>A dedicated VM partition should never get fragmented, the swap file is >one file, not many small files.
Good point. But what about after each reboot? Does the OS just open the same old VM store again, or does it make a new one? >Integrity of partition tables? What the heck are you talking about here >Drew? <BigGrin> :-D I've had some fun w/ Linux, MkLinux, BeOS, and multiple Mac OS systems installed on one HD. Let me tell you, if you have a system crash at the wrong time, some of those partitions never come back - you just have to reformat the entire disk. (Well, that was before I discovered that pdisk would let you reformat individual partitions to and from Apple_AUX/MkLinux format, HFS, HFS+, and free space.) So I've had some fun with screwed up partition maps... My favorite was when I tried to hot-plug a SCSI Zip, PowerBook in SCSI Disk Mode, and PowerMac 7300... Let's just say that the 7300 wasn't happy. I still don't know how it screwed up the internal disk (separate bus and everything!), but it sure did. >OTOH, I'm pretty >darn sure the OS builds a new swap file at each startup, and the file >isn't a bunch of scattered small files but one large contiguous file >(assuming a clean VM partition.) So, does that mean that VM will overwrite the old swap file, use the same swap file, or write a new swap file in empty space? If it writes a new file altogether, then at some point it has to run out of enough free contiguous blocks... >The same >principles may not be relevant with VM though and I haven't the foggiest >idea how the classic Mac OS does reads/writes to its swap file. The "pgsz" gestalt selector returns the "logical page size". GestLab remarks, "Logical page size is meaningful only if the machine is equipped with virtual memory. It is the minimum size read when memory swaps." So I'm pretty sure this is related to the allocation block size on the disk (usually 4K in HFS+). But, again, I don't know for sure, and I don't know how changing the allocation block size affects VM speed... >Dan K (who's proving to be just as stubborn as Drew!) : >) Heh, point taken! :-) Peace, Drew Author of ClassicStumbler email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> web: <http://homepage.mac.com/alk/> Want to know if your neighbor has Wi-Fi? Find out with ClassicStumbler! <http://homepage.mac.com/alk/classicstumbler/> -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
