What Are Some Differences Between RAM and HD Space?

Amie

Amie

Mac Convert for Life
In lay terms, please...

I know what a HD is (the drive that holds everything on the computer), and I know what RAM is (memory), but I'm not sure what the differences are in relation to expanding/upgrading. For instance, I upgraded my RAM from 256 MB to 1.25 GB and now when I pull up Activity Monitor and look at the pie chart that shows the memory, I've got more free memory than I did before (obviously). But what happens when my HD is full? Can I upgrade that as well, like the RAM? Right now, when I click on my HD and do Apple + I to show info, it tells me that I have 27.82 GB capacity; 10.03 GB available; and 17.78 GB used. What happens when the "available" number dwindles even more? Then what?...
 
think of ram like the top of your desk, and your HD like a cupboard/storeroom/drawers/attic.

when your desk fills up, it's temporary, but when it gets really full of stuff, it's harder to work, so you clear it (OS X clears it dynamically for you, so you do;nt have to worry). you've just gone from a small 2'x2' corner desk to a big executive office desk. you've got more space to move bits of paper and files and stuff around without it getting too clogged.

hard drives are more like drawers and cupboards, they're long term storage, the place where everything lives. the more files you have, the bigger storage you need. if you have lots of cd's or dvds, you're going to need a bigger drawer to put them all in. same as a hard drive.

you can either replace it with a bigger 'storeroom' (not the cheapest or easiest, the hard drive in an ibook is behind 43 screws, i'm told), or add another, external disk.
 
*a big salute to Lt. Major Burns*

Wow. Are you a teacher? I totally understood that. Thank you so much for that informative (and visually crafty) explanation. :)

So, I guess I'm OK with 1.25 GB RAM and only 10-something GB of HD space left, as I don't have a lot of CDs, and I have NO DVDs at all. I'm guessing it will take a very long time to fill up those 10 gigs, yes?
 
I was going to respond, but that had to be by far the best explanation I've ever read. When it's that good, there's no need to add anything else. Kudos, Burns! :)
 
nixgeek said:
I was going to respond, but that had to be by far the best explanation I've ever read. When it's that good, there's no need to add anything else. Kudos, Burns! :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was pretty amazing, wasn't it?

But feel free to respond to my other question, since no one else has of yet.
 
In Mac OS X you should try to keep always at least 10-15% space empty for the filesystem to work correctly. If the space would go too low, for instance your empty space go to 1 GB, your system will end up behaving incorrectly, probably shutting down, or just being very slow and have all sorts of errors in different applications.
What might be a good solution when starting to run slow in space would be to get an external hard drive, and keep the files you don't need to access all the time there.
 
Ah, I see. OK, so when my HD space gets down to 1 GB, I should start worrying. Thanks! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top