To all music producers using Mac OS X. Here are some maintenance tips.... myth: Mac does not need to be defragmented because it defragments itself. fact: Macs defragment files smaller than 20mb themselves. If you have a disk full of samples and projects with a lot of audio files, they get fragmented. solution: TechTool Pro, iDefrag ..etc. defragment your drives from time to time, especially if you deal with big files. Load times for big sample libraries and projects WILL improve. other things you can do to keep disk performance on top: Keep at least 20% of your hard drive EMPTY. if you can, partition or shave off the last 30% of the drive and use it as a temporary place where you put trash > the last 30% of the hard drive is the slowest. and by the slowest i mean about 40% slower than first 30% of the drive. myth: (Un)installing applications on Mac is just a matter of drag & drop. fact: Removing an application by dropping it to the trash will remove the app, but the majority of feces that app has left behind will remain on the disk, scatter over many folders. solution: DO NOT install things you dont need. This is the only real solution to the problem. partial solution: -use something like AppCleaner that searches for extra files. -seek out for leftovers via terminal -routinely check /lib/preferences and app support. (both volume and user folders, applications tend to spread wherever they wish) myth: OS X system doesnt get cluttered. fact: It does. solution: Reformat and reinstall your system from time to time. other performance tips: - download Onyx and run maintenance script once a month - set it to rebuild databases and clear caches.. actually, check out everything on the list including repair permissions. Repair permissions every once in a while. - if you connect to internet with the OS your DAW is on, block Safari top sites and thumb build up. Reset safari every now and then. even if you are as cautious as ever, chances are you will start noticing performance drops and anomalies. there is nothing you can do actually, reformat and rebuild your system from scratch. i personally have a partition with OS and only Logic Pro and audio apps installed. I do regular updates but i dont update airport utility, java or crap like that, only things relevant for proapps. i have kept system clean and safe for a year and it started acting wierd.. i have all my applications on an external drive as well as .plist preference files for authorisations (most of them), so i trained myself so i can have my system up and running in 2 hours from scratch. having nothing but audio makes it also alot easier to rebuild and have it running again. i just did that and a project that was giving me headaches because of overloads just played through without one overload. success!
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 04:30:50 +0000
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