hart_ayr_97

Q: Purgeable memory

I just recently had purgeable memory show up in my storage for my 2015 Macbook pro running on  OS Sierra. What is this memory for and where did it come from?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 2, 2016 8:03 AM

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Q: Purgeable memory

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 2, 2016 12:31 PM in response to hart_ayr_97
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 2, 2016 12:31 PM in response to hart_ayr_97

    Purgeable disk memory is disk memory that has files stored in it. The most frequent creator of these is "snapshot Backups" created when your regular backup drive is not available.

     

    Purgeable means that they will be removed instantly if any other Application asks for file space that is not available otherwise.

  • by hart_ayr_97,

    hart_ayr_97 hart_ayr_97 Oct 2, 2016 12:36 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 2, 2016 12:36 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Is there anyway to turn off purgeable memory? I use an external hard drive to back up my macbook so I don't really need these snapshot backups.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 2, 2016 7:02 PM in response to hart_ayr_97
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 2, 2016 7:02 PM in response to hart_ayr_97

    Time Machine makes automatic incremental Backups about hourly. It does so at such low priority, it barely disturbs what you are doing. If you do not regularly connect the Backup Drive, turning off these snapshots will leave you with no backups for the time you do not have the external drive connected. These files are not clogging up your drive -- as I said before, their space will be yielded instantly for new files if no other space is available, so these files are not "in your way". I do not recommend removing this safety net, just to have bigger numbers under "free space" on your drive.

     

    If you are adamant about doing this, a quick search will bring up a Terminal procedure to turn off the local snapshot backups feature. Cut and paste the command from the article into Terminal.