optimal swap file, hardrive space for macbook
I am new to the Mac OS world, I hope some of you can help me.
I just bought a macbook with 2.0G, 80GB, model.
Install MS office and a few other utilities apps., and partition drive to run win xp using boot camp, for work purpose.
I have about 14GB free space left for OS X.
I visited Apple Store and told the support staff that I noticed the mac is running slower that before. He suggested that I should remove files/program so the HD has about 25 GB free space.
questions:
Is his advice sound? if not, what is the optimal swap file, free space required?
what one can do to improve mac running faster?
Is there something similar to disk defragmentation on the PC side?
I just bought a macbook with 2.0G, 80GB, model.
Install MS office and a few other utilities apps., and partition drive to run win xp using boot camp, for work purpose.
I have about 14GB free space left for OS X.
I visited Apple Store and told the support staff that I noticed the mac is running slower that before. He suggested that I should remove files/program so the HD has about 25 GB free space.
questions:
Is his advice sound? if not, what is the optimal swap file, free space required?
what one can do to improve mac running faster?
Is there something similar to disk defragmentation on the PC side?
Comments
Is his advice sound? if not, what is the optimal swap file, free space required?
His advice is not really sound. OS X doesn't tend to use more than 1.5 GB of swap space so anything above 2 GB is fine. It can go higher but it usually doesn't. My machine runs fine with about 2-3 GB free on average. It depends on your Ram of course. I've seen a machine with 4GB of Ram use over 3GB of swap space but again nowhere near 25GB.
what one can do to improve mac running faster?
If you get a lot of beachballing, check your caches aren't messed up. You can clean them out using a program called cocktail. Also repair permissions and check your hard drive. Keep an eye on your activity monitor in /applications/utilities to see your ram usage and CPU usage.
Your machine will slow down when you are running Rosetta programs like MS Office. In your activity monitor, check what apps are Intel or PPC and try to keep the PPC ones to an absolute minimum.
Is there something similar to disk defragmentation on the PC side?
It doesn't need to be done because OS X defrags your drive on the fly for small files. It is recommended that you actually don't defrag your machine. If you absolutely have to, the best thing to do is to clone your system to an external drive, format the internal and clone it back.
His advice is not really sound. OS X doesn't tend to use more than 1.5 GB of swap space so anything above 2 GB is fine. It can go higher but it usually doesn't. My machine runs fine with about 2-3 GB free on average. It depends on your Ram of course. I've seen a machine with 4GB of Ram use over 3GB of swap space but again nowhere near 25GB.
If you get a lot of beachballing, check your caches aren't messed up. You can clean them out using a program called cocktail. Also repair permissions and check your hard drive. Keep an eye on your activity monitor in /applications/utilities to see your ram usage and CPU usage.
Your machine will slow down when you are running Rosetta programs like MS Office. In your activity monitor, check what apps are Intel or PPC and try to keep the PPC ones to an absolute minimum.
It doesn't need to be done because OS X defrags your drive on the fly for small files. It is recommended that you actually don't defrag your machine. If you absolutely have to, the best thing to do is to clone your system to an external drive, format the internal and clone it back.
Thank you Marvin,
Could you elaborate on the 'repair permissions' item. In this context, permssions meaning the "user account should be configured as allow user to admin the computer?" I create a few user accounts for family members to us, they all have limited admin. right. Will this slow their session down. If not, how do I address the permission issue you mentioned properly. TIA!
Thank you Marvin,
Could you elaborate on the 'repair permissions' item. In this context, permssions meaning the "user account should be configured as allow user to admin the computer?" I create a few user accounts for family members to us, they all have limited admin. right. Will this slow their session down. If not, how do I address the permission issue you mentioned properly. TIA!
Every file in OS X has permissions on what it can do. Each file that a user has in their home folder for example has permissions set with them as owner. System files that are in the System folder have higher permissions that even the admin has to type in a password to modify.
Sometimes by chance, files in OS X can be given the wrong permissions and it can mess things up. Repairing permissions won't adversely affect other users.
To repair permissions, open Disk Utility (/Applications/utilities), select your drive and hit repair permissions. You don't need to verify first - the repair does both together. This just looks at the files on your drive and makes sure their permissions are set correctly.
It's not often that I've found repairing permissions helps but I usually work with single user machines. What would be really neat is if Apple implemented a program that just told you why your machine was running slow. The Xray tool in Leopard would seem ideal for this sort of thing.
Also, since you are using a multi-user system, try not to fast user-switch everybody. I know that it will be easier but it means that the programs everybody had open are still running. Try getting them to log out instead.
Is your machine still slow after a restart?
Is your machine still slow after a restart?[/QUOTE]
After restart, it does run more smoothly. The machine has 1 GB of RAM.
There are other problems I noticed recently, such as:
PC cannot be shut down properly via the shutdown button, ie, the spinning wheel appears, and grey screen, the only way to shut down is to press the power button continuously until it is off or unplug ac plug and battery.
I use Firefox 2.0, it seems to freeze a bit often, even uninstall and reinstall the program.
I also install the smcFanControl 2.0, even since i use this program, the fan constantly running at ~ 3500 to 4000 RPM, the temp is between 48 to 56 deg. C, even under very light load, only open web browser, the fan speed never goes back to 1800?
Is there a problem with this PC?
PC cannot be shut down properly via the shutdown button, ie, the spinning wheel appears, and grey screen, the only way to shut down is to press the power button continuously until it is off or unplug ac plug and battery.
Usually when a shutdown hangs, it's because something is running and prevents the computer shutting down. However, when it's an application that's the problem. it normally won't get out of the Finder. If it's happening all the time, I'd first remove apps like smcFanControl because I think it's quite a low level process and could be affecting the machine.
I use Firefox 2.0, it seems to freeze a bit often, even uninstall and reinstall the program.
Yup, that's just Firefox. People where I work like to use it instead of Safari and it does the same thing. I tell them to use Safari but every time I look at their computer, there they are using Firefox again. It has a bizarre tendency to hang up in the background sometimes. If you keep your activity monitor in your dock with the icon showing your CPU history, you can check how much of your CPU is being used. Sometimes even the Finder can crash in the background and suck up one of your processors.
I also install the smcFanControl 2.0, even since i use this program, the fan constantly running at ~ 3500 to 4000 RPM, the temp is between 48 to 56 deg. C, even under very light load, only open web browser, the fan speed never goes back to 1800?
Is there a problem with this PC?
The program is meant to keep your machine running cooler by running the fans more than the default settings. If you uninstall it or adjust the settings, it should stop the fans coming on so often. I don't know if that maybe has something to do with the shutdown problems.