I had recently just opened up my iMac, and soon saw that of 64 GBs or RAM, I was down to about 6!
I opened Activity Monitor and saw "suggestd" was using nearly 20 GBs, and wondered what in the world that process is, and why is it using so much memory. Anyone have any idea what it is?
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.15
Never use any of those "memory clean" apps. The operating system manages your memory. It is a constant battle with apps that try to allocate too much memory. Any 3rd party "memory cleaner" is only going to interfere and make the problem worse.
This person on Stack Overflow found a solution. When I see someone saying something like "fixed (at least on my system)", I have a higher level of confidence in their approach. They referenced instructions on this web page to reset your Address Book. Unfortunately, there are a lot of ads on that page for other types of "clean up" apps. Don't download any of those. Also, the instructions are out-of-date. I have updated them for Big Sur and posted below. I tested this and confirm that it will do no harm, if done correctly.
All this is doing is deleting your local contacts and downloading them fresh from iCloud. The first 6 steps are only to backup your current contacts and to ensure they are correct in iCloud before starting. Any "fix it" instructions that start off with a backup in case something goes wrong gives me confidence that the instructions are correct.
Never use any of those "memory clean" apps. The operating system manages your memory. It is a constant battle with apps that try to allocate too much memory. Any 3rd party "memory cleaner" is only going to interfere and make the problem worse.
This person on Stack Overflow found a solution. When I see someone saying something like "fixed (at least on my system)", I have a higher level of confidence in their approach. They referenced instructions on this web page to reset your Address Book. Unfortunately, there are a lot of ads on that page for other types of "clean up" apps. Don't download any of those. Also, the instructions are out-of-date. I have updated them for Big Sur and posted below. I tested this and confirm that it will do no harm, if done correctly.
All this is doing is deleting your local contacts and downloading them fresh from iCloud. The first 6 steps are only to backup your current contacts and to ensure they are correct in iCloud before starting. Any "fix it" instructions that start off with a backup in case something goes wrong gives me confidence that the instructions are correct.
Download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.
IMPORTANT:
Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:
Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.
Copy the report
and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.
Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.
Saxman wrote:
I had recently just opened up my iMac, and soon saw that of 64 GBs or RAM, I was down to about 6!
I opened Activity Monitor and saw "suggestd" was using nearly 20 GBs, and wondered what in the world that process is, and why is it using so much memory. Anyone have any idea what it is?
suggestd —is daemon that processes user content in order to detect contacts, events, named entities, etc. It receives content from Mail, Spotlight, Messages and other apps.
—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.
Login and test. Reboot as normal. Caches get rebuilt automatically.
In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.
You can always run a sample in the Activity Monitor in search of clues, or force quit the process and try again.
Activity Monitor User Guide for Mac - Apple Support
Well, the tech person only wanted to focus on the issues I'm having with my iPad, which neither he nor the Apple Store "genius" could fix. Which I don't get, the manager actually suggested I use my Macbook Pro, instead of the $1k, new, "state-of-the-art" iPad I bought, specifically to use it on my gigs. Oddly, the feature, Sound Check, works fine on my 20 yr old iPods, but not on the iPad, and they told me they don't know how they can fix it! I may just try to return it, and can't believe Apple would have something that doesn't work, and just say they don't know how to fix it, huh??
Anyway, since I didn't even get into the Suggestd RAM-sucking issue, I'm still having to constantly force quit it, as my 64 Gb of RAM will suddenly drop down to 5 or so Gigs.... which is also pretty ridiculous. And when I quit it, nothing that I can tell, stops working, whether streams or playing music, so I have no idea why it shoots up so suddenly, sucking up 20 to 40 gigs of RAM...
Still having this stubborn, and screwed up issue! I suddenly notice my RAM is down to less than 5 GBs, (out of 64), and Activity Monitor showing it's using as many as 115 GBs!! I have to force quit it, to get back to normal, what a mess...
Still using Memory Cleaner Application ??
I'm using Memory Clean 3, that's how I can quickly monitor the level of my available RAM, as it's shown in my toolbar.
Good luck with that
It's now bouncing around... it'll go from 22GB, down to 2GB, then work itself back up to 11, 15, 8, 20, always using around 90/95% of CPU. But then then suddenly down to 120mb, and 0% CPU... I've got a call set for 4pm with an Apple upper-level tech person, so I'll see what he says... thanks
Saxman wrote:
It's now bouncing around... it'll go from 22GB, down to 2GB, then work itself back up to 11, 15, 8, 20, always using around 90/95% of CPU. But then then suddenly down to 120mb, and 0% CPU... I've got a call set for 4pm with an Apple upper-level tech person, so I'll see what he says... thanks
Will be looking forward to hearing your report on the issue.
What is "SUGGESTD" and why is it using 20GBs of RAM?
