Mac OS X 10.3 incorporates a journaled file system, which will automatically log and file modifications. If your computer crashes badly enough to require a restart (or a restart from a power failure), the OS will then use the Journal to aid in fixing any disk problems caused by the crash. Because any write to the disk will also incur a journal update, this will slightly slow down disk performance. Mac OS X 10.3 ships with Journaling on by default. Digidesign recommends that customers format their media drives with Journaling turned off. If you are using Apple's Disk Utility program to format drives, choose "Mac OS Extended" format, instead of "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)."
If you wish to turn off Journaling on you boot drive as well, perform the following steps:
1. Run the Apple Disk Utility.
2. In the main window, select the boot volume.
3. From the File menu, choose "Disable Journaling."
Note that this will slow recovery if your system has to be rebooted to recover from a kernel panic or power failure.