Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: How much HD space needed for memory swapping
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2025 10:33:26 +1300
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 58
Message-ID: <vmeib5$7ui0$1@dont-email.me>
References: <vmabdt$3dcgs$2@dont-email.me> <vmbujn$3m8e8$1@dont-email.me> <vmeh6f$7lrm$1@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2025 22:33:27 +0100 (CET)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="920a52be46144c113dc712b744adf4f9";
	logging-data="260672"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19wVPYnI8MgSTUX2BTLisrDB+BG/EYwm2c="
User-Agent: Unison/2.2
Cancel-Lock: sha1:J+nwJWYhVKGzeCxaEW5DDXhiTh0=
Bytes: 3272

On 2025-01-17 21:13:51 +0000, Dudley Brooks said:
> On 1/16/25 4:49 PM, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> On 2025-01-16, Dudley Brooks <dbrooks@runforyourlife.org> wrote:
>>> On 1/16/25 11:16 AM, Jolly Roger wrote:
>>>> On 2025-01-16, Dudley Brooks <dbrooks@runforyourlife.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> (I hope that "memory swapping" is the correct term.)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Model:    Late 2013 Macbook Pro
>>>>> OS:    OS X 10.13.6 High Sierra
>>>>> HD:    1 TB, 954.34 GB used, 44.27 GB available
>>>>> CPU:    2.6 GHz Intel
>>>>> Mem:    16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
>>>>> 
>>>>> As you see, my HD is very full.
>>>>> 
>>>>> As it fills up, I have seen a big dropoff in function -- programs load
>>>>> much more slowly, can only have a few programs open at the same time,
>>>>> windows don't open at full size, etc.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I assume this is because of not enough swap space on the HD.
>>>>> 
>>>>> What is the recommended amount of HD space to keep free for good
>>>>> performance?
>>>> 
>>>> That would depend on how much RAM you actually use, but the general
>>>> recommendation is to keep 10-20% free on the startup drive, depending on
>>>> how much your system swaps due to low memory conditions. You're way
>>>> short of that 100 GB (10%).
>>> 
>>> OK, thanks!  Now I know what to aim for.  Luckily, it will not be too
>>> difficult to accomplish -- loads of stuff I can get rid of.
>> 
>> 🙂👍🏼
>> 
>>> Should I defrag afterwards?  Or does the OS (10.13.6 High Sierra) make
>>> it somehow unnecessarry
>> 
>> That's not something you need to do with flash storage (SSDs).
> 
> Ah!  Excellent!  Thanks!

The original post says "HD", as in hard drive, not SSD flash storage. 
As usual Jolly Roger didn't bother actually reading the question.

Having noted that, defragging isn't really neccessary on MacOS hard 
drives either.

     Do Mac hard drives need to be defragmented?
     macOS does not include a built-in defragmentation tool
     because it is deemed unnecessary. macOS is designed to
     handle file fragmentation automatically, especially for
     small files. Using an external defragmentation tool on
     a Mac is not recommended.
     <https://www.crucial.com/articles/mac-users/how-to-defragment-a-mac>