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From: Dudley Brooks <dbrooks@runforyourlife.org>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: How much HD space needed for memory swapping
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:45:25 -0800
Organization: Run For Your Life! ... it's a dance company
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On 1/17/25 1:33 PM, Your Name wrote:
> 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.

My apologies -- it actually is an SSD.  I just have been using computers 
for so long that I still say "HD" generically -- anything that's not a 
floppy or a tape!

>      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

-- 
Dudley Brooks, Artistic Director
Run For Your Life! ... it's a dance company!
San Francisco