Kernel_task & mds eat vast amounts of RAM

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Level 1

6 points

Kernel_task & mds eat vast amounts of RAM

hello --

after upgrading to Lion i noticed how very much slower my machine had become. i realize that indexing takes a while and will slow the machine, however, this has been several days ago, and the machine is not indexing anymore. eventually i opened the activity monitor and noticed the following RAM usages by the Kernel_task & mds (spotlight):

mds: 892 MB

kernel_task: 737 MB

it seems to me that these numbers are enormous and not how it should be, those two processes are easily the largest running on my machine.

has anyone else noticed a similar behavior?

thanks in advance,

p.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), i7, 8GB

Posted on Aug 20, 2011 6:29 PM

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Answer 1

tbsteph

Level 2

336 points

Aug 20, 2011 7:44 PM in response to Patrick J

Are you running Time Machine via a Time Capsule wirelessly per chance? If so, there seems to be a bug that causes the services you mentioned to eat up your Macbook's RAM and processor. Look for a long thread on this subject. My solution was to turn off auto back up via Time Machine and just run it manually periodically. Hopefully this issue will disappear in 10.7.2.

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Answer 2

Patrick J Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 20, 2011 7:52 PM in response to tbsteph

amazingly, i posted just a few minutes earlier an issue i am having with time machine as well, and in fact you are right, i do use a time capsule over wifi. i will look for that thread. a real hassle i have to say. i do wonder though, if it is caused by the fact that i also use the TC drive for additional data as a mountable drive. do you happen to do that as well?

thanks.

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