Memory usage screensaver

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10 points

Memory usage screensaver

I have a new M1 iMac (16 GB, 1TB SSD). When I select my photolibrary (70.000 photo's) as screensaver, the memory usage gets so high (more than 70 GB!) the iMac crashes.

It tried the following things:

Checking the integrity of the Photo's Library (3 times!)
Erase whole SSD, clean install of Big Sur and reinstall just my personal data
Contact Apple support by phone -> they couldn't help me.

As a workaround I divided my photo library in smaller maps (5.000 photo's) and select those. The memory usage then is still crazy high (like 20Gb), but it doesn't crash. However, if the screensaver kicks in, the swapping starts and after 3 months 17 TB has been witten to the SSD.

I know the simple solution is not to use the screensaver, but my old iMac from 2011 was able to use the whole photo library, so this new machine should also be able to handle it.

And... it is one of the reasons I have a Mac -> it is alway on, just for the screensaver to start and show my photo's.

memory usage (using whole library) 67 GB!

SSD usage after 3 months

This is not normal is it? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

iMac 24″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Sep 12, 2021 9:26 AM

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Answer 1

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Sep 19, 2021 12:56 PM in response to kirk267

kirk267,

Have you also had an opportunity to set up a test user, sign in to your iCloud account there, but not move any other data over and test the screensaver?

If so, what were the results? If not, let’s test to see if the same thing happens in that user: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. This step will isolate out any other data in your user that may have come over with the migration.

Thanks.

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Answer 2

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Sep 16, 2021 2:57 PM in response to kirk267

kirk267,

You took a lot of great steps on this issue already. When you reinstalled your personal data, how did you do that? For example, did you use Migration Assistant, restore it from Time Machine or just sign in to iCloud?

Are you able to start up in safe mode, start the screensaver and see if the same usage happens? How to use safe mode on your Mac

Thank you.

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Answer 3

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Sep 30, 2021 12:17 PM in response to kirk267

kirk267,

We know you reached out to Apple Support on this matter already, however, that's going to be the best next step to dig further in to the data and logs on your Mac about what's happening.

You've done all the isolation work already and it's revealed that the situation is happening system-wide, with a clean install and specifically when using your entire Photo library.

Knowing all this will better help narrow things down. Here's the link you can use to reach them, or you can use your previous case number. Apple Get Support

Thank you.

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Answer 4

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Sep 13, 2021 6:59 AM in response to kirk267

Hello kirk267,

We understand that when using your Photos library as the screensaver your Mac’s Memory usage kicks up to about 70 GB.

What happens when you say your Mac crashes? Is it restarting, are you seeing a kernel panic or something else? Are your pictures stored locally on your Mac or syncing through iCloud?

Thank you

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Answer 5

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Oct 1, 2021 2:25 PM in response to kirk267

kirk267,

We suggested reaching out to Apple Support, so they could do a deeper dive on the situation with you. Even when you created the test user, which wouldn't have your personal data in it from the migration, only your iCloud synced data, the issue persisted.

That typically indicates the situation is system-wide leaving us with either an issue in the software that needs further attention or an issue with hardware. That your previous Macs handled things well is what leads us to lean towards the software.

Cheers!

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Answer 6

kirk267 Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 14, 2021 4:46 AM in response to AnnieL2

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

With 'crashes' I mean the iMac restarts itself. First I get the 'app forced stop' warning (translation: On your system there is no app memory available) -> second picture of my post. When the memory usage is 70 GB there is no time to shut it down, the screen freezes and then a restart follows. When I select less photo's (a selection of the photolibrary) I'm able to shut the app down and prevent a restart. But even then the memory usage is very high

The photolibrary is stored on the internal SSD, but with the iCloud option on, so the most part will be in the cloud. But as I said the old 2011 iMac could handle this very well.

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Answer 7

kirk267 Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 14, 2021 4:57 AM in response to kirk267

As an experiment I turned the Wifi off, but he memory usages is still the same then -> high

The high usage already starts when I am in system preferences to select the part of the photolibrary for the screensaver.

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Answer 8

kirk267 Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 18, 2021 9:08 AM in response to AnnieL2

Hi,

The people from Apple support already walked me trough the safe mode. The memory usage was also high in safe mode.

When I reinstalled my personal data I used the migration assistant from a Time machine backup.

I only ticked the box for my personal data.

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Answer 9

kirk267 Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 28, 2021 8:42 AM in response to AnnieL2

Hi,

Tried this and the memory usage is still very high with a test user and then signing in to the iCloud account.

The update for Big Sur didn't solve the problem either. So I still don't know what is wrong.

Any help is very appreciated.

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Answer 10

kirk267 Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 30, 2021 2:24 PM in response to AnnieL2

Hi Anniel,

Apple support couldn't help. They tried a few things as well and then said that it was normal (because the photolibrary is very big). The memory usage is of course not normal. Since there are no complaints from others there must be something wrong. They told me if I wanted to see my photo's I should make a slideshow and play that, which isn't an option. So I think I'm stuck with a brand-new 2300+ Euro machine which doesn't work as it should.

I'm really disappointed because as I mentioned before: I bought the new iMac also to put it on the screensaver. It is (now: was) always on just for the screen saver to kick in.

Is there no other option to figure out what is wrong? Is there a way to remove all the screensaver files and replaces them with new (Big Sur) ones? Because I personally think that with the migration it transfers an old version of the screensaver or something like that. Because after the migration I can see an old screensaver (which I don't use anymore!) in the list. So the migration transfers not just raw data/images even when you only tick the personal data box.

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Memory usage screensaver

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