RAM indicator...

[MIDI_EVIL]

Hi,

Using activity monitor to check my RAM usage, i noticed these...

Wired
Active
Inactive
Used

Can somebody please tell me what they mean. Obviously Used is how much RAM my computer is using but the others i'm unsure of.

Thanks.
Rich.

 

[eva01]

searching the forums is fun and searching the guides is fun as well ^______^

 

[iGary]

searching the forums is fun and searching the guides is fun as well ^______^

Oh come on now Eva.

Used is the total being "used."

Inactive means nothing is using it.

Active and wired are part of the total used - wired is being used by a program, but can be given up to another program if the OS calls for it, AFAIK. Active is in use.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Thanks guys,

Eva, was your post really that necessary ?

Thanks again,
Rich.

 

[eva01]

Thanks guys,

Eva, was your post really that necessary ?

Thanks again,
Rich.

yes it was necessary because i see the exact same question posted about twice a week

 

[iMeowbot]

And then, in real life:

Wired memory is memory that has been reserved at the system level. No other process is allowed to touch it, it cannot be swapped out to disk. It's for critical processes like device drivers that can't afford to have their memory borrowed.

Active is memory allocated by ordinary processes. It is either being used right now or has been used in the recent past. The system will avoid swapping this memory out to disk if at all possible.

Inactive memory is just like active memory, but it's been a while since any process has touched it. Because it's not seeing a lot of action, it is considered relatively safe to swap it out to disk without dramatically affecting performance. If there is not enough free memory out there and a process asks for more, this is where it will come from.

Free memory is RAM that no process has claimed. It's totally up for grabs.

Used is just the sum of wired, active and inactive. Used plus free is the total installed RAM.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Thanks thats really great.

Rich.

 

[iGary]

Free memory is RAM that no process has claimed. It's totally up for grabs.

He didn't ask about that.

 

[crazzyeddie]

And then, in real life:

Wired memory is memory that has been reserved at the system level. No other process is allowed to touch it, it cannot be swapped out to disk. It's for critical processes like device drivers that can't afford to have their memory borrowed.

Active is memory allocated by ordinary processes. It is either being used right now or has been used in the recent past. The system will avoid swapping this memory out to disk if at all possible.

Inactive memory is just like active memory, but it's been a while since any process has touched it. Because it's not seeing a lot of action, it is considered relatively safe to swap it out to disk without dramatically affecting performance. If there is not enough free memory out there and a process asks for more, this is where it will come from.

Free memory is RAM that no process has claimed. It's totally up for grabs.

Used is just the sum of wired, active and inactive. Used plus free is the total installed RAM.

Best summary I've ever seen. I really hope thats in the Guides.