Optimizing Volume after Installation...

The "optimizing" process you are talking about is more correctly called "pre-binding." This is a Unix process for accessing every application on your system, determining what system resources (files, functions, etc.) will be needed by that application and recording the results. Without pre-binding that process has to be repeated for each given app, every time that app is launched. Pre-binding does not speed up an application's execution, but it very definitely improves the launch time.

The length of time that pre-binding takes is a function of
  • The number of applications installed on your system
  • The speed of your processor
  • The speed of your hard drive
  • and probably to a lessor extent the degree of directory and file fragmentation on your drive.

It is possible for the installer to pre-bind only a single application which does not take too long, but if anything was changed or added in the OS itself, it is necessary to pre-bind the entire system once again to be certain all the references are correct.
 
Disk optimization is a process in which the physical locations of files on a volume are "streamlined." Files and metadata are re-arranged in order to improve data access times and minimize time moving a hard drive's head.
 
bobw, I think he's talking about the "Optimizing volume" process that takes place after installing a .pkg with Apple's Installer. That would be the pre-binding process that sometimes takes an upward of 20 minutes if you've got a lot of files on your hard drive.

Same name, yes, but different.
 
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