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Q: Over 3GB of swap files with 16GB of RAM?

Just bought a MBPr with 16gb of RAM (more for futureproofing than any actual need right now). I'm constantly checking Activity Monitor and "Free RAM" is always around 8GB or more. I notice, however, that the "Swap used" totals are quite high. I don't have any pageouts so why do I have so much swapspace being consumed? With an SSD drive in here, should I not be worried that the OS is using swapspace so much when it probalby doesn't need to?

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 31, 2012 6:44 PM

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Q: Over 3GB of swap files with 16GB of RAM?

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  • by Dantre,

    Dantre Dantre Jan 18, 2013 5:17 PM in response to nalundgaard
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    Jan 18, 2013 5:17 PM in response to nalundgaard

    Coming late to this, but very helpful.. thank you!

     

    Any idea as to when they might fix this bug?

     

    With appreciation...

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 19, 2013 7:27 AM in response to Dantre
    Level 9 (50,831 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 19, 2013 7:27 AM in response to Dantre

    Please post the page out values.

  • by Dantre,

    Dantre Dantre Jan 19, 2013 7:32 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 7:32 AM in response to Csound1

    Be happy to comply but I'll need your help. Where do I get those data?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 19, 2013 7:41 AM in response to Dantre
    Level 9 (50,831 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 19, 2013 7:41 AM in response to Dantre

    Activity Monitor: (Applications>Utilities>Activity Monitor)

     

    Screen Shot 2013-01-19 at 9.38.44 AM.png

     

    And if you run a VM (Parallels etc) let me know

  • by Dantre,

    Dantre Dantre Jan 19, 2013 8:15 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 8:15 AM in response to Csound1

    Tks so much. In answer to your question, I don't run a VM.

     

    FYI my 15" rMBP is configured: 2.6 - 16 / 760 GB SSD. I stumbled upon this thread in following up an apparently well-documented issue with Aperture (even in simple viewing mode it takes up more and more RAM until the whole thing almost ground to a halt). This is my first experience with SSD, so when I got my machine just after they first came out, I did some reading around to learn what I could. I noted several reports/suggestions that regularly writing my 16 GB of RAM to the SSD might significantly shorten its life. I contacted Apple but the people I spoke with were unable to comment one way or the other. In any case, pretty much from the get-go I set Hibernation to 0, and turned standby off (not that I'm an expert, but I read carefully). I've not had any problems since. Then I noticed this thread, and hence my question.

     

    Is there any particular application you want me to run, or any particular conditions/parameters you'd like me to set before posting?

     

    Again, thanks.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 19, 2013 8:23 AM in response to Dantre
    Level 9 (50,831 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 19, 2013 8:23 AM in response to Dantre

    Just post the same screenshot as I did, under normal conditrions of use, (like now)

  • by Dantre,

    Dantre Dantre Jan 19, 2013 8:30 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 8:30 AM in response to Csound1

    Here we go..

    pics.jpg

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 19, 2013 8:54 AM in response to Dantre
    Level 9 (50,831 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 19, 2013 8:54 AM in response to Dantre

    You're fine, there have been no swaps to disk since you last started your Mac.

  • by chef098,

    chef098 chef098 Jun 23, 2013 9:10 AM in response to megagram
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 9:10 AM in response to megagram

    So I have been reading over this thread and I think I may have this no pages outs occurring. I have a 4gb mac pro (Late 2012) with ML. I dont think that such a system should almost be unusable. These stats are after 72 hours of no full system restart. Just going into sleep mode.Screen Shot 2013-06-20 at 5.53.46 PM.png

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 23, 2013 9:11 AM in response to chef098
    Level 9 (50,831 points)
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    Jun 23, 2013 9:11 AM in response to chef098

    chef098 wrote:

     

    So I have been reading over this thread and I think I may have this no pages outs occurring. I have a 4gb mac pro (Late 2012) with ML. I dont think that such a system should almost be unusable. These stats are after 72 hours of no full system restart. Just going into sleep mode.Screen Shot 2013-06-20 at 5.53.46 PM.png

    You need more Ram.

  • by chef098,

    chef098 chef098 Jun 23, 2013 9:14 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 9:14 AM in response to Csound1

    I dont understand how 8gb is a must to do basic web browsing and email. That is a little outrageous. The recommneded memory by apple is 2GB. So 4 GB should be enough for a low end use experience. Could there be another cause? Maybe some system settings that I could turn off to use less memory.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 23, 2013 9:17 AM in response to chef098
    Level 9 (50,831 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 23, 2013 9:17 AM in response to chef098

    Make another user account, boot into it and test the Ram usage there.

     

    Adding more Ram is cheap and simple, that is my recommendation.

     

    If you use Chrome, you need another browser and possibly more Ram.

  • by nalundgaard,

    nalundgaard nalundgaard Jun 23, 2013 9:23 AM in response to chef098
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 9:23 AM in response to chef098

    Chef,

     

    You don't have the issue. If you go back and look at the screenshots from people suffering this issue, you'll see that they have "swap used" but no page outs. Your screenshot shows that you have both, which is very different from the issue primarily discussed in this thread. There are a number of other discussions about Mac OS X's rather aggressive paging strategy.

  • by chef098,

    chef098 chef098 Jun 23, 2013 9:25 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 9:25 AM in response to Csound1

    I will give that a try with the user account.

     

    I was planning on doing more ram. Which is cheap I know. I just feel that 4GB should be sufficient for basic usage. I have 8GB on another mac book and I have no issues so I know I can fix it with more ram.

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