Filesystem check on startup

Question

as Mac OS X in part is an *nix operating system. Will the filesystem of my computer be checked periodically? How to check when the next check will be triggered, if it is checked periodically?

My first guess was to start the "Disk Utility.app", but there were no informations regarding a time based check cycle. I can check the filesystem manually using the disk utility. From my linux

Background of my question, yesterday evening the system startup took a very long time until I gave up and went to bed. Today the boot time was as fast as always, but my MacBook is about half a year old. This is like 180 days of unchecked filesystems.. Just a guess.

regards, Marcus

Answer 1

Marcus,

Yes, certain things (bad reboot, disk marked dirty, not cleanly unmounted on shutdown etc) will tricker a fsck (disk check) on startup.

If you startup in verbose mode you can see this happening.

1. Shut down your Mac if it is on.
2. Press the power button to start the computer.
3. Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and one of the following:
   • The "s" key for single-user mode. (Command-S)
   • The "v" key for verbose mode. (Command-V)

In addition, much like other unix systems there are scheduled daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. Using a tool like OnyX you can see these and force them to run.