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Something's eating RAM in 10.6.8
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Sep 2010
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For some time now I have the problem that after a while after login my 4GB RAM on my MBP 2010 with OS 10.6.8 starts filling up with no apparent reason even if only a few applications are open. I cannot discern any pattern, not even in activity monitor.
Please help.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Pittsburgh
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your RAM being fully utilized is a Good Thing. If you have a lot of free RAM, it's just going to waste.
What you should pay attention to is page outs. if you have a lot of page outs, it means your workflow is RAM starved and increasing RAM to maximum supported would help keep the OS from paging out to your slow HDD (assuming you're not running an SSD).
edit: the "filling up for no apparent reason" actually...has a reason. When you close an application or files the application was working with, OS X keeps that in RAM and marks it as Unused. if you happen to need that file or application, it is another Good Thing that that data is still stored in RAM as it can be accessed very quickly. To reiterate: it is good that your RAM is being fully utilized
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2001
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What are the "few applications" you have open?
If it's web browsers like Chrome, they can be huge memory hogs.
Steve
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Celebrating 10 years and 4000 posts on MacNN!
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I keep saying that I should make a sticky on this, but it hasn't happened yet, so...
If you are looking at memory in Activity Monitor, there are 4 categories. The tricky part is memory marked as Inactive. Memory marked as Inactive is memory that can be cleared at any time, but hasn't been cleared yet because there is no need to do so. If your leak is only more memory being added to Inactive, you don't really have a memory leak - you have a well functioning system. A memory leak is if the memory marked as Active or Wired starts to increase. If that happens, take a look at which process is using lots of real memory.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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Well, thanks, but I think I have a general idea of how RAM works and I also consider the fact that "wired" means potentially free.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were lots of page-outs with many apps and windows open, but my RAM starving also occurs e.g. with Firefox surfing only.
After some time this filling up of RAM makes the machine unresponsive and I have to clear the situation by a restart. That's not the way it should be, shouldn't it.
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You could try Camino instead of Firefox. It is lighter on RAM.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
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Originally Posted by angelmb
You could try Camino instead of Firefox. It is lighter on RAM.
According to Crucial, you could put another 4GB in your MBP for $26.
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"Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes." Frank Drebin, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
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You should make this a sticky, P.
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Sell or send me your vintage Mac things if you don't want them.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by cgc
According to Crucial, you could put another 4GB in your MBP for $26.
Indeed. I have 8 GB RAM on a MBP Late 2008 model.
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I, too, have been experiencing this of late. However, I'm in 10.8.2 w/8GB on a late 2012 MBP. I've been watching my memory usage and as the days go on the active ram increases so much that free ram is null and the page outs and swapped end up using all my SSD, whereupon I get a nice little message that says I'm out of disk space. Of course, restarting fixes it, but something is amiss.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Which app is using the active RAM?
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I'm seeing a RAM issue where inactive RAM grows until it consumes all available RAM. The process that's causing this is a java server application. Running 10.6.8 on an Xserve. The server keeps running, but this is kind of worrying, especially if the issue persists in 10.7 and 10.8.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 1999
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10.6.8 eating RAM and excessive page out, you say? I don't know who the culprit may be
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Professional Poster
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Originally Posted by FireWire
10.6.8 eating RAM and excessive page out, you say? I don't know who the culprit may be
I know you've got to be kidding...if not, then use the quit command instead of running every program you have on your computer at the same time.
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"Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes." Frank Drebin, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 1999
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No this is totally legit. Admitedly this after a 40 days uptime but Safari always eats up all my RAM. I could have quit Preview and Image Capture but I use the rest daily. I don't have that many applications open. I shouldn't be short on memory with 6 GB. I have to quit Safari multiple times daily otherwise I have no RAM left..
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Originally Posted by pereljon
I'm seeing a RAM issue where inactive RAM grows until it consumes all available RAM. The process that's causing this is a java server application. Running 10.6.8 on an Xserve. The server keeps running, but this is kind of worrying, especially if the issue persists in 10.7 and 10.8.
That's expected on any modern OS.
Originally Posted by FireWire
No this is totally legit. Admitedly this after a 40 days uptime but Safari always eats up all my RAM. I could have quit Preview and Image Capture but I use the rest daily. I don't have that many applications open. I shouldn't be short on memory with 6 GB. I have to quit Safari multiple times daily otherwise I have no RAM left..
Safari doesn't know or care what your uptime is. Do you have any plugins/extension? Are you loading a lot of large or complicated webpages?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 1999
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The only extension I have is Social Fixer (formerly BetterFacebook), but the problem was present before I started using it. I have the standard plugins provided by Apple, mainly QuickTime and Java, plus Flash, always up to date. I usually have a few tabs open, but nothing really complicated. Facebook, local newspaper ( LaPresse.ca | Actualités, Arts, International, Débats, Sports, Vivre, Voyage), MacNN, Hotmail, plus whatever page I'm currently viewing. It used to be worse when viewing failblog so I started using Firefox only for that website. The problem has been present with every version of Safari I remember using, as well as WebKit (nightly).
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Dec 2012
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You can check the consumption of memory through activity monitor. Just close the unnecessary applications running background and please check list of login items and remove as per your need.
Hope, it would work for you.
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