[bma_mat99]

ok, i downlaoded a program, and alot of it talkes about swap files, and options for them. ok, and this is one of the things that it does: i have two questions:


1. is this is a good idea, and how the hell do i do it:


Swap file location:

In Mac OS X the virtual memory information are stored in the so called "Swapfiles". Because the swapfiles are the most interactive system files, it makes sense to put them on the physically fastest place on your hard disk. So it is recommended to have the swap file on the first partition of your fastest internal hard disk. Xupport changes the swap files location manipulating the main system startup script called "rc". When the "rc" file is manipulated using Xupport a backup called "rc-backup" gets created, which can be used for resetting and for troubleshooting.



Location of configuration files:
System startup script:
/etc/rc

Backup:
/etc/rc-backup

Recommendations and instructions for an optimal system performance:



1.



Re-partition your hard disk with a 1.5 GB volume as FIRST partition.
The recommended name for the 1.5 GB partition is "swap".
RE-PARTITIONING A HARD DISK WILL EREASE ALL EXISTING DATA!

2.
Restore your system data or install new system on the second partition.

3.
Boot from the operating system on the second partition.

4.





If you want your swap volume to be invisible to the Finder:
• Launch Xupport and choose "Settings"
• Enable "Show hidden files and folders" and restart the Finder
• Rename the swap volume from "swap" to ".swap" (The dot makes it invisible to the Finder)
• Disable "Show hidden files and folders" and restart the Finder again


5.
Change the swap files location to the new swap volume using Xupport and restart.



and my seconds question:

they give me an option where


-delete swap files:find and delete all virtual memory files on the selected volume (and the selected volume is my hard drive)




thanks

[MPMoriarty]

Unless you do a lot of work with image manipulation, movie/ audio editing, you really don't need to move your swap file. You might see a tiny gain in overall performance, but so much can go wrong.

I always like to play it safe when it comes to my system. I never really mess around with the low level system configurations such as virtual memory location. I rather Mac OS X manage it all.

[philzilla]

have a golden rule, for free:

if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be doing it.

[gorickey]

Originally posted by philzilla:
if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be doing it.

I agree to a point; however, that also doesn't mean the person shouldn't learn how to do it if they want...one way of which is displayed here, asking questions...

[Taipan]

Hi!

Moving Swap space to a different partition on the same drive will not speed up swapping, as the drive's read/write head has to constantly move between the physical location of the swap space and other data you're working on (like the OS). In theory there might be a benefit from moving the swap space to a different drive, ideally on a different controller, but I'm not sure if it's noticeable in practice.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by philzilla:
have a golden rule, for free:

if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be doing it.

lol, advice of the day!

Reminds me of the time many years ago, when I 'accidentally' hit 'rm -r' on my old *nix box... Goodbye pretty much everything.

[MPMoriarty]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
lol, advice of the day!

Reminds me of the time many years ago, when I 'accidentally' hit 'rm -r' on my old *nix box... Goodbye pretty much everything.

doh!

Hate when that happens.

[tooki]

Don't bother. Just get enough RAM that you don't have to rely on swapping.

tooki