Rebuilding the desktop in OSX

[Ormly Gumfudgen]

Years ago I remember having to "rebuild the desktop" in OS9 which, I believe, rewrote the existing data on the harddrive and eliminated gaps of available space between the discs, thereby improved the computer's speed and performance.

But in the new OSX environment, is that now done automatically or is there some other term for it that I am unaware of?

Just curious how to clean up gaps of available space my iMac's HD may have for that improved speed and performance.

Thanks.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

There is no rebuilding of the Desktop, and there's really nothing similar to it in OS X -- that's not to say that OS X doesn't have maintenance routines to run to keep the system healthy... they're all just run automatically and transparently.

If you're talking about your OS X boot drive when you say "Just curious how to clean up gaps of available space," then you don't need to "optimize" or "defragment" anything. In fact, defragmenting your boot drive can sometimes work counter-productively, meaning it'll actually degrade performance rather than enhance it. The reason is because Mac OS X does automatic defragmentation of certain files and places on the hard drive in order to boost performance. It "knows" where files should be placed on the hard drive in order to maximize reading from and writing to them, and if you go and move those files around (using a defragmenter), then you're forcing OS X to take two steps back.

If your hard drive is healthy (checks out ok with DiskWarrior or Disk Utility), you have ample free space (25% to be safe), and your OS X installation is up-to-date, then the performance you experience is pretty much the maximum performance you'll be able to get.

In lieu of trying to optimize your system, I suggest maxing out the RAM and think about getting a faster, larger hard drive in order to really be able to perceive a difference. There's no better way to increase performance in every aspect than adding RAM -- and adding the maximum amount your computer can hold.

 

[Ormly Gumfudgen]

There is no rebuilding of the Desktop, and there's really nothing similar to it in OS X -- that's not to say that OS X doesn't have maintenance routines to run to keep the system healthy... they're all just run automatically and transparently.

If your hard drive is healthy (checks out ok with DiskWarrior or Disk Utility), you have ample free space (25% to be safe), and your OS X installation is up-to-date, then the performance you experience is pretty much the maximum performance you'll be able to get.

Thanks for your detailed answer, EDCC. I haven't done anything to my Mac in any way so it's currently running as stock and problem-free today as it did on day one.

Right now my HD space is at about 50% capacity, but I recently freed up about 120 gigs of data (music files) so naturally my thoughts turned to cleaning up those gaps to ensure maximum performance.

Glad to know my iMac is working hard to do that for me (which is what I suspected all along) so I don't have to. Thanks again for your help. I do appreciate it.

 

[Randy Singer]

Years ago I remember having to "rebuild the desktop" in OS9

That is done automatically under OS X. See:
http://www.macattorney.com/tutorial.html
Item #41
(This site is for OS X 10.2, and is now mostly out of date. I haven't heard anyone complain of a problem with generic icons under OS X in years.)

which, I believe, rewrote the existing data on the harddrive and eliminated gaps of available space between the discs, thereby improved the computer's speed and performance.

No, I believe you are referring to defragmenting one's hard drive, not rebuilding one's desktop.

But in the new OSX environment, is that now done automatically or is there some other term for it that I am unaware of?

Just curious how to clean up gaps of available space my iMac's HD may have for that improved speed and performance.

To a certain extent hard drive defragmentation is taken care of automatically under OS X, and most users don't even have to think about it.

Much more information here:

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
Especially item #8 and Note #1