update your software to the latest versions as it performs better than the previous ones. Usually, system updates include performance and bug fixes that could be the reason for slowdowns.

2. Delete unnecessary files

Ensure that your Mac has at least 10 percent of total drive storage available at any time to perform background actions and provide enough space for temporary files, caches, and virtual memory. Once again, CleanMyMac X is a great solution for finding and removing useless and large files that take gigabytes of space on your Mac.

3. Stop programs from launching automatically

A large number of apps may launch simultaneously when you turn your Mac on. Http://steamidfinder.com. Some of them run in the background and are only visible in a menu bar, so it’s even hard to define if they’re actually running. You can stop them from loading by opening System Preferences, clicking on Users & Groups, and choosing Login Items. You’ll see a list of applications that launch during the startup. You can switch off the ones you don’t need by clicking the minus sign (-) button.

If you’re looking for some utilities that can help with all of that and even more, try Mac maintenance software like CleanMyMac X, It will optimize Mac performance safely and quickly.

We hope this article was helpful, and you found the answers to all your questions here. Thanks for reading and share this article if you liked it!

Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later* can save space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand. When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in iCloud automatically. Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you’ve used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.

* If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space.

Find out how much storage is available on your Mac

Mar 11, 2013 Defrag Mac is the process of keeping your Mac optimized. It helps to keep all fragmented data together in Mac hard drive and Mac OS X does not have any inbuilt tool. I have used Stellar Drive Defrag and found it as a great defragmentation tool. July 18, 2014 6:13 am. You may doubt that if defrag will harm your HDD. 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. Defrag mac free download - Disk Defrag, WinZip Mac, Avast Free Mac Security, and many more programs. Aug 17, 2020 Other Possible Methods to Defragment a Mac: To achieve more free space for your device and organize files on the hard drive are the only purpose of defragmenting the Mac. It is very clear from our above discussion; it is difficult to defrag Mac. We should give it a try if there is a simple way to do it. Utilization of an Easy & Powerful. To fix the issue, boot your Mac in a Single User Mode (Command-S shortcut) and do the following:Run the fsck -fy Terminal command and wait until it executes.; If the ‘File system was modified’ alert shows up, repeat the fsck -fy command until you see the ‘The volume X appears to be OK.’; Type in reboot to exit the Single User Mode.

Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail.

Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below. This button is available only in macOS Sierra or later.

Manage storage on your Mac

The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.

Store in iCloud

Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:

• Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
  
• Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
  
• Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.

Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.

Optimize Storage

Click the Optimize button, then choose from these options.

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• Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.
  
• Download only recent attachments. Mail automatically downloads only the attachments that you recently received. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.
  
• Don't automatically download attachments. Mail downloads an attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or save the attachment to your Mac.

Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.

Empty Trash Automatically

Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter helps you to identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.

You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.

Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.

Where to find the settings for each feature

The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.

• If you're using macOS Catalina, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. Then click Options next to iCloud Drive: Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders setting. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
  In macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
• In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
• In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.

• If you're using macOS Catalina, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
  In macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
• In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.

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Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.”

Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space

With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space:

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• Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
• Reminds you to delete used app installers
• Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
• Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed

How to free up storage space manually

Even without using the Optimized Storage features of Sierra or later, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:

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• Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
• Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
• Move files to an external storage device.
• Compress files.
• Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.

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Learn more

• The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Free, or Purgeable. Don't rely on these categories to understand how to free up storage space or how much storage space is available for your data.
• When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
• If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.