Hi all,
I wondered if any knowledgeable folks here can excuse my ignorance and offer some advice:
The utility Xupport (www.xupport.ch) seems pretty good, and offers the option to change the location of the virtual memory swap files to a different volume, citing performance benefits:
• Virtual Memory Optimizer:
•
• Change the swap files 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 a separate partition. It is recommended to store the swap files on the first partition of your fastest internal hard disk. The recommended minimum partition size should be about 3 or 4 times lager than the physical built-in memory size (e.g 1 GB physical memory = 4 GB swap partition).
• Recommendations and instructions for an optimal system performance:
•
• 1.Re-partition your hard disk with a swap volume as FIRST partition (using the Mac OS X Install DVD).
• WARNING: RE-PARTITIONING A HARD DISK WILL ERASE ALL EXISTING DATA!
• 2.Restore your system data or install new system on the system partition.
• 3.Boot from the system 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.Select the new swap partition under "Swap Storage Volume". Then, press the "Set" button to apply the new swap file location settings (Restart required).
I'm thinking of cloning my disk to a second partition, checking if ok, (i’ve already backed up to external drive) then wiping the first partition (where everything used to be) and splitting it in two, setting the first half to 16GB , which will be my swap volume. This will leave me with 3 partitions altogether, the first as the swap volume, the 2nd blank and with the OS and apps on the 3rd.
My questions are:
-Is this worth the trouble? I use my Macbook Pro (2.2GHz core2duo, 4GB RAM) sometimes quite intensively, working on large files with Adobe apps, Music software, some video editing, etc... and i want to get the best possible performance from my machine. Will the increase in performance be noticeable if i did this?
- Will this move mess up the activation/registration on Adobe & other software?
-In this scheme, should i use the 2nd partition as a scratch disk for Adobe , Final Cut, etc ?
PS This is what Adobe has to say in Photoshop help:
• The following guidelines can help you assign scratch disks:
• For best performance, scratch disks should be on a different drive than any large files you are editing.
• Scratch disks should be on a different drive than the one used for virtual memory.
• RAID disks/disk arrays are good choices for dedicated scratch disk volumes.
• Drives with scratch disks should be defragmented regularly.
Thanks!
PPS forgot to say I'm on 10.5.6
I wondered if any knowledgeable folks here can excuse my ignorance and offer some advice:
The utility Xupport (www.xupport.ch) seems pretty good, and offers the option to change the location of the virtual memory swap files to a different volume, citing performance benefits:
• Virtual Memory Optimizer:
•
• Change the swap files 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 a separate partition. It is recommended to store the swap files on the first partition of your fastest internal hard disk. The recommended minimum partition size should be about 3 or 4 times lager than the physical built-in memory size (e.g 1 GB physical memory = 4 GB swap partition).
• Recommendations and instructions for an optimal system performance:
•
• 1.Re-partition your hard disk with a swap volume as FIRST partition (using the Mac OS X Install DVD).
• WARNING: RE-PARTITIONING A HARD DISK WILL ERASE ALL EXISTING DATA!
• 2.Restore your system data or install new system on the system partition.
• 3.Boot from the system 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.Select the new swap partition under "Swap Storage Volume". Then, press the "Set" button to apply the new swap file location settings (Restart required).
I'm thinking of cloning my disk to a second partition, checking if ok, (i’ve already backed up to external drive) then wiping the first partition (where everything used to be) and splitting it in two, setting the first half to 16GB , which will be my swap volume. This will leave me with 3 partitions altogether, the first as the swap volume, the 2nd blank and with the OS and apps on the 3rd.
My questions are:
-Is this worth the trouble? I use my Macbook Pro (2.2GHz core2duo, 4GB RAM) sometimes quite intensively, working on large files with Adobe apps, Music software, some video editing, etc... and i want to get the best possible performance from my machine. Will the increase in performance be noticeable if i did this?
- Will this move mess up the activation/registration on Adobe & other software?
-In this scheme, should i use the 2nd partition as a scratch disk for Adobe , Final Cut, etc ?
PS This is what Adobe has to say in Photoshop help:
• The following guidelines can help you assign scratch disks:
• For best performance, scratch disks should be on a different drive than any large files you are editing.
• Scratch disks should be on a different drive than the one used for virtual memory.
• RAID disks/disk arrays are good choices for dedicated scratch disk volumes.
• Drives with scratch disks should be defragmented regularly.
Thanks!
PPS forgot to say I'm on 10.5.6