How to get compressed memory back in OS X 10.9 Mavericks?

Question

I followed the suggestion to disable compressed memory, now I want to get it back.

I checked the code, it was 4 before disabling.

So, I tried:

sudo nvram boot-args="vm_compressor=4"

That was not effective.

Please, how to get the feature back?

Solution

You're confusing the boot argument vm_compressor with the sysctl variable vm.compressor_mode; they don't correspond in values. As I understand it, this is the mapping:

nvram boot-args=""  =>                 sysctl vm.compressor_mode=4  =>  memory compression enabled (normal)
nvram boot-args="vm_compressor=1"  =>  sysctl vm.compressor_mode=1  =>  memory compression disabled

To restore the default behavior, either:

• remove the one boot argument from NVRAM; or
• remove all boot arguments, sudo nvram -d boot-args

– then restart the Mac.

Comments

[Graham Perrin]

Is there any value other than 4 for enabled? In Ask Different: vm_compressor_mode (vm.compressor_mode) values for enabled compressed memory in OS X