We recently wrote an article telling you all about what exactly virtual memory was in the context of OS X, what it does, and how you can check how much of it youβre using (using the Activity Monitor, as pictured below). If you canβt be bothered to read the article, shame on you, but to sum it up, while virtual memory can be a very useful to push your RAM to itβs limits, it can also slow down your computer significantly, and many want to know how to disable it.
Hereβs how, but itβs not exactly the easiest thing to do and you risk messing up your computer. We hold no responsibility if you mess up your Mac as a result of following this.
1. Open Terminal (Found In Applications > Utilities)
2. Virtual memory on the Mac is controlled by a swap file, and thatβs what youβll need to deactivate. Type this command into the Terminal:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist
3. If you want to completely delete the files (really donβt recommend it, as you will never be able to modify virtual memory again), then type this command:
sudo rm /private/var/vm/swapfile*
If youβve only gone as far as step two and want to reactivate the swap file, type this then close the Terminal:
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist
Iβll stress again that this is risky stuff, so if you donβt know what youβre doing, donβt try it. Instead, there are some much easier solutions to improving memory performance.
Upgrading the RAM itself is the most obvious one, and you can also run fewer programs at once and create more space on your hard drive. Disabling virtual memory is only something you should do if you have a specific purpose in mind, nothing else.
Before you go
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I do not believe that is a good idea. Could it let very RAM hungry application crash?
Wow β super-old post, but really helpful. Did this on my Mac Pro with 128GB of RAMβ¦not really useful for me, and just burns write cycles on my SSDs.
And yes, it could cause RAM hungry apps to crash, but if youβve got a massive amount of RAM and know youβve got the headroom, youβll be fine.
If you have a massive amount of RAM, I suppose the mac will not use Virtual memory a lot and therefore will not burn write cycles on your SSD, so you might as well leave it on for the few times you do run out of RAM. Canβt hurt, but it can help.