On Dec 1, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Tina K. wrote: >> >> Applejack (like Diskwarrior) is a 'use when it's broken' thing, not a >> maintenance thing...OS X is largely maintenance-free. > > I mainly do that to clean caches and swap, and to check prefs. Is running > disk repair and permission repair as well harmful to the system?
Well, I agree with John Gruber, Repair Permissions is voodoo. It's a 10.2 fix for a largely 10.1.5 problem; VERY occasionally it will fix a problem, but those problems ONLY occur immediately after a system update <http://daringfireball.net/2006/04/repair_permissions_voodoo> If you find issues every time you run disk repair, something's broken with your disk. > But then I used to wait until I had a problem to run DW, now I run it about > every three months to try and keep the directory from getting corrupted. This is exactly my point. The directory shouldn't be GETTING corrupted. OSX'es file system is robust and self-repairing. I end up using DiskWarrior a handful of times a year, on all the Macs I support, and in EVERY CASE where I've had to use it more than once in a short time (weeks) on a computer the hard drive subsequently failed. As I said, I treat my macs like dirt: I never do ANY maintenance on them at all, and I just don't have these kinds of problems. I also religiously maintain backups, multiple backups for important things (like my pictures, home movies, etc...the stiuff that would be impossible to replace), so if something breaks it's just a matter of nuke&pave and restore my stuff. I've only ever had to do this ONCE for non-hardware failure related problems...the ONE time I ran DiskWarrior on a perfectly good working directory. To illustrate using the Standard LEM Car Analogy, what you're doing is the equivalent of changing the oil, rotating your tires, cleaning your spark plugs, adjusting your valves and removing and checking your head gaskets on the car every time you fill up with gas, because you're burning oil and the transmission makes a funny noise in third gear. Apple did NOT contract with Lucas to make computers, and OS X was NOT designed by the engineers at Lancia. Both hardware and software is much, much more robust than your "maintenance" routine implies. If you're having these sorts of problems on a continual basis, something is WRONG with the hardware or your install of OS X, it's not "just the way it is." Back up your stuff, wipe and re-install OS X, update it, and install your programs back from the source (or the updated versions from the source) and then restore your data. Create another user account, for testing purposes and do not use it for anything but testing. Then watch the console log like a hawk, and as/if problems arise, the first step is to log in as the test user and see if you can re-create the problem. If you can, then the problem lies somewhere in the System or Applications realm. If not is specific to your user account and the problem lies somewhere in your user's files, prefs, settings, etc. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
