Available Space vs Speed

[n4uau]

my 16Gb Air is down to under 3Gb available memory. Wondering if it causes the device to run slower as a fragmented hard drive on a PC would

 

[janner43]

Short answer - no it won't. As far as I know iOS doesn't use a hardware swap file like Windows does to simulate RAM.

Disk fragmentation is a feature of mechanical, magnetic drives. SSD drives don't need defragging - in fact it is bad for their health

To try to speed up your Air, try this...
1) In settings, clear all the web history & cache data from Safari
2) Manually "force close" all your open apps
3) Do a reset (hold down power & home until the Apple logo appears)

All the best

 

[giradman]

my 16Gb Air is down to under 3Gb available memory. Wondering if it causes the device to run slower as a fragmented hard drive on a PC would

Well, you have the lowest storage capacity offered in an iPad, and have already been given some excellent advice concerning 'solid state storage', i.e. defragmentation should not be done and may degrade the life of your SSD - when these drives are discussed relative to regular computers, a 15%-20% 'free' storage is often mentioned as a lower limit; you're starting to go below the 20% level - I'd first try to delete content not needed (music, videos, pics, etc.), and then 'Reset' the iPad - let us know if these comments help - Dave

 

[n4uau]

Sure I know I have the smallest storage model! I wouldn't have a clue how to defrag the iPad either! Actually it does not seem that much slower but I thought I'd ask the techies here. I do indeed delete all I don't need. I guess I am pondering: an iPad 6 with more memory when it comes out or can I limp along for a while with what I've got.

Conclusion, I'll limp until I run out of memory.

Thanks for the input!

 

[s2mikey]

Are there some apps that you don't use as much anymore or other things you could delete to free up space? A little storage management is always a good idea here and there. You can always pull apps back down if you remove them and then decide you want them back again.