Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Whats this folder and can it be deleted?
- Thread starter jwolf6589
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
No - do not delete this if the disk it is on is your system disk. It means you've run out of memory and the OS has to temporarily some of it on disk. If you need the disk space, you can disable swapping. Or, after a reboot, this file should be deleted until such time that you run out of memory.
https://www.asylab.com/single-post/2017/11/29/Disable-Swapfile-MacOs-Mac-OS-X
You can use Activity Monitor to monitor your memory - maybe there's an app that's taking a lot of it.
https://www.asylab.com/single-post/2017/11/29/Disable-Swapfile-MacOs-Mac-OS-X
You can use Activity Monitor to monitor your memory - maybe there's an app that's taking a lot of it.
I have 190GB's free so I have plenty of space. I was just curious what that file was. No reason to disable it. Thanks...
The swapfile can get fairly large at times. It's a pretty normal occurrence. It may change in size while you are using your Mac, even might shrink somewhat on its own. You used to see a large performance hit, when the swap file was in use, but SSDs make that result much less noticeable. If you notice that your system is really slowing down, and also have a large swap file, that's usually your clue that you need more RAM memory (storage space on your drive doesn't count!) If your Mac is an older one, you may be able to add more RAM. Newer Macs, same issue, often means that you need to pay attention to which apps are needing all that swap space, and go easy 
You can remove an existing Swapfile by restarting your Mac. The swapfile might come back quite quickly, or you might work for a few days without seeing it return. It all depends on what you do on your Mac, and how you work.
Final thought: If you don't really notice any performance issues, you can choose to ignore the swapfile. It's a natural part of the system - a normal result of memory management on your Mac.
You can remove an existing Swapfile by restarting your Mac. The swapfile might come back quite quickly, or you might work for a few days without seeing it return. It all depends on what you do on your Mac, and how you work.
Final thought: If you don't really notice any performance issues, you can choose to ignore the swapfile. It's a natural part of the system - a normal result of memory management on your Mac.
If sig of OP is right he has 8GB ram.
i have mid 2012 macbook pro i5 with 6GB ram and 240GB SSD.
the swap file OP talks of is 1.07GB on my laptop
i have mid 2012 macbook pro i5 with 6GB ram and 240GB SSD.
the swap file OP talks of is 1.07GB on my laptop
Any existing swapfile is deleted when your restart your Mac.
A swapfile would be created and used whenever needed by the system, and may change as you work.
I don't know of a method to report when a swapfile is used. It either exists (and the system has used it to some degree), or the system has not yet needed to create one.
A swapfile would be created and used whenever needed by the system, and may change as you work.
I don't know of a method to report when a swapfile is used. It either exists (and the system has used it to some degree), or the system has not yet needed to create one.
activity monitor has a current swap file usage at bottom.
it not same size as the file but the activity monitor is current usage not total used.
I'd not worry about the file as relatively small anyway and is a temp file.
it not same size as the file but the activity monitor is current usage not total used.
I'd not worry about the file as relatively small anyway and is a temp file.