[mr. burns]

I recently did the OS X swap file relocation procedure as seen on resexcellence and everything was going great until I started working in photoshop and I started getting disk full errors every 2 seconds.

I put the swap file on a 500MB empty partition on a different drive than my startup volume that I once used as a scratch disk. I don't have any version of classic Mac OS installed or on disk so I couldn't put it on the drive. Now that I know my swap partition is too small, how the hell do I get eveything back to normal so I can just use my computer error free again? I just want my old swap setup back. I can't rewrite the files that were editted to switch the swap volume, and I can't exactly startup in OS 9 . I tried looking up help here with the search function but it's worthless and never works, telling me to refresh my broswer :/


HELPPPPP.

[Spliff]

What version of OS X are you using? If you're using Panther, then that might be your problem. Instructions for using a swap disk work for 10.1 and 10.2, but with Panther, there were significant changes to the VM system. Also, a 500 MB swap disk isn't large enough for Panther.

Did you make a backup of your "rc" file? If so, just put it back. Otherwise, you'll have to edit out the bits you added using Pico.

[mr. burns]

i'm using panther :/

i try to edit the rc file but it says 'cannot open file for writing.' i'm not very terminal savvy so i don't know any work arounds for this problem, command line wise.

[Link]

dear lord. My swap gets as big as 8gb o_O

[Spliff]

Originally posted by mr. burns:
i'm using panther :/

i try to edit the rc file but it says 'cannot open file for writing.' i'm not very terminal savvy so i don't know any work arounds for this problem, command line wise.

Okay, I need to know exactly what text you added to your rc file when you edited it.

Can you post the link at Resexcellence where you got the instructions for moving your swap files?

And, did you save a backup copy of the rc file?

[mr. burns]

this is the guide:
http://www.resexcellence.com/hack_html_01/09-14.01.html


i don't have a back up of the rc file, but i only added one line of code and saved the line i replaced as a comment. couldn't i just copy the current one, edit it back to normal and replace?

[Spliff]

Originally posted by mr. burns:
this is the guide:
http://www.resexcellence.com/hack_html_01/09-14.01.html


i don't have a back up of the rc file, but i only added one line of code and saved the line i replaced as a comment. couldn't i just copy the current one, edit it back to normal and replace?

Here's how you make the necessary changes to the rc file. If you've changed the fstab file, you'll have to delete that.


1) edit the rc file by opening it up in pico. In the terminal, type
"sudo pico /etc/rc" (without the quotes)

2) Hit CTRL and "w" and look for 'echo "Starting virtual memory"'; it looks like this (along with the text you added):

echo "Starting virtual memory"

swapdir=/private/var/vm

3) Delete the changes you made. It should now look like this:

echo "Starting virtual memory"

swapdir=/private/var/vm

4) Hit CTRL and "x" and hit y for Yes to save change

5) Restart your computer

6) Open the terminal and paste this (without the quotes): "ls -al /private/var/vm/". You should see at least one swap file called "swapfile0". If you don't, then your rc file is not fixed yet, or something else is mucking it up.


--Source: http://www.lostboi.com/tutorials/movingswap.html [modified by me]

[mr. burns]

thanks a lot! looks like that's the info i'm looking for.

but how do i delete the fstab file? i know how to navigate to the directory it's in but i don't know the command to delete.

thanks again.

[Spliff]

Originally posted by mr. burns:
thanks a lot! looks like that's the info i'm looking for.

but how do i delete the fstab file? i know how to navigate to the directory it's in but i don't know the command to delete.

thanks again.

I just looked into my /etc folder and I have an fstab file. But I haven't moved moved my swap files. Hmm. Okay, if I were you, I wouldn't delete your fstab file. Just open it up with pico (as shown in the previous post) and delete the line you added.

I opened up my fstab file and this is what it contained:

# fs_spec fs_file fs_vfstype fs_mntops
#
# UUID=DF000C7E-AE0C-3B15-B730-DFD2EF15CB91 /export ufs ro
# UUID=FAB060E9-79F7-33FF-BE85-E1D3ABD3EDEA none hfs rw,noauto
# LABEL=This\040Is\040The\040Volume\040Name none msdos ro


Don't delete any of that. But if you have any text (e.g., "/dev/disk1s9 /Volumes/swap hfs rw 1 2") that you added, then delete it.

[Spliff]

BTW, next time you do this. Make backup copies of any file you're editing. And make sure the instructions you are following have been approved for the version of the operating system you're running.

I also recommend you don't bother with swap disks in Panther. Just make sure you boot partition has at least 5-6 GBs of available disk space.

[mr. burns]

Originally posted by Spliff:
BTW, next time you do this. Make backup copies of any file you're editing. And make sure the instructions you are following have been approved for the version of the operating system you're running.

I also recommend you don't bother with swap disks in Panther. Just make sure you boot partition has at least 5-6 GBs of available disk space.

yeah, i will. i wouldn't have done any of this if the article had been more specific about which versions of OS X this was meant for. nowhere did i see it mention OS 10.1 only and i'm not exactly a tech type anymore so i don't keep up with this kind of stuff.

thanks for the help. everything is back to normal now.