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<blockquote data-quote="MacInWin" data-source="post: 1783631" data-attributes="member: 396914">The amount of free space on the boot drive is always in flux if the total memory (RAM) of the system is insufficient. What happens is that when the OS demands more memory than is available to perform some task, idle applications are paged out to the boot drive (cached) so that the task can complete. If you have a lot of things going on, and if the memory is tight, that swapping in and out will cause fluctuations in the amount of space available on the drive. Given the small free space you say you have (4GB to 13GB) it's not surprising that the fluctuations seem large. In addition, the applications themselves may be using what is known as &quot;scratch&quot; space for storage of temporary data. That temporary data may be needed for &quot;history&quot; functions in applications that support undo functions. And the deeper the undo is capable of going, the more space is required for that undo process. Again, as things are being edited and saved, that scratch space fluctuates in size.Bottom line, unless your drive is tiny, 4GB to 13GB is not sufficient room for the functions needed. The general recommendation is for 15-20% free on the boot drive. Assuming the smallest margin of 15%, and the largest room you say you have at 13GB, the math works out that unless your drive is less than 100GB, that's way too little free space, regardless of the format.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MacInWin, post: 1783631, member: 396914"] The amount of free space on the boot drive is always in flux if the total memory (RAM) of the system is insufficient. What happens is that when the OS demands more memory than is available to perform some task, idle applications are paged out to the boot drive (cached) so that the task can complete. If you have a lot of things going on, and if the memory is tight, that swapping in and out will cause fluctuations in the amount of space available on the drive. Given the small free space you say you have (4GB to 13GB) it's not surprising that the fluctuations seem large. In addition, the applications themselves may be using what is known as "scratch" space for storage of temporary data. That temporary data may be needed for "history" functions in applications that support undo functions. And the deeper the undo is capable of going, the more space is required for that undo process. Again, as things are being edited and saved, that scratch space fluctuates in size. Bottom line, unless your drive is tiny, 4GB to 13GB is not sufficient room for the functions needed. The general recommendation is for 15-20% free on the boot drive. Assuming the smallest margin of 15%, and the largest room you say you have at 13GB, the math works out that unless your drive is less than 100GB, that's way too little free space, regardless of the format. [/QUOTE]

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