Lots of files = extreme hard drive bog-down?

Hi all. Greetings and salutations.

I've been thinking about making the switch for a while now, and I have a TON (figuratively speaking, of course) of questions before going through with it. But one question at a time.

Will the OSX slow down to a near crawl like Windows does when there are a lot of big files on the hard drive? Like, when it's almost full? Now, I realize that ANY hard drive will slow down when there are many files on it, it's unavoidable. But I want to know if OSX behaves differently regarding this issue.

One point I need to mention... I am a complete Mac newbie. My only experience with it is playing around on a pretty 27" iMac in Staples for like, 5-10 minutes at a time. Please be gentle and give answers in a kind of Mac basics for Dummies format, please. :Blushing: Any and all answers are greatly appreciated!!

Do you need my Windows specs for this question or not?

The-Canuckster said:

Will the OSX slow down to a near crawl like Windows does when there are a lot of big files on the hard drive?

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No, unless you're keeping them on the desktop. Open trying to open them all in limited RAM.

Like, when it's almost full?

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Yes. OS X needs lots of temp room to do its thing. You should keep at least 20GB or so free at all times, lots more if you're working with "big files" (HD video, lots of DVD burning, pro audio, etc).

Now, I realize that ANY hard drive will slow down when there are many files on it, it's unavoidable. But I want to know if OSX behaves differently regarding this issue.

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You realise incorrectly. Given what I've said above, this will not happen on a Mac. The mere presence of large files has no effect on the OS's normal operation. This is because the Mac does not have a registry, thank Jobs!

The Mac *will* slow down when you run out of sufficient RAM to work with the files you have open, so it is a "best practice" to quit (not just close) applications you are not using. They will relaunch in a second or two anyway. If you have to work with a lot of large files all the time, max out the RAM on your chosen machine.

chas_m said:

Yes. OS X needs lots of temp room to do its thing. You should keep at least 20GB or so free at all times, lots more if you're working with "big files" (HD video, lots of DVD burning, pro audio, etc).


The Mac *will* slow down when you run out of sufficient RAM to work with the files you have open, so it is a "best practice" to quit (not just close) applications you are not using. They will relaunch in a second or two anyway. If you have to work with a lot of large files all the time, max out the RAM on your chosen machine.

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Thank you, your whole answer was very helpful, but especially this part. Question; how much RAM is recommended when working with large audio/video files, several applications running at the same time, etc.? How much room does the hard drive need to "do it's thing"? I know you said 20 GB, but how much is "lots more" when working with big files?

Also, I was thinking around 32 GB of RAM. I was thinking that it would more than suffice for the big files. What's your take on that? Is it enough?

Professional apps will generally use as much RAM as they can, so if you're working with Big Files like that, you want as much RAM as you can afford. 32GB is WAY overkill for most typical-use apps but I'm sure something like Photoshop would thank you.

As for hard drive space, there's no "hard and fast rule" about the amount of temp space needed, just common sense. OS X is constantly making use of temp files, which sometimes need to be SEVERAL TIMES the size of the file that is being opened (for example when DVD burning) so just be aware of that and keep a relevant amount of space available for the kind of work you do.

Photoshop and some other programs will let you designate an alternate drive as a "scratch disk" which helps, but does NOT negate OS X's need for lots of temp space.

Ah, I gotcha. So about 50-100 GB of space on the drive would be a safe amount, I imagine. I know 32 GB of RAM is a bit overkill, but I do tend to make fairly large pictures in PhotoShop, so... better safe than sorry. I tend to overkill things also... :Blushing:

Another question.. you said that after quitting (not just closing the window) applications not in use would relaunch in a second or two anyway. I don't quite understand that.. they haven't really quit, and will relaunch again? How do you mean "relaunch in a second or two"?

Sorry for so many questions. I just wanna make sure I understand all of what you're saying.

What I mean is that if I quit my Mail application, for example, I can relaunch it from the dock and it will be open and ready to go in a couple of seconds.

IOW, there's not much reason in leaving it open all day as many people do.

Oh, I get it. So you mean it will open when clicked (by the user) in a second or two...instead of with Windows, when you sometimes have to wait a minute or two (or more) for a program to open. I mistook what you said. I thought you meant that an application will open right away again without the user doing anything.. whether the user likes it or not. my bad. Thanks again!

-J.S.