Of course, you can always use the poor-man's defragmenter and just erase your songs and put them all back on once and a while. Though, your iPod drive essentilly won't ever get fragmented if you just leave the songs on there. Deleting and creating new files creates the fragmentation problem. I would guess lots of iPod users don't HAVE fragmentation issues because they just leave all their music on there.
I have used Executive Software's Diskeeper to defrag my 30GB iPod 5G. At about 66% capacity, it took like 2 hours to it. All in all, I'm not sure I could tell a difference, so it probably wasn't worth the time.
I don't get why this is news.I've been defragging my iPod in windows for 3 years now. Its just somthing that should be done to all HD's...the iPod is no different.
disk warrior works in tiger. version 3.0.3 works just fine, used it the other day and everything is working just peachy. I wish people would do a little more research before they post their BS.
For those who say that it's not important to defrag your drive, create a music video with a bitrate of 512kbps for the video and 160kbps for the audio. If your drive is badly fragmented, you'll generally get pausing during playback. Since the iPod lets you queue up your Music Videos as audio tracks, play it under the Music menu and listen to it pause periodically. When yours does that, you'll want to Restore and then Update your iPod library.
What's really needed is an answer that isn't biased towards either side, and covers both sides with equal thought.To be honest, it all depends on your style of adding music to your iPod, and how much space is used up on the iPod, to tell whether it'd make a difference, or whether it'd be hazardous. If you add a couple songs at a time, (adding songs to your iPod after you download them), then there is a really good chance that defragging your iPod will make a difference. If you are more of the "Add all your songs at once and never touch iTunes again" types, you most likely will not find any improvement, and won't need to worry. For those who are the first type, I wouldn't suggest defragging, really, but there are times where it might not be as dangerous as everyone leads you to believe. As stated, the iPods have small drives that hold lots of information. They will get very hot very quickly. Therefore, if you have roughly 2gb or less used on your iPod, a defrag will be much less hazardous then if you had say 20gb. At which point, if you have 20gb of slow-loading songs, I would highly suggest to clear your iPod completely, and resync. Few mass transfers make for better playing then many small transfers. Another thing to take into consideration is to periodically restart your iPod (hold center + menu) as this will clear your cache and help it run a little bit smoother. I hope this helps everyone out and puts an end to a lot of the questions going around.
My Mac formatted iPod was cutting out on certain tracks that seemed to play OK on my iMac - so I was pretty sure there was some damage.I add my music bit by bit, now on the iPod after a big rush when I first got it.I used DiskWarrior and it came up with a surprising amount of directory fragmentation (75%) which is larger than any HD I've looked at. DW did its stuff in less than 5 minutes, and fixed a couple of faults. I then tried to defrag using iDefrag - the drive was a bit fragmented but not ridiculously so.iDefrag failed about 2/3 through saying it couldn't move certain files - I assume there's some underlying fault on a part of the drive.So I did a full restore, interestingly this still had quite bad directory and file fragmentation - no better than before. So a full restore doesn't get rid of fragmentation although it seemed to concentrate it in two clear bands.My iPod didn't seem to get too hot either.Result - no skipping tracks and quicker menu access (where the caching can't help), so I would say worthwhile if you're seeing problems but probably not worth doing for the sake of it.
flyingavatarNov 17, 2005
Of course, you can always use the poor-man's defragmenter and just erase your songs and put them all back on once and a while. Though, your iPod drive essentilly won't ever get fragmented if you just leave the songs on there. Deleting and creating new files creates the fragmentation problem. I would guess lots of iPod users don't HAVE fragmentation issues because they just leave all their music on there.
kielewyoteNov 17, 2005
Defragging a hard drive is NOT news. No digg.
nagoo81Nov 17, 2005
I have used Executive Software's Diskeeper to defrag my 30GB iPod 5G. At about 66% capacity, it took like 2 hours to it. All in all, I'm not sure I could tell a difference, so it probably wasn't worth the time.
sweetsgreenNov 17, 2005
I don't get why this is news.I've been defragging my iPod in windows for 3 years now. Its just somthing that should be done to all HD's...the iPod is no different.
cptmorganNov 17, 2005
disk warrior works in tiger. version 3.0.3 works just fine, used it the other day and everything is working just peachy. I wish people would do a little more research before they post their BS.
innerturbulenceJul 17, 2006
For those who say that it's not important to defrag your drive, create a music video with a bitrate of 512kbps for the video and 160kbps for the audio. If your drive is badly fragmented, you'll generally get pausing during playback. Since the iPod lets you queue up your Music Videos as audio tracks, play it under the Music menu and listen to it pause periodically. When yours does that, you'll want to Restore and then Update your iPod library.
Closed AccountMar 8, 2007
In Soviet Russia...
poeticdeviceApr 21, 2007
What's really needed is an answer that isn't biased towards either side, and covers both sides with equal thought.To be honest, it all depends on your style of adding music to your iPod, and how much space is used up on the iPod, to tell whether it'd make a difference, or whether it'd be hazardous. If you add a couple songs at a time, (adding songs to your iPod after you download them), then there is a really good chance that defragging your iPod will make a difference. If you are more of the "Add all your songs at once and never touch iTunes again" types, you most likely will not find any improvement, and won't need to worry. For those who are the first type, I wouldn't suggest defragging, really, but there are times where it might not be as dangerous as everyone leads you to believe. As stated, the iPods have small drives that hold lots of information. They will get very hot very quickly. Therefore, if you have roughly 2gb or less used on your iPod, a defrag will be much less hazardous then if you had say 20gb. At which point, if you have 20gb of slow-loading songs, I would highly suggest to clear your iPod completely, and resync. Few mass transfers make for better playing then many small transfers. Another thing to take into consideration is to periodically restart your iPod (hold center + menu) as this will clear your cache and help it run a little bit smoother. I hope this helps everyone out and puts an end to a lot of the questions going around.
poeticdeviceApr 21, 2007
iPod Defrags you!
knippySep 28, 2007
Probably could, but the question is, why should I if I don't have to?
Closed AccountNov 24, 2008
Do you know what the reply link is for?
Closed AccountApr 6, 2009
Why in the hell would a defrag alter the behavior of the iPod? You claim that the disk will just spin constantly, forever after?FUD or stupidity?
Closed AccountApr 6, 2009
I'll bet you cook things meant for 20mins @ 400?, for 10mins @ 800?, don't you? You are so much smarter than everybody here! Clever, you!
mackenaiFeb 24, 2010
My Mac formatted iPod was cutting out on certain tracks that seemed to play OK on my iMac - so I was pretty sure there was some damage.I add my music bit by bit, now on the iPod after a big rush when I first got it.I used DiskWarrior and it came up with a surprising amount of directory fragmentation (75%) which is larger than any HD I've looked at. DW did its stuff in less than 5 minutes, and fixed a couple of faults. I then tried to defrag using iDefrag - the drive was a bit fragmented but not ridiculously so.iDefrag failed about 2/3 through saying it couldn't move certain files - I assume there's some underlying fault on a part of the drive.So I did a full restore, interestingly this still had quite bad directory and file fragmentation - no better than before. So a full restore doesn't get rid of fragmentation although it seemed to concentrate it in two clear bands.My iPod didn't seem to get too hot either.Result - no skipping tracks and quicker menu access (where the caching can't help), so I would say worthwhile if you're seeing problems but probably not worth doing for the sake of it.