Hi all, I have a dual boot Win98/RH9. I just got done doing the usual scandisk/defrag and clearing out temp files. Should I be doing something equivalent in Linux on a regular basis to keep things running smoothly? Thanks for any advice.

Linux filesystems don't fragment much, so you won't have to worry about defragmenting. You don't really have to worry about temp files either. Another advantage is there's no registry to decay over time and slow down or break the system.

You might want to add some cron jobs if they are not already there (cron is a bit like windoze task scheduler). 1) /usr/bin/updatedb This keeps your locate database up to date. 2) find / -name core -exec rm {} \; Removes core files. 3) Rotate log files and clear things like squid cache etc. 4) You can probably also safely delete the contents of /tmp on each boot.

There is a defragmentation tool for Linux. It's in development and I suppose when finished it'll cost you $24(maybe they let you download a Free personal edition). You can download it here: http://www.oo-software.com/en/products/oodlinux/index.html I've tried it on a unused FS without problems, but I'm not brave enought to do the same on a 'production' FS. Hope this helps.

What!!! A defragmentation tool which isn't even "free"? Btw, what filesystem does it work on? Linux (the kernel) has reiser4, reiserfs, ext3, ext2, XFS, JFS etc etc... Believe me, this is absolute crap. Anyway, all Linux filesystems are designed so they don't fragment much (and so the performance never degrades), and so, YOU DON'T NEED TO DEFRAGMENT YOUR FILESYSTEM. In other words, you don't need to do anything that your distro doesn't already have in your crontab. You people coming from windows should keep in mind that all systems are not as brain-damaged as windows is. Btw, I think XFS, ext3 and reiser4 are all very good filesystems.

Like Audiofile said GNU/Linux dont need defragging. I have had improper shutdowns before and when it runs the disk check .03% is the most non contiguis file I have ever had.That is no fragmentation to speak of at all.