Re: How much HD space needed for memory swapping

For your reference, records indicate that
Dudley Brooks <dbrooks@runforyourlife.org> wrote:
 

As it fills up, I have seen a big dropoff in function -- programs load
much more slowly, can only have a few programs open at the same time,
windows don't open at full size, etc.

 Something is missing from your assessment.  While things can slow down when
the computer takes time to swap things from RAM to HD and back again, none
of that should keep windows from opening/resizing properly.
 

I assume this is because of not enough swap space on the HD.

 Maybe, or not.  Whether or not free space is used for swap or something
else depends a lot on what you’re actually doing.  For example, it could
be that one of the apps you use creates large temp files, and it has
reduced functionality when it has trouble doing that.
 

What is the recommended amount of HD space to keep free for good
performance?

 The right way to think about it is what you’re actually doing that is
impacting performance.  Open Activity Monitor and see what’s using RAM,
CPU, etc.  Given that you already have 16GB of RAM, you’d have to be
running *dozens* of large apps for you to be needing equivalent amounts of
swap.  Although, keep in mind that if you leave a web browser open with
multiple tabs, each site can chew up far more RAM than you might expect
(I’m talking more than 1GB for a single web page!).
 You have a very old machine, which doesn’t help.  I still have a 2012 Mac
mini with 8GB that runs fine for most things, but I don’t push it to do
things I know it is too slow to handle.  If you expect to keep using Intel hardware that’s a decade old, you have to be realistic about what it can
and can’t do.