Memory upgrade reduces disk space?

B

bowjest

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I've just upgraded the RAM in my MBP from 2GB to 4GB. Having just rebooted the computer I've noticed that previously I had 188.04GB of free disk space and now I only have 185.92GB.

Is this due to an increased virtual memory requirement of something?

Thanks,

Bowjest
 
Your MBP creates a Hibernation file the same size as installed memory so it can save a snapshot of your system when it goes into "Safe Sleep" mode.
This can be turned off and the disk space reclaimed if you never wish to use Safe sleep[.
 
Thanks, jbarley. Just wanted to make sure I understood what was going on.

Very good to know.

Appreciated.

Bowjest
 
This may be redundant, so ignore me if you have heard this before. The additional RAM on a Mac portable means that there is additional hard drive space used by the sleep image file (known as safe sleep), which roughly corresponds to the amount of hard RAM that you have installed. For the benefit of others who read this, the sleepimage file is used in the event that power is lost completely. When next started, your Macbook Pro will go through a short restore process that returns to the state when power was lost. That state is stored in that sleepimage file, which is (again) the size of the amount of memory that you have installed.
So, about 4GB is used for that file, and your system also maintains more vm memory space when more RAM is available. The sleep image is to protect your system and files, and the extra vm used contributes to better performance by your system. Good stuff!
 
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Sorry - not directed at your post, barley.
I left my post unsent for a few minutes, and yours got in ahead of mine.
I edited mine to better reflect what I was hoping to say.
 
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