How do I keeping my Mac G5 Quad running smoothly

[sai_digitalle]

What's up guys? I'm a newbie to the Macmizzle life. I'm buying a G5 moving from my G4 which i only owned for a year. How do I keep it running smoothly? I know on a PC after I install new programs, i can run defrags, disck clean-ups etc..

But on a Mac, how do i go about doing these things? Also, on my primary hard drive, how should I set it up for optimum performance and speed? I know on a pc, it's good to set up virtual memory partition on a seperate drive because it helps with performance.

As I said before, my G5 Quad is coming in on this monday (nov 21). I plan to purchase an additional internal hard drive (300 GB Maxtor), 8 GB's of RAM, and I have 2 firewire external drives (Lacie & Acomdata), and an external DVD-R drive (Lacie).

I want my system to run tip top. What periodic steps should i take, and what programs do you guys recommend?

Thanks a million ~ Sai

 

[iHateWindows]

What's up guys? I'm a newbie to the Macmizzle life. I'm buying a G5 moving from my G4 which i only owned for a year. How do I keep it running smoothly? I know on a PC after I install new programs, i can run defrags, disck clean-ups etc..

But on a Mac, how do i go about doing these things? Also, on my primary hard drive, how should I set it up for optimum performance and speed? I know on a pc, it's good to set up virtual memory partition on a seperate drive because it helps with performance.

As I said before, my G5 Quad is coming in on this monday (nov 21). I plan to purchase an additional internal hard drive (300 GB Maxtor), 8 GB's of RAM, and I have 2 firewire external drives (Lacie & Acomdata), and an external DVD-R drive (Lacie).

I want my system to run tip top. What periodic steps should i take, and what programs do you guys recommend?

Thanks a million ~ Sai

When your Mac sleeps, it automatically defrags itself once in a while. The best utillity I recommend is OnyX. Use it about once a month.

 

[gwuMACaddict]

it'll run fine by itself...

 

[iHateWindows]

it'll run fine by itself...

But still, I highly recommend OnyX.

 

[Heb1228]

But still, I highly recommend OnyX.

Its a decent utility, but it doesn't do anything important. Your Mac will run fine on its own. You will probably want to repair permissions every other month or so or after large software installations. But it only takes like 45 to 90 seconds. Nothing big at all. You're not using a PC anymore, routine maintenance is a thing of the past.

Want to keep your new Quad running well? Don't dump water into it while its on.

 

[SummerBreeze]

Macmizzle isn't a word I've heard before, but it sounds rather fun!

OS X is easier to maintain than Windows XP. Like others have said, you can defrag every once in awhile (but it's not really necessary, especially on such a large hard drive), and repair permissions using the disk utility after you install new programs. Other than that, there's not too much you need to do. Just enjoy your new computer!

 

[Coheebuzz]

Hey thats not fair! Just on the Macmizzle life and you get to play with the hot stuff. The only advice i'll give you is to forget about onyx and repairing permissions and protect your Quad with a ups/power line conditioner. And make sure its a good one too!

 

[FireArse]

Want to keep your new Quad running well? Don't dump water into it while its on.

Personally - I wouldn't dump water or anything else on my Dual G5 whether it's on or off!!

 

[wPod]

I want my system to run tip top. What periodic steps should i take, and what programs do you guys recommend?

Thanks a million ~ Sai

i would highly recommend you sending the computer to me. i will watch it and keep an eye on it for you to make sure nothing bad happens to it! and then in a few months when the new intel macs come out, i will send it back in tip top shape, having watched it the whole time to make sure it was ok!

but if you dont want to do that, then just repairing the permissions every once in a while is good. if you are dealing with really really big files (multi-gig) and moving them around a lot, then i would recommend a good defrag once a month or so. but generally dealing in normal-size files, i wouldnt really worry to much about anything. especially with all the power of a quad G5 and 8GB of ram!

 

[Will Cheyney]

If your wondering what 'repairing permissions' means, read below:

Testing and repairing disk permissions

User permissions associated with files, folders, or applications can become damaged and prevent a file or application from opening. Permissions problems can also cause your computer to run slowly.

Using Disk Utility, you may be able to fix these permissions problems.

You can only verify or repair permissions on a disk with Mac OS X installed.


1. In Disk Utility, select the disk in the list.
2. Click First Aid.
3. Click Verify Disk Permissions to test permissions or Repair Disk Permissions to test and repair permissions.


Repairing permissions may also be recommended after updating the system or installing new software.