Memory
and Disk Problems
Got Enough RAM and Disk Space?
Routine Disk Maintenance
Sleep or Shut Down?
Written
By: Adam Rosen
This article was published in the Adam's
Apple column on Low End
Mac
Memory and Disk Problems
Sometimes
your Mac just doesn't seem as peppy as it used to, particularly if it's
been running for a long time. Memory and Disk Problems are the most
common causes of routine glitches and sluggishness, especially the dreaded
"Spinning Pizza of Death" (aka beachball cursor) that never seems to go away. Sometimes RAM and disk
space get used up or becomes fragmented after continuous operation,
so periodically it helps to reset the entire system.
Restarting is the classic suggestion most techs give when problems
appear. It's a catch all solution, one that experienced users do automatically
and beginners always question. Why? Basically, because it's an effective
solution a good deal of the time! The procedure is simple, just choose
Restart... under the Apple menu and confirm your intention
when asked Are You Sure? Upon restart your Mac quits any troublesome programs
and resets all RAM and other storage buffers
Here's
a tip you don't hear very often: Logging Out in Mac OS X is much quicker then Restarting and often just as effective;
usually the problem is with a program you launched rather than
the underlying OS. Choose Log Out... under the Apple menu to quit all your
applications and return to the login menu, then log back in to your
account; This only takes a few seconds instead of a minute or longer,
and is worth doing once a week or whenever you Mac acts slugglishly.
Important:
you must know your account password to use logout!
If you've forgotten it, then click Restart from the login window instead
of logging back in.
Sometimes
the Restart or Log Out command doesn't work because a program refuses
to Quit. Don't pull out the plug unless it's your last resort!
Try doing a Force Quit to get rid of the offender: choose
Force Quit... under the Apple
menu, or hold down the Command (Apple), Option and Escape keys (CMD-OPT-ESC)
simultaneously. This brings up the Force Quit window, where you can
choose to end a recalcitrant program.
If Force
Quit doesn't work more drastic measures are required. On laptops and
Mac keyboards with a power button you can Force Restart: hold
down the Control, Command (Apple) and Power keys (CTRL-CMD-PWR)
simultaneously. Many older Macs also have a force restart button on
the front or side of the case, marked with a small triangle; pressing
this will also Force Restart.
If neither
of these is an option for you, then all Macs support Force Shutdown: press and hold down the Power button on the computer for 5+ seconds
and the Mac will shut down. As a last resort only, if
none of the above works, then unplug the power cable (and remove the
battery if you're running a laptop); that will shut down the computer
once and for all. Wait 30 seconds before restarting after a Force Shutdown
Got Enough RAM and Disk Space?
If
your programs aren't crashing and you've restarted or logged out repeatedly
but things are still sluggish, make sure you have enough RAM and
Disk Space for optimal operation.
Too little of either slows things down noticeably.
Insufficient
RAM is a common cause of delays and the beachball's appearance; Apple's
stock RAM install amounts are low. When a shortage of RAM occurs the
OS uses the hard disk as additional storage space, which is much slower
(this is called virtual memory).
Adding more RAM minimizes use of virtual memory. I recommend the following
as minimum RAM guidelines:
Mac OS X
on PowerPC: |
|
256MB min,
512MB+ recommended |
Mac OS X
on Intel: |
|
512MB min,
1GB+ recommended |
Mac OS 9:
|
|
64MB
min, 192MB+ recommended |
When
in doubt, more is better. If you tend to run many programs simultaneously,
or use RAM hungry applications like photo and video processing software,
then install the maximum RAM your computer will support.
For
disk space, a good rule of thumb is to keep at least 10% of your hard
disk free; the OS needs some space as temporary storage in regular operation
and for virtual memory. For Mac OSX try to make sure that 10% is at
least 3GB free; for Mac OS 9, at least 500MB. Hard drives get cheaper
all the time, it may be time for more storage.
Routine Disk Maintenance
There
is some Disk Maintenance you can perform monthly or when space is low.
Delete old documents, downloads
and installers which you may no longer need, especially things on the
desktop. Delete old email attachments; if you're not sure where those
are located, check your email program's Preferences for details. And
once deleted, don't forget to Empty the Trash! (Just remember to backup
your data first.)
Good
disk organization permits easy backups and data management. Keep files
and applications in their correct locations. Your personal files should
be kept inside your User or Home folder, on the Desktop or inside the
Documents, Movies, Music, or Pictures folders. All programs should be
in the Applications folder, or "Applications (Mac OS 9)" for
Classic. Don't place everything on the Desktop or the Root Level of
your hard disk, use the Home folder for organization.
Another
form of routine disk maintenance involves Defragmenting or Optimizing
the hard drive. Like RAM, disk space becomes disorganized after continuous
use with unused chunks and many files stored in little fragments across
the disk. This causes the disk to work harder to find and save data,
and hence slower. Optimizing rearranges your data into continuous chunks
to improve disk efficiently. It's very important to backup your data
before optimizing a disk, in case something goes awry during the
process. TechTool Pro and
Drive
Genius both provide optimization routines for Mac OS X.
With
hard disks relatively inexpensive these days I no longer optimize my
drives; instead I prefer to use Disk Cloning as a method to both defragment and backup my hard
drive in the same operation. By making a clone of my drive I start with
the backup process; the cloning (copying) operation serves to defragment
my files as they're transferred to the destination drive. Once finished
I boot off the clone, erase my source drive, then clone the (defragmented)
contents back. Viola! A defragmented drive complete with a bootable
backup.
This
entire process is usually faster than the separate backup and optimization
steps would take, and it always keeps a working copy of my data available.
For more about cloning and backups, see part 3 of this article, Maintaining
Your Macintosh - Backup Strategies.
Sleep or Shut Down?
It's
a common question: should I shut down the computer when I'm done or
just let it go to sleep? Opinions vary; here's my take on the whole
affair:
Mac OS X
is a UNIX based Operating System designed for 24/7 operation; UNIX powers
things like major internet and financial servers which need to run reliably
all the time. As such Mac OS X contains automatic tuneup scripts that
run at daily, weekly or monthly rates. These routines (called cron
scripts) help make your system more
efficient by purging RAM and cache files, quitting stalled processes
and (since Mac OS X 10.4) automatically defragmenting important files
on your hard drive. Simply put, a Mac running Mac OS X will run better
when left powered on and set to Sleep when not in use.
However
excess power consumption is a nontrivial issue and a real cost to you
and society. You can use System Preferences --> Energy Saver to adjust
your Sleep settings as needed. Typically using 20-30 minutes is a good
starting point, then you can tweak as desired. While sleeping your computer
will use as little power as possible but keep itself tuned up. Sometimes
USB or FireWire drives prevent a system from going to sleep, so unmount
and turn off external drives when not in use.
If
you're away for a week or more, and you're not using your Mac as a server
to share files or printers, then consider shutting things down. Also
note that automatic system tuneup operations are for Mac OS X systems
only; Mac OS 9 users can use Sleep or Shut Down as they prefer, with no
change in system performance.
Another
reason to shut down is thunderstorms. Not only can lightning come over
an AC line to reach your computer (even possible with a surge protector),
but a lightning strike can also take out power in your area, shutting
down the computer. It's much safer to do a controlled shut down than
lose power, lose unsaved work, and risk damage to computer.
Adam Rosen
