Re: Hard Drive Question

Do I format my HD to Journaled or Not Journaled?

Tom

Hi Tom,

I always format my 'boot drive' as Journaled.

My media drives non-journaled.

--ken

Hi Tom
I format all drives as macOS Journaled. Here's why.
Journaled means that the OS writes small data log files before taking any action on that file. So say you are modifying a file and you experience a power outage, crash etc…. By journalling a file was written about the state of the file prior to the modification starting so you can recover to the previous state. It is a simple safeguard.
There is a slight penalty, very slight in Write performance for your hard drive. This is mostly negated so long as you have sufficient RAM. If you don't have sufficient RAM, IMHO, it is even more important to have it on, as the OS has to shuffle files from RAM to hdd and this can lead to corrupted files. HFS is prone to occasional corruption of modifying files so it is worth the speed penalty to me. YMMV

As Ken said, you should definitely use Journaled for your boot drive, for additional drives, "to each their own said the old lady as she kissed the cow". Oh my ;-)

Hope this helps, Greg

Greg,
Thanks for the info. I believe it is Journaled. It's still at the shop. If by chance it is not journaled can I do it after programs were loaded? As far as RAM goes, this machine came with plenty of RAM and I bought a few more GBs to add to it.

Tom

Tom George Wrote:
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….... If by chance it is not journaled can I do it after programs were loaded?….

> Tom

No, unless you move the files off, reformat, and then drag them back.

Cheers
Alexander