Hi all,
I have a MacBook late 2007 with Snow Leopard OS and with 4 GB Ram. I tried to free up Ram using terminal, but It doesn't recognize the command purge. Any Ideas what to do about it? Thank you!
MacBook, iOS 6.1.6
It is located in
/usr/sbin/purge
and by default your PATH environment variable does not include /usr/sbin
If that doesn't do it, then it might be that 'purge' was part of an XCode install.
Hi Bob, thanks for answering, in fact I'm not used to use terminal, I already tried out to type the commands you wrote down but it didn't work, it says 'No such file or directory', could you give me more details? Thanks!
If it is not in /usr/sbin/purge, then it is not installed, and you will have to install the XCode package to get the purge command.
Then again, "WHY" do you want the purge command. What problem are you trying to solve?
If you want help analyzing your problem, post details, and maybe the output from the EtreCheck utility
The only thing I wanted to do, as I wrote before, was to free up RAM because my laptop is getting slower. Out of 500 gb, I still have about 240 gb free. I already repaired the permissions, emptied the trash, deleted the cache and cookies, cleaned my desktop, but I didn't see much improvement...
Install XCode and try purge.
because my laptop is getting slower
The getting "slower" is new information
You might want to post the above suggested EtreCheck output and allow others to look at what 3rd party kernel extensions, launch daemons, etc... you have running on your system, and maybe they can see something to aid you.
NOTE: if you are running anti-virus software, that is a good source of system slowness. Also utilities that want to "Clean your Mac" or "Look for malware". They tend to consume RAM and CPU cycles.
It could also be that you are just asking your Mac to do more work today then you did in the past, and you are staring to exceed the hardware as currently configured (translation, maybe you need more RAM or a faster disk to do the kind of work you are doing now). Again EtreCheck output would help in that analysis along with a description from you of what kind of work you are doing.
Ok, I will try then. I'm 100% against those "Clean your Mac" softwares and I will never instal them, I also don't use any anti-virus. Probably you are right, my Mac is getting older than slower. Basically, I use MS Office, sometimes GIMP for editing photos (6-8 MB each), nothing really exceptional I guess, anyway thanks for your time and I will let you know the results.
If your Mac is performing slower than expected, regardless of any particular activity, without having installed anything that might be responsible such as garbage "cleaning" or "anti-virus" apps, then hardware failure is the likely cause. The most common hardware failure is the hard disk drive. It can be replaced.
If you do not have a backup of your important data, create one now. To do that read Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac. Install nothing until you accomplish that task. With a backup, replacing a failed hard disk is a non-event. Without a backup, it's a disaster.
Using purge is inappropriate and entirely unrelated to what you describe.
gyro97 wrote:
The only thing I wanted to do, as I wrote before, was to free up RAM because my laptop is getting slower. Out of 500 gb, I still have about 240 gb free. I already repaired the permissions, emptied the trash, deleted the cache and cookies, cleaned my desktop, but I didn't see much improvement...
Are you confusing free disk space and available memory? You have 50% disk space free.
A purge command will not help. It is a temporary measure and the Mac will rebuild the in-memory cache again. The relief may last 5 minutes or 5 hours, based on usage patterns. You are addressing the 'symptoms' not the 'root-cause(s)'. The cache is built to avoid disk io (apart from other uses).
This is the 'man' page for purge - https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/darwin/reference/manpages/ man8/purge.8.html.
Hi John, thanks for your advice. I already replaced the hard disk of my laptop from 80 GB to 500 GB no more than 1 year and a half. Also I added more Ram up to 4 Gb. Of course, I backup my stuff at least three times a month. I just thought that with "freeing Ram" I would speed up my laptop a bit more, but as some of you guys already mentioned, the option purge wouldn't help that much.
Hi Loner T, thanks for the comment. Believe me, I do know the difference between the two things. As I wrote before, and some other people as well did, it seems that I wanted to speed up my laptop in the wrong way, anyway, thanks for your reply!
I have seen some excellent improvements in older machines (my 2008 15" MBP) by replacing the old 200GB Hitachi with a 256GB SSD. It is an option worth considering. Maximizing RAM is also worthwhile, and on older machines, it now a cheaper option than in the past.
I will second Loner T's suggestion for an SSD. I recently installed SSD's in my 2009 iMac and my 2011 Macbook Pro, and it makes a world of difference. You just have to do some research on enabling TRIM and if your fans go wild, looking into apps such as "SSD Fan Control", but that is all stuff easily found via Google.
And if you do not need your DVD drive any longer, or can deal with it being in an external enclosure, <http://MacSales.com> has some SSD in the DVD slot adaptors (used one for my iMac).
Thanks Loner T and BobHarris for your suggestions, I will consider the option to replace the DVD drive for a SSD because actually it doesn't work anymore, even with the original DVD's. One question comes up here, I am not sure if a MB 2007 can coupe with more than 4 Gb of RAM, which I already have in my laptop. I know that the manuals always lie about the maximum capacity of RAM and HD's and you can go beyond that capacity. Do you guys think that a combination of my 4 GB and a new SSD would work in my case?
gyro97 wrote:
I will consider the option to replace the DVD drive for a SSD because actually it doesn't work anymore, even with the original DVD's.
There are challenges with putting SSDs in Optibay and SATA speeds. Please be careful and test thoroughly, before you consider this a permanent solution.
Please look in About This Mac -> More Info -> SATA and check each connection and available speeds.
gyro97 wrote:
I am not sure if a MB 2007 can coupe with more than 4 Gb of RAM, which I already have in my laptop. I know that the manuals always lie about the maximum capacity of RAM and HD's and you can go beyond that capacity.
They do not "lie", but it is a certification issue. Using http://www.datamemorysystems.com/apple-macbook-intel-core-2-duo-2-2ghz-13-white- mb062ll/b-late-2007-santa-rosa-memory-upgrades/ link you can 4+2 GB of Ram. I would even consider 4+4GB for symmetry, even though the computer may not be able to address more than 6 GB.
gyro97 wrote:
Do you guys think that a combination of my 4 GB and a new SSD would work in my case?
It may be better to put in the SSD first, and if you feel your usage patterns demand more, then look at memory upgrades. I would suggest keeping the original memory handy after replacement, if you need to put it back. Macs are very fussy about memory DIMMs.
Thanks Loner T for the info and the link. I will consider what you said!
Why terminal doesn't recognize purge command in MacBook OS X?
