>> [2]$ cat /proc/meminfo >> MemTotal: 7128956 kB >> MemFree: 2132556 kB >> Buffers: 556832 kB >> Cached: 2821408 kB > > A supplementary question, can anyone explain what "buffers" and "cached" > are? I have a performance problem with postgresql (discussion is on the > postgresql list), and I see those figures displayed by commands such as > free, top and procinfo but the man pages don't define them. > > > Buffers = disk buffers (buffers of stuff to be read/written) Cached = page cache which stores filesystem and process pages...copy of files in memory