You really shouldn't need to defragment your drive. For the most part, OS X takes care of defragmentation automatically.

Tom, thanks! The Civ pages themselves don't say OS X at all.

A third-party publisher puts out the Mac versions.

Geeky, DIY programmable hardware thingies:

Software has become easier to customize in the past decade, but hardware, for the most part, remains closed: Apple's battle to keep people from hacking the iPhone is a case in point. Although most consumer electronics are collections of smaller devices--cell phones typically include cameras and voice recorders, for example--users can't swap out the devices or modify the way they work. Bug Labs, a startup based in New York City, is hoping to change that with its new device, the Bug, scheduled to start shipping late this year.

The Bug would allow users to design their own electronics and customize them however they want. CEO Peter Semmelhack explains that the foundation of the device is the Bugbase, a minicomputer running Linux that users can program. It has ports for up to four device modules, which snap in and out of place. Among the first modules the company expects to offer will be a GPS system, a camera, a motion sensor, and an LCD screen. But it also plans to offer new modules at a rate of about four per quarter, and it's encouraging other manufacturers to follow suit. "We think we're an enabler company," says Jeremy Toeman, who handles marketing for Bug Labs. He says that he sees the company serving as manufacturer and resource for many smaller companies that could grow up around it.

eta:

...

Limor Fried, an engineer who operates Adafruit Industries, and who is involved in the open-source-hardware movement, says that the Linux computer running the Bug is the key to the device's beauty. "Your camera, your toaster, and your car have tightly integrated computers that you can't get into," she says. "[Bug Labs] is saying, let's put a real computer inside your camera or your PDA or your GPS. Because it's just like a laptop, it's really simple and easily understandable how you can get in there and modify it."

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You really shouldn't need to defragment your drive. For the most part, OS X takes care of defragmentation automatically.

That's what I thought until I got a look at the graphic showing what free space (hardly any) is available, and the sheer volume of fragmented files.

Then again, perhaps I'm putting too much importance on contiguous space?

Does having so many fragments and so little contiguous space NOT effect performance?

I was able to reorganize the directories...which started out in much the same shape and ended up neat and tidy.

Then again, perhaps I'm putting too much importance on contiguous space?

Does having so many fragments and so little contiguous space NOT effect performance?

Not significantly.

Are you planning to upgrade to Leopard? That would be a good time to back up your disk and wipe it out anyway.

Good question...and good point.

I hadn't thought about upgrading. Are there likely to be significant benefits...and will my pokey 1gb 'puter be able to handle it?

Must do research!

eta: Apropos of this...lifehacker has suggestions for cleaning up your Mac to prepare for Leopard. They point to a free utility that provides an inventory of what is on your system and how much space it takes.

Perfect!

(please forgive, if this is old news)

My ass itches.

Disc Inventory X turned out to be great. It gave me a visual sense of there my spacehogs lie...which leads me into an area I never expected to tread...

My biggest offenders are Jonathan Creek ahems...19gb. I'd like to burn the episodes off onto discs but the Toast 6 lite that came with my Lacie d2 DVD RW does not accept avi files.

Anyone have experience with this and/or advice?

If you just need to back up/free up some space, you'll be able to fit a lot more on a DVD if you use it as a data disk. If you want DVD's that you can watch with a DVD player, ffmpegX has converted just about anything I've ever thrown at it -- I'm not sure what formats your copy of toast will handle, but ffmpegX can probably produce them.