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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 13:55:41 -0800
Organization: Run For Your Life! ... it's a dance company
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On 1/17/25 7:29 AM, Doc O'Leary wrote:

> For your reference, records indicate that
> Dudley Brooks <dbrooks@runforyourlife.org> wrote:
> 
>> 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.
> 
> Something is missing from your assessment.  While things can slow down when
> the computer takes time to swap things from RAM to HD and back again, none
> of that should keep windows from opening/resizing properly.
> 
>> I assume this is because of not enough swap space on the HD.
> 
> Maybe, or not.  Whether or not free space is used for swap or something
> else depends a lot on what you’re actually doing.  For example, it could
> be that one of the apps you use creates large temp files, and it has
> reduced functionality when it has trouble doing that.
> 
>> What is the recommended amount of HD space to keep free for good
>> performance?
> 
> The right way to think about it is what you’re actually doing that is
> impacting performance.  Open Activity Monitor and see what’s using RAM,
> CPU, etc.  Given that you already have 16GB of RAM, you’d have to be
> running *dozens* of large apps for you to be needing equivalent amounts of
> swap.  Although, keep in mind that if you leave a web browser open with
> multiple tabs, each site can chew up far more RAM than you might expect
> (I’m talking more than 1GB for a single web page!).
> 
> You have a very old machine, which doesn’t help.  I still have a 2012 Mac
> mini with 8GB that runs fine for most things, but I don’t push it to do
> things I know it is too slow to handle.  If you expect to keep using Intel hardware that’s a decade old, you have to be realistic about what it can
> and can’t do.

Thanks!  I'll check this all out when my time frees up.

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