Set virtual memory to secondary disk?

[Maddler]

Would it be useful to have a small drive dedicated to virtual memory for OS X? My current system is a dual 2.7 w/ 5.5 GB of RAM, and my virtual memory runs somewhere around 18 GB normally. Whenever Apple gets around to releasing the Penryn Macs, I'll get the top line octo-core w/ 16 GB of RAM, but with 4 times as many cores that's actually about 70% less RAM per core than I'm running now, which isn't really enough anyways.

Also, my system at home (an old dual 500 G4) has a 10k raptor as the startup. Besides loading the OS and Apps quicker, is there a noticeable difference in the operating speed using a Raptor on Mac Pros, or does most of the system end up running from RAM anyway?

 

[trainguy77]

Very rarely does it read the VM from disk. Look into activity monitor the number of page outs shows how much it has read from disk for the VM. So for most people this is not very often.

 

[contoursvt]

18GB!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please tell me you mean 18MB

 

[trainguy77]

18GB!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please tell me you mean 18MB

18GB is normal....actually its rather small. Its not actually using all that space. Just if needed its allocated to applications. Mine is currently at 65 GB and my system hasn't been running very long...