Paging file

[01grander]

Just out of curiousity but is there a paging file with osx? I'd have to figure with a ssd it would be more useful and act more like actual ram(I realize not the same).

 

[jimboutilier]

Just like freebsd/Linux/Unix there can be one or more page files in OSX and while the SSD makes this less costly performance wise than with a hard drive, it's still nowhere near the performance of RAM so you still need enough ram.

Casual testing I've done indicates that for my usage patterns, 2gb gives good performance but 3gb offers a significant gain, and 4gb gives a much smaller gain.

Lesson is don't scrimp on ram. Requirements and base system ram goes up pretty consistently over time and since MBAs are not ram upgradable I'd highly recommend the 4gb configurations.

 

[Argon21]

It's called "swap space" in every flavor of UNIX, Linux, and OSX.

The term "page file" is a silly DOS / Windows thing.

 

[wpotere]

The term "page file" is a silly DOS / Windows thing.

Yeah, no.....

It is an NT thing and is named directly for what it does. How is that silly? Older versions of windows used swap space. Although they are similar, they do function a bit differently.

 

[Argon21]

NT is Windows, no?

 

[bcaslis]

Mac OS X uses swap files. In the terminal, go to /var/vm. In there you should see a few swapfiles (swapfile0, swapfile1, etc...). You will also see a file sleepimage which is the file that gets written when the MBA goes into deep sleep mode.

 

[wpotere]

NT is Windows, no?

Yes, but not all WIndows used paging, only NT 3.51 and later.

 

[pwolfe]

I would love a way to adjust the swappiness in OS X like you can in other Unices.