What is cache?

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What are they? and what happens if I delete them?
 
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What are they? and what happens if I delete them?

Cache in computer terms is a temporary storage of data that is saved for quick(er) retrieval (as opposed to getting it from the primary source).

In your browser, images and markup might be stored on the HDD to save downloading them every time from an internet site whenever you refresh a page. On a CPU, cache is a small amount of exceptionally fast memory used for storing bits of code that are reused many times.

I am not sure what cache you're referring to, but generally if you delete it, the application using might have to get the data from a slower source for a short amount of time.
 

eric


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agreeing with zoolook.

also a word of warning. afaik some cache folders can't be rebuilt by the programs trying to access them, which may cause them not to work. so you can empty them, but it may be dangerous to delete them.

i can't say this with authority on a mac, but i can on windows. we once had an operator here who ran a script that was supposed to clean out the temp folder. he wrote it wrong and it ended up deleting c:\temp entirely. obvioulsy many programs were hamstrung, and hung or failed when trying to write a file to c:\temp. once i figured out his mistake it was easy enough to fix, but pretty weird at first.

can anyone attest to this happening on osx at all?
 
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hmm,had an idea that it was something like that, the reason I'm asking is because I d/l the "Maintainence" application, and under cleaning it had logs and crash reports, application cache,font cashe and system and karnel cache.
so I wasnt sure if it was a good idea with the cleaning...
 
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Oddly, I find Safari loads pages quicker if I clear the cache.
 
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zoolook pretty much nails it. Whether it is hard drive data, processor routines or web pages, the concept is the same: cache is a place for fast retrieval of important stuff.
The reason that Safari seems to load faster with an empty cache is because if a web page isn't there in cache, no comparison is necessary, Safari just goes right out to the web and loads the page.
 
F

Fallooza

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so when i watch a trailer from apple is is stored in my cashe? right? anyone know where this cashe folder is?
 

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