Need a free defragger for Mac

Hi, I recently got a Macbook pro.
Well...I guess it isn't really recent. Several months old, at least, and one hard drive replacement done.

So the issue is, I need a good, free defragger for OSX. I've heard about iDefrag and StellarDefrag, but I really would prefer not to shell out $20+ for a defragger since I'm on a bit of a tight budget.
I've also heard of the Carbon Copy cloner/Bootable disk copy method, which is free but complex and I don't want to risk ruining my Mac OSX for the 8th time (yes, it killed itself 7 times before I got a new HDD).

The main reason I want this is that I would like to use Bootcamp again, and I have high suspicions that since I didn't defrag before the first time I partitioned using Bootcamp, it was placed oddly on the hard drive or damaged something (I had no problems with OSX until I installed Windows, and ironically, Windows had no problems during my constant Mac breakdowns). I understand OSX automatically defrags files under 20MB, but I work with large files (3D modeler and video editor here).

The other issue is that I have an HFS+ external which I use for both operating systems, thanks to Seagate's HFS+ driver for Windows. As Windows is notorious for needing to be defragged...well, let's just say the external's a bit of a mess. Here's a picture from the demo version of StellarDefrag, which can't do anything until you buy it. Since it is HFS+, I would assume it's more appropriate to defrag it using a Mac defragger.

Erm...sorry for the fact I took that with a camera? Wasn't really thinking at the time; should have screenshot-ed it.

Any ideas? I would appreciate it!

In theory, you don't need to defrag drives in a Mac.  This article provides a decent explanation why:

 

http://macs.about.com/od/faq1/f/defrag.htm

Hi there, smax013. Thanks for the reply. However, I have seen that article many times, as I very thoroughly searched for a free defragger prior to posting here. Most of the pages and threads I found in my search linked to that article or similar articles. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be a solution to my problem.

 

In theory, yes, Macs do not have to be manually defragged. However, this does not seem to work perfectly in reality. My Macbook does indeed do a good job of defragging itself, but there are a few files stuck at the opposite end of the disk. For example, this one here. Personally, I don't want to run the risk of badly partitioning my HDD again when I use Bootcamp. There are also quite a few fragments in the more optimized portion of the disk.

 

Even if the files I have mentioned are negligible in terms of the Bootcamp partitioning process, my Seagate Backup drive, which is an HTC+ (Mac OSX Journaled) drive, is horribly fragmented and I would very much like to clean it up.

I am not aware of any good free ones. Heck, I am not really all that familiar with the paid versions since I have never defragged any of my Mac drives. I do have ProSoft's Drive Genius and Micromat's Techtool Pro, but have never used either's defragging/optimization functions.

I too am unaware of any free defrag/optimization tools for Mac. In fact in keeping with price points for Apple products most of them are more pricey than comparable Windows tools. Realize you are on a budget but here is a nice write up on how to defrag/optimize on a Mac.

How do I defragment and optimize files on my hard drive?

I've used  a multi-tool maintenance software, Onyx, on several Macs I've been happy to own. It's a frrebie offered by Titanium Software, I have the version for Snow Leopard on my fairly new Mac Book. It does many tasks and it may not be everything you're looking for but you may find it useful. Look up Onyx on Mac Update site.

I've used  a multi-tool maintenance software, Onyx, on several Macs I've been happy to own. It's a frrebie offered by Titanium Software, I have the version for Snow Leopard on my fairly new Mac Book. It does many tasks and it may not be everything you're looking for but you may find it useful. Look up Onyx on Mac Update site.

 

To my knowledge, Onyx does not defrag or optimize disks.  It will do a lot of other Mac "maintenance", so it still can be useful.