User level: Level 1 (5 points)How do I optimize my 2024 iMac' disk on my desktop computer please?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: How yo Optimize?
Posted on Oct 8, 2026 1:20 PM
User level: Level 9 (73,779 points)Oct 11, 2026 5:04 PM in response to claus237
There's no such thing as an SSD hard drive. There are solid state SSDs, and there are spinning mechanical hard drives.
SSDs do not in any way need to be optimized. There is no mechanical arm flitting around the drive surface looking for the next sectors/blocks of data to read, or moving to free space to write.
SSDs are instantaneous. They just go to the next sector/block of the drive no matter where it is in the same amount of time.
User level: Level 9 (73,779 points)Oct 8, 2026 1:23 PM in response to echadd
You don't. SSDs don't need to be optimized.
There are no heads moving from one area of the drive to another to read or write data. It doesn't matter how broken up the data for any given file is on an SSD. Any read jumps to the next piece of data just as fast as if it were contiguous. Any write does the same. There is no mechanical "search" movement.
User level: Level 10 (85,896 points)Oct 10, 2026 8:51 AM in response to echadd
The most important point is DO NOT use any aftermarket apps that claim to clean, optimize, organize, tune up, or otherwise nursemaid your Mac. They are all poison to Mac performance. Same with anti-virus apps and client-side VPNs/†
One "cleaner" in its early versions was so poorly written that it deleted critical Mac system files. Useless Mac if you did not have a full backup.
I saw reliable drive performance data posted here that showed another such "app" slowed disk access by 30%. Removing the offensive app restored proper drive performance.
VPNs seem to be the New Curse on the Block. They are causing a litanty of issues with Apple devices
† — "client-side" VPNs are those NOT issued to you by an employer to allow remote access to company servers. They are instead the ones over-hyped in adverts using fear marketing.
User level: Level 9 (55,707 points)Oct 10, 2026 5:47 PM in response to echadd
If you are running low on space on your iMac, one possibility might be to get an external hard drive or SSD and then move your Music, TV, and/or Photos libraries there. (You would need to back up not just the iMac, but that external drive.).
Another option: If you are using iCloud Photos, you can turn on "Optimize Mac Storage".
I would advise against it. Assuming that you have enough space to "Download Originals to this Mac", using it means that when you back up your Mac, your backups will contain full-size copies of your photos and videos.
User level: Level 10 (162,806 points)Oct 8, 2026 5:18 PM in response to echadd
Are you asking about optimizing storage space perhaps?
User level: Level 2 (256 points)Oct 11, 2026 4:01 PM in response to echadd
A bit of a shame, that the Text is "re-Titled by the Moderator"
Is it necessary, to optimized, "A New 2024 iMac"
Maybe, it's me who's misinterpreting the question?
Those of us with old Mac Hardware from 2010- 2022,we should rather ask how we "optimized" our Vintage Macs!
I think I know the answer to that!
A New 2024 iMac with SSD Harddrive!
What is there to be optimized.......................
User level: Level 2 (256 points)Oct 11, 2026 5:13 PM in response to Kurt Lang
That's what I mean, but perhaps poorly worded!
User level: Level 9 (73,779 points)Oct 11, 2026 5:23 PM in response to claus237
Ah! Yes, I read your last two sentences the other way. You were stating "What is there to be optimized........" as, "There's nothing to do."
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256372715