what is cache
what is cache? what is the function of cache? is it ok to delete it?
Yes, they rebuild as necessary. It is a good idea to clear them once in a while, it clears-up disk space.
'
Ray
'
Ray
8 replies
Which cache are you looking to delete? There are lots of them.
They are temporary storage for a applications attachments. I have deleted whole folders, only to have them rebuild next time I logged on. You have little to worry of deleting them, like I said, the will rebuild as required.
Ray
Ray
I disagree...my suggestion is to leave them alone.
some suggest to delete them (system and kernel varieties with use of a utility) if you experience some erratic system behavior, and in fact that may solve the problem. if you make a habit out of it, however, you increase the chances of system corruption.
dig into it and see what others say.
some suggest to delete them (system and kernel varieties with use of a utility) if you experience some erratic system behavior, and in fact that may solve the problem. if you make a habit out of it, however, you increase the chances of system corruption.
dig into it and see what others say.
You can disagree all you wish. Apparently you know little of what they do.
<Since they're caches, and they'll be rebuilt if needed, I dragged those three folders to the Trash and restarted. I did not encounter any problems, so I emptied the Trash and now my ~/Library/Caches folder is only 154.3 MB.
[kirkmc adds:"
This Caches folder holds lots of stuff that you really don't need. It's good, if you need to save space, or if you are planning a backup and want it to go faster, to check from time to time, sorting by size, to see which folders take up the most. You may find folders for applications that you no longer user, or, as in this hint, folders that contain much data that you can delete.
I don't know why the SoftwareUpdate cache has so much in it; I've never seen that. The Desktop cache contains Desktop pictures, and if you change often, may grow. As for the QuickTime cache, you can set the maximum size, or turn of caching entirely, in the QuickTime preference pane on the Browser tab.]"
From Mac OSx hints.
Ray
<Since they're caches, and they'll be rebuilt if needed, I dragged those three folders to the Trash and restarted. I did not encounter any problems, so I emptied the Trash and now my ~/Library/Caches folder is only 154.3 MB.
[kirkmc adds:"
This Caches folder holds lots of stuff that you really don't need. It's good, if you need to save space, or if you are planning a backup and want it to go faster, to check from time to time, sorting by size, to see which folders take up the most. You may find folders for applications that you no longer user, or, as in this hint, folders that contain much data that you can delete.
I don't know why the SoftwareUpdate cache has so much in it; I've never seen that. The Desktop cache contains Desktop pictures, and if you change often, may grow. As for the QuickTime cache, you can set the maximum size, or turn of caching entirely, in the QuickTime preference pane on the Browser tab.]"
From Mac OSx hints.
Ray
You are acting incredibly arrogant, smithrj. I have to agree with iBrian, and suggest that you only clean out your caches if you are having problems, and do so using a utility, such as Onyx, or Tinkertool.
no biggie...
In honesty I am not a Unix system admin, but I have used Unix since 1989, and know my way around just a bit.
I have seen posts like this ( http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=456184) in the past.
Also, I have used "Tiger Cache Cleaner", a well known cache-clearing Mac utility. In their manual, they do issue a stern warning about the "deep cleaning" function. I tend to trust them (up there).
In honesty I am not a Unix system admin, but I have used Unix since 1989, and know my way around just a bit.
I have seen posts like this ( http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=456184) in the past.
Also, I have used "Tiger Cache Cleaner", a well known cache-clearing Mac utility. In their manual, they do issue a stern warning about the "deep cleaning" function. I tend to trust them (up there).
I use to always run Applejack (PPC) before any OS update, worked fine and cleaned out safely the top level caches, I never use a cache cleaner on my user account. For that, I manually clean out all the "gunk" left by browsers like Safari.
I tend to trust Tiger CC (now Leopard Cache Cleaner) if I am going to trust any such tool. I don't think I ever used deep clean but did use Rebuilt Launch Services and such. And I use its single user mode feature.
Applejack 2.0 would be welcome.
I thought this was going to be about memory used as cache, not the other stuff.
When you clone using SuperDuper, it skips copying some temp files and caches (like extension cache) which they feel/found to be best rebuilt when the system is first booted. Another thing to do. And which I do more than most, clone system drive. Applying the combo update before rebooting on new clone is also a good idea.
I tend to trust Tiger CC (now Leopard Cache Cleaner) if I am going to trust any such tool. I don't think I ever used deep clean but did use Rebuilt Launch Services and such. And I use its single user mode feature.
Applejack 2.0 would be welcome.
I thought this was going to be about memory used as cache, not the other stuff.
When you clone using SuperDuper, it skips copying some temp files and caches (like extension cache) which they feel/found to be best rebuilt when the system is first booted. Another thing to do. And which I do more than most, clone system drive. Applying the combo update before rebooting on new clone is also a good idea.
what is cache