Reformatting Mac OSX: Mainly a Question on FCS

[ElCapichan]

I've had my Mac for about 6 months now, and have been doing a ton of video editing, photo editing, and other stuff on it as well. I come from a PC background where it is a good idea to reformat every 6 months or so, or at least thats what I have heard/bee told and experience has taught me. I don't know if the same is to be said with Mac OSX, but I have noticed a bit of slowdown on my Mac in recent times, probably due the large amount of photos I have on it and all the video I have been editing.

Anyways, I plan to reformat this weekend. I know photoshop has a deactivate option, which I suppose isn't necessary when reinstalling on the same system, but I just want to make sure that FCS will be as problem free. As far as I can tell, it should be as problem free, but seeing as how much the program cost, I just want to make sure I don't have to do any special deactivation, etc. before reformatting and reinstalling.

And before Tommy comes in here going "Wah wah wah, its a mac and is super easy to do this and that and you are teh noob for asking. Wah wah wah." It is always better to error on the side of caution. I know reformatting will be easy, though I would like to know if it is necessary, but I just want to be safe.

[bbobb]

The way Mac OS's file system works you really shouldn't need to reformat.

[Mykozo]

I hope you aren't putting your media on your system drive, especially video media.

Also, are you repairing your permissions regularly?

I have also heard that some Mac system maintenance occurs in the wee hours of the morning, and that it's advisable to leave the computer on all night on occasion. Is this true?

[AstroBlue]

It is always better to error on the side of caution.

Err on the side of caution.

Why shouldn't I put my photos and music on the system drive? It's kind of hard not to when you have a MacBook.

[B-Ri]

he means in terms of editing video footage on the same drive as the programs you run it on.

[Mykozo]

Photos and music aren't so bad, although a "real" graphic design rig will have it's scratch drive set to something that is not the system drive. Video editing apps take mounds of system resources, and need dedicated media drives, or you are gonna take a big performance hit.

[ElCapichan]

Video is all done on a scratch drive. I try to keep as many of my photos on a separate drive or 2, but I like to have what I am working on on the actual drive so I can work on them at school. I'm just curious, cause I have noticed a little bit of slow down, mainly when I am working with Photoshop and working with several large raw/psd files. Again, I am just coming from the PC realm where is is customary to reformat every 6 months or so. Another question, would there be any reason not to reformat, other than having to reinstall/delete certain aps?

[Opaque]

I'I come from a PC background where it is a good idea to reformat every 6 months or so, or at least thats what I have heard/bee told and experience has taught me.

What?

Do you buy a new car every six months because you're incapable of washing the old one?

[ElCapichan]

What?

Do you buy a new car every six months because you're incapable of washing the old one?

Yes actually.

[bbobb]

Also, are you repairing your permissions regularly?

I have also heard that some Mac system maintenance occurs in the wee hours of the morning, and that it's advisable to leave the computer on all night on occasion. Is this true?

What Myk said is all that you really need to do, everything else should be automated by OSX.

I do believe that they system maitenance is set up to run in the wee hours of the morning, so yeah, leaving it on overnight sporatically is a good idea.

Get the hell out of the PC mindset, it's outright stupid to be reformating a mac unless your harddrive is damaged.