OS X seems to need 10-20% of your HD free for virtual memory to work efficiently.
I would disagree with that. I actually mentioned it not so long ago here, but let me explain it further.
Virtual memory size is NOT a function of hard disk size, but a function of available memory and amount/type of programs run at the same time.
If you have a 20 GB hard drive and the system works beautifully with 2 GB free, it will work the same when you upgrade to 160 GB hard drive, but still have 2 GB free. If you plug in four extra FireWire disks, you don't need to increase free space on any of them -- or on the main disk, for that matter. However, if you take out some memory sticks, the virtual memory size is very likely to get bigger.
On the other hand, if you have a lot of physical memory or run not that many programs, you might not need virtual memory at all, let alone 10-20% of your HDD.
This is spoken more from theory, as I don't know the specifics of virtual memory algorithms on Mac OS X. As somebody mentioned before -- having 20% of your disk free won't hurt, but in many cases it's way more than needed and might unnecessarily scare people ("Oh my God! I only have 19% free! I have to randomly delete something!")
Marcin Wichary
e:\> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
w:\> www.aci.com.pl/mwichary >> Attached
w:\> www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/GUIdebook >> Graphical User Interface gallery
w:\> www.10yearsofbeingboring.com >> 10 years of Being Boring
w:\> www.usability.pl >> Usability.pl
-- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
