My Mac Mini has 16 GB of memory installed and a 2TB SSD.
I am running macOS 10.15.7.
Using Activity Monitor, I see that of the 16 GB, 11.23 GB is in use.
(App Memory: 5.98 GB, Wired Memory: 3.61 GB, Compressed: 1.62 GB)
Activity Monitor also indicates that 261.5 MB of Swap (Virtual) Memory is in use.
Why would Swap Memory be needed when almost 5 GB of Memory still available?
Mac mini, macOS 10.15
260MB is a very small amount of Swap, well within the "not to worry' zone. Were it Gigs in size, we'd be having a different conversation.
As den.thed suggests, how often you restart a Mac can make a difference in what shows for Swap. A simple restart ever week or so usually takes care of that. I worked a post here about VM Swaps being high and the Etrecheck report showed the computer had not been restarted for 243 days. That's a bit much.
This topic can be complicated by the presence of fearware like anti-virus and so-called "cleaning apps." Have you installed any of that dreck?
Depends on what app’s are being used.
What year model is the Mac mini?
How often do you restart the Mac mini?
Try Safe Mode followed by a normal restart.
I am using a 2012 Mac mini running 10.15.7.
I generally restart the Mac about once a month.
After looking into this further, I think the Mac has "set aside" 1 GB for Swap and is currently using 230 MB of the "set aside" for some reason.
The amount of 230 MB does not appear to change, at least during the last few days.
Thanks for your time and info.
Thanks for the info and your time.
You're welcome.
Why is Mac mini using Swap (Virtual) Memory when I have almost 5 GB of Memory unused?
