I wanted to share a few things I do for OS X maintenance in order to optimize, clean and speed up my Mac.
Remember, whenever system maintenance is being done there is a chance that something could go horribly wrong! I am only sharing what works for me. Proceed with care, stay safe and always have up to date backups!
Never do anything you’re not sure of!
1. Maintaining the OS X File System via Disk Utility
Disc Utility is a tool with many uses that comes with OS X. You will find it in the Applications/Utilities folder.
There are three functions in Disk Utility I normally use:
- Repair Disk
- Repair Disk Permissions
- Erase Free Space
The repair disk function is useful for fixing common file system issues. This includes things like corrupt directory structures and files left in unknown state because of crashes, forced restarts or forced application quits. To only identify if you have any issues, run “Verify Disk” first.
Repair Disk Permissions
I try to do this every couple of months. It’s not the end-of-all-problems as some seem to think, but it still pays off to keep your file permissions in check. To only identify issues without making any repairs, run “Verify Disk Permissions”.
Erase Free Space
This is a little feature in disk utility that many people don’t know of. It is meant for rewriting the free space on your hard drive in order to improve security. This is because deleted files don’t actually get properly deleted until the physical part of the disc where they are located is rewritten.
But I use it for different reasons.
What most people don’t know is that this rewriting process of free space can actually increase the available disk space on your drive. I have yet failed to find an exact explanation for why this is. I am not an expert but I’m guessing that over time your hard drive becomes fragmented and more inefficient, and erasing the free space fixes that issue (at least partly).
In any case, the first time I erased free space… 11 GB of more free space appeared on my 750 GB hard drive! Not bad huh? Since then I have erased free space every few months and it always gives me a few extra GB of free space.
2. Obiding The 15% Rule
For good performance, it is recommended to keep 15% of free space on your system hard drive at all times.
(If you look carefully at the picture in the previous chapter of this post, you can see that I failed).
OS X needs the hard drive space for it’s built in defragmentation process and a swap space for managing memory use, among other things.
Individual applications also use disk space for temporary use. Audio, graphics and video applications can be especially demanding in this respect.
If your hard drive becomes too full, it causes your computer to slow down and freeze up. OS X becomes unable to run it’s automatic system maintenance processes properly.
Always having a good amount of free space on your drive also provides good buffer space for when you have to download or handle very large files temporarily.
Are you, like me, finding it hard to keep 15% free? You should, like me, probably think about archiving some of your data. Doing a proper cleanup (more on this later) can also help.
3. Cleaning Startup Items
Startup items are applications that launch automatically when your Mac boots up. A lot of software you install tend to sneak their own processes into your startup items. Often times these processes can be absolutely unnecessary.
These unnecessary startup items are eating up your computer’s resources. You should periodically check and clean up your startup items list.
You will find startup items at:
System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Items.
Note that in order to remove startup items, you need to click the little minus button below the list. The little checkboxes are for hiding startup items (they will still run).
Be careful not to remove stuff you might actually need. If you’re not sure of what something is, I advice you to leave it be and go do some research (Google is your friend there).
4. Getting Rid of Junk: Clean My Mac 2
I’ve been using this brilliant piece of software for a couple of years now and grown extremely fond of it. Clean My Mac 2 by MacPaw is a tool for scanning your computer for all sorts of crap and then getting rid of it.
Getting rid of junk is not only about the files you create or download. Many kids of supporting files are constantly being created by different applications. Ultimately these become useless and can be safely removed.
This not only frees up space on the hard drive, but also makes the system faster and more efficient.
Clean My Mac 2 consists of several cleanup modules, each performing different tasks:
- Automatic Cleanup (runs all cleanup modules, suggests areas of improvement and let’s you confirm before cleanup)
- System Cleanup (different cache & log files, broken preferences & login items, universal binaries, development junk, unnecessary language files, etc)
- Large & Old Files (identifies the space hogs and large files you haven’t used in a while on your drive)
- iPhoto Cleanup (for removing unnecessary photo versions, includes a preview function)
- Trash Cleanup (knows how to remove locked files too)
- Uninstaller (for correct removal of applications and all associated files)
- Extensions Manager (great for reming audio plugins)
- Eraser (for safe removal of data)
5. Dealing With Duplicates: Gemini
MacPaw are one of my favorite software companies. Besides Clean My Mac, they have also created an application called Gemini. Gemini is a godsend for me.
I always end up with lots of duplicate files on my hard drive. Gemini solves this problem in a very sleek way. It searches your hard drive (or the folders you choose) and uses an intelligent process to identify files that are potential duplicates. It then lets you look at the list of files and make the decisions.
Gemini let’s you preview files straight from the interface. It shows exactly where the different files are located and lets you jump to look at them in Finder which is very helpful.
My duplicate problem gets especially bad with iTunes. Over time the iTunes library becomes riddled with differently named versions of the same tracks. What is cool with Gemini is once I have my list of potential duplicates, I can use the preview function and listen to the files straight from Gemini. When it comes the time to remove duplicates, Gemini actually launches iTunes to do it properly (without me having to do a thing). Very cool.
6. Cleaning the Desktop
It’s pretty stupid, but having your desktop cluttered with files actually slows your Mac down. This is because each icon takes up some RAM.
The solution is easy: Clean it up and don’t use the desktop for storing files. Use a different folder. I have created a folder called “Inbox” where most of the temporary file traffic takes place.
7. Software Updates
It’s good to keep your software up to date. However, I have grown wary when it comes to upgrading the operating system. It’s always a risk if you are relying on your computer to get important work done. When new operating systems are released, it’s quite normal to have all kinds of compatibility issues with 3rd party software and hardware.
Often times these issues are addressed shortly after big updates. But here’s the thing: even a week can be a very long time to wait for an update if you need to get some work done. Also, if you’re using any older hardware/software that isn’t being supported anymore by the devs, you could be screwed. I have had enough first hand experience of these problems in the past. I prefer not to risk it anymore.
So when I have a setup that works well, I try to stick to it for as long as I can. At the time of writing this (late 2014) Mac OS X Yosemite is just coming out, but I am still running Mountain Lion from a few years back (I decided to skip OS X Mavericks completely). And I will be for as long as I’m forced to upgrade for one reason or the other.
It is important however to make sure that whatever your operating system is, it’s always up to date when it comes to security and performance updates. The same obviously goes for the other software on your computer.
8. Backing Up
Make sure you have a proper backup strategy in place. Here are my recommendations:
- Automate your backups.
- Don’t rely on a single backup.
- Don’t rely on a single location for your backups.
- Make sure you have access to proper file history (Apple’s Time Machine is great for this).
- Have the ability to restore your operating system quickly.
- Have proper archives (archives and backups are different)
- Verify that your backups are actually working.
Backblaze – affordable cloud backups.
Carbon Copy Cloner – maintains a bootable clone of my drive.
For more detailed information on backing up, here are a couple of articles I’ve written before:
7 Deadly Data Backup Mistakes
My Easy Automated Backup Strategy
9. Using the Computer
Other than Os X maintenance, you should also pay attention to how you actually use the computer in order to keep it running optimally. Here are a few tips:
- Reboot regularly.
- Properly quit applications you’re not using (don’t just close the windows).
- Close unnecessary browser tabs (these take up RAM, too).
- Turn off Bluetooth if you’re not using it.
- Use Activity Monitor (in Applications/Utilities) to find out about your CPU and RAM hogs.
- Bypass or remove unused audio plugins in your music projects. They are applications, too.
- Turn on firewall to help prevent intruders (System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Firewall)
- Make sure cooling works properly and the fans are getting a good airflow (small laptop fans are also prone to get clogged up with dust over time).
Taken from here - http://www.resoundsound.com/speed-up-mac-os-x/
