RonL
Level 1 (45 points)

Q: Speed up your OS... turn Autosave & Versions off globally

If you're experiencing slow opening apps or windows since upgrading to Mountain Lion... as I have... and you don't want your OS to automatically save your TextEdit files, etc. then simply disable Autosave and Versions via Terminal.

 

Open Terminal and enter this command which will turn off Autosave & Versions globally:

 

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no

 

Now reboot.

 

Voila!

 

I experienced a very noticeable speed increase when opening apps and even opening some previously slow opening Dock folders after doing the above.

 

If for some reason in the future you want to turn Autosave and Versions back on just change 'no' to 'yes'

 

Feel the speed!

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion, 27" iMac 32" secondary monitor

Posted on Jul 30, 2012 8:17 AM

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RonL

Q: Speed up your OS... turn Autosave & Versions off globally

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  • by RonL,

    RonL RonL Jul 30, 2012 10:11 AM in response to softwater
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 10:11 AM in response to softwater

    Phil...

     

    Now I remember why I don't post here more often.

     

    I was trying to offer a tip that some had perhaps not seen before that in fact works for many people.

     

    "High horse?"... "demanding?" ... you have quite the imagination. Unbelievable...

     

    The command is easily reversible if someone were to have problems.

     

    And if it does work... as it does for many... it makes things run noticably more quickly.

  • by raftr,

    raftr raftr Jul 30, 2012 10:18 AM in response to Gnarlodious
    Level 1 (0 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 30, 2012 10:18 AM in response to Gnarlodious

    Gnarlodious wrote:

     

    This doesn't work for me so I had to reverse it. I get a dialog every few minutes "You don't have permssion to write to this folder".

     

    I suspect a daemon is still launching that tries to save the file.

     

    I get the same dialog as well.

  • by softwater,

    softwater softwater Jul 30, 2012 10:29 AM in response to RonL
    Level 5 (5,392 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 30, 2012 10:29 AM in response to RonL

    I'm offering an alternative perspective, Ron, on your claim of 'speed up your OS'. I think people should be informed that there is another side to this story. 

     

    No need to take it personally. That's the whole point of forums, to keep people informed and offer different perspectives.

     

    I really haven't got anything else to say on this that I haven't already said and a flaming war I don't need, so over and out from me on this one.

  • by RonL,

    RonL RonL Jul 30, 2012 10:36 AM in response to raftr
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 10:36 AM in response to raftr

    raftr,

     

    Sorry to hear you're getting an error message.

     

    Is it immediately after you reboot?

     

    Is it when you try to save a particular type of file?

     

    Is it occuring after you have let your system set idle for a few minutes?

     

    Do you have Time Machine running?  (I don't)

     

    Trying to figure this out why it works for some and not for others.

  • by raftr,

    raftr raftr Jul 30, 2012 10:45 AM in response to RonL
    Level 1 (0 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 30, 2012 10:45 AM in response to RonL

    Good questions RonL.

     

    I created a new file in TextEdit, saved it, made changes to it without saving and left it open.

    Some 10-20 minutes later i got the error message.

  • by Gnarlodious,

    Gnarlodious Gnarlodious Jul 30, 2012 10:58 AM in response to RonL
    Level 4 (3,243 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 30, 2012 10:58 AM in response to RonL

    The dialog only occurs when the OS is trying to save the file, cmd-s for saving still works normally.

  • by keith contarino,

    keith contarino keith contarino Jul 30, 2012 11:03 AM in response to RonL
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 11:03 AM in response to RonL

    Ron, I'm going to try it. Still in Lion. Haven't had time to back up system will when i get home next weekend.

    If I get error message others here are getting, what is the "easily reversible command"?

     

    thanks

     

    keith

  • by RonL,

    RonL RonL Jul 30, 2012 11:06 AM in response to keith contarino
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 11:06 AM in response to keith contarino

    raftr or Gnarlodius... do either of you have Time Machine turned on?

  • by raftr,

    raftr raftr Jul 30, 2012 11:07 AM in response to RonL
    Level 1 (0 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 30, 2012 11:07 AM in response to RonL

    RonL wrote:

     

    raftr or Gnarlodius... do either of you have Time Machine turned on?

     

    No, I use SuperDuper! for backups.

  • by RonL,

    RonL RonL Jul 30, 2012 11:23 AM in response to raftr
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 11:23 AM in response to raftr

    raftr

     

    Do you have the box "Ask to keep changes when closing documents" checked in the General preference pane in System Preferences?

     

    If not... would you check that and do what you did before to see if it still happens?

  • by raftr,

    raftr raftr Jul 30, 2012 11:24 AM in response to RonL
    Level 1 (0 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 30, 2012 11:24 AM in response to RonL

    RonL wrote:

     

    raftr

     

    Do you have the box "Ask to keep changes when closing documents" checked in the General preference pane in System Preferences?

     

    If not... would you check that and do what you did before to see if it still happens?

     

    This has been checked all along, yes.

  • by Gnarlodious,

    Gnarlodious Gnarlodious Jul 30, 2012 11:25 AM in response to RonL
    Level 4 (3,243 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 30, 2012 11:25 AM in response to RonL

    I use rsync, not TM.

  • by RonL,

    RonL RonL Jul 30, 2012 11:27 AM in response to keith contarino
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 11:27 AM in response to keith contarino

    keith contarino wrote:

     

    If I get error message others here are getting, what is the "easily reversible command"?

     

     

    Keith,

     

    To reverse the original command I posted (re. OP)... enter this is Terminal...

     

    defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool yes

  • by RonL,

    RonL RonL Jul 30, 2012 11:44 AM in response to RonL
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 11:44 AM in response to RonL

    Asking some friends about this.

     

    For me it's just been working so I've never really checked in to why it doesn't work for others before this.

     

    I'll get back to you soon Gnarlodious and raftr.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Jul 30, 2012 11:45 AM in response to RonL
    Level 8 (38,049 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 30, 2012 11:45 AM in response to RonL

    A rather important note. Once you enter the Terminal command to turn Autosave/Versions off, you must restart or logoff and log back in. You need to do that as the change won't be read by the OS until you do.

     

    I tried a test with TextEdit. Opened a new document, typed the text Original and saved it. I then opened the file and added another line. Then chose Save As. The new document had the changes, and they were not applied to the first document.

     

    Another thing there. Once I restarted, TextEdit no longer had Duplicate in its menu and Save As became Command+Shift+S, without the Option key.

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