Modern computers are powerful machines that allow you to both use the global information network and create various content: from documents to videos and others.
RAM and drive memory (storage), what's the difference?
Random access memory (RAM, RAM) - random access memory - part of the computer memory system that is used by the operating system, programs, as well as input, output and intermediate data processed by the processor.
Internal memory (drive, storage, hard drive, SSD, HDD) - computer memory that is used to store all data on the computer (including those that are not being used at the moment).
For a simpler understanding, let's compare RAM with a table top. The longer it is, the more papers and other things you can place on it for work right now. And storage (drive, hard drive, SSD, HDD) is like paper boxes under the table, which stores documents that you do not need at the moment, but will sooner or later.
The more RAM a computer has, the more applications (including those requiring RAM: graphic editors, etc.) it can launch and work in them simultaneously.
The more internal memory a computer has, the more data (movies, music, photos, programs, etc.) can be stored on the computer.
How to find out how much RAM is installed on a Mac
1. Click the Apple logo () in the upper left corner of the screen.
2. Click "About This Mac".
3. The amount of RAM will be indicated in the Memory line in the Overview tab of the window that appears.
4. If you want to know how many RAM slots on your Mac are occupied and how much RAM is in use, go to the Memory tab.
How to check RAM consumption on Mac
1. Open the Finder app, go to the Applications folder, then scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
2. Start the System Monitor application.
3. Go to the " Memory " section located at the top of the " System Monitor " window.
4. Look at the bottom of the window to see the current memory usage information.
The color of the Memory Load graph will give you an idea of how much memory you are currently using. Green indicates that some amount of memory is available. Red, on the other hand, indicates its exhaustion. MacOS starts using a boot disk to expand memory. In this case, Apple recommends closing unused applications or installing more RAM. Yellow means that memory is still available to the system, but the Mac is already starting to start optimizing its work.
5. Pay attention to the Memory column, in which the processes will be allocated in order of higher RAM consumption.
Complete these processes if necessary. To do this, select the required process and click the "×" button in the upper left corner of the "System Monitor" application window.
How to check the available storage (internal memory) of your Mac
Whether you receive a notification that your boot disk is almost full or you just want to know the amount of storage available to you, you may need to get this information.
1. Click the Apple logo () in the upper left corner of the screen.
2. Click " About This Mac ".
3. Go to the " Storage " tab. You should see a cumulative bar chart showing how much of your total storage is being used by different categories of data. Also, you can find out how much space is still available on your hard drive.
4. If you want to get into the details of how much space each application or file takes up, click " Manage … " for a detailed report.
How to check the available storage (internal memory) of your Mac using Disk Utility
1. Open the Finder app, go to the Applications folder, then scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
2. Start the " Disk Utility " application.
3. On the left side of the screen, select the drive you are interested in in capacity and usage.
4. A window will open with a bar graph showing how much of your shared storage is currently in use. Below it will be shown in a little more detail how many megabytes or gigabytes are in use and how much is free.
How to see free storage space (internal memory) of Mac in Finder
1. Open the Finder app.
2. Go to the View menu and select Show Status Bar.
3. The amount of free storage will be listed at the very bottom of the Finder window.
See also:
- Stacks in macOS, or how to organize files on your desktop into neat groups.
- 10 cool iPhone + Mac connectivity options when used together.
- How to automatically empty the Trash on Mac (macOS).
