Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 9

64,586 points

A possible solution to FCP X memory problems - it is working for me so far

I think I may have found a way to prevent FCP from gobbling up all available memory (and bring my mac to its knees).

The idea came to me from a post by Tony Reidsma in this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3770230?start=0&tstart=0

He pointed to this page regarding memory usage in FCP X and Motion: http://bradbell.tv/filmmaking/improving-ram-performance-in-final-cut-pro-x/

The above page,mentions a preference setting that exists in Motion but "not in FCP X" - the setting for a "cache percentage".

This is supposed to determine how much of the available memory Motion should retain for caching content (or so I gather).

Sure enough, this preference is not there visibly in FCP X, but since FCP X and Motion share a common foundation, I thought it might be there anyway.

So after looking into the plist files in XCode, I found the name of this preference setting and used the defaults command in Terminal.

I have been throwing everything at it for a day now and it seems to be working well, so I thought I'd share.

Here is the relevant defaults command (NOTE: use this in Terminal when FCP X is NOT running):

defaults write com.apple.FinalCut OZPreferenceManager::CachePercentage -int 20

(this seems leave free about 20% of the ram available when FCP X starts; I have experimented with different values, and apparently the higher the number, the more free memory is untouched)

I have 15 applications running in MacBook Pro (with 8GB Ram), for hours, and no memory problems (and no need to "purge"). And FCP X and all other applications have not shown any of the slowdowns typical of low memory situations.

NOTE: While I have not experienced any negative effects, I have no internal knowledge of the software and no guarantee that this is effective or harmless.

One can revert the above setting by typing (or pasting) the following in Terminal (again, with FCP X NOT running):

defaults delete com.apple.FinalCut OZPreferenceManager::CachePercentage

If any of you try this and it does or does not work for you, I'd appreciate if you post your results back here.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 17", Early 2010

Posted on Mar 1, 2012 2:36 AM

25 replies

Jul 17, 2013 12:31 PM in response to pietrociao

No you don't need to exit FCPX for the app to work. Basically "Free Memory Pro" runs in the background and has a setting in the preferences where you set the threshold for when it will free up the RAM's memory. It will do this automatically and you don't need to do anything. The only thing I would recommend is to stop editing or doing anything while the app is freeing up memory (this only takes about 30 seconds). After it is done things start moving smooth again.

Fortunately there is a display in your toolbar that will show if it is freeing up memory or not. It will also display how much RAM is free at the moment. Does that answer your question?

Jul 17, 2013 12:42 PM in response to Jonnynm22

It does. Thank you!

yuanChin

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2014 12:24 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Dear All,

Im facing the same problem too, it gets to 99% and everything stops working 😟. FCPX eat all my HDD space. Any solution ?

Luis Sequeira1 Author

Level 9

64,586 points

Jan 6, 2014 3:12 AM in response to yuanChin

yuanChin wrote:

Dear All,

Im facing the same problem too, it gets to 99% and everything stops working 😟. FCPX eat all my HDD space. Any solution ?

Did you upgrade to Mavericks? What version of FCP X are you using?

When I started this thread it was a long time ago, different versions of the OS and the application. I have not had any such problems for quite a while.

Memory management in Mavericks is completely different, for the better. And FCP X has evolved too.

yuanChin

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2014 5:59 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis,

My Spec - 250 SSD, 16gb RAM, 2.6 i7

I havent upgrade to Mavericks. MY FCP X version is 10.0.9. Everytime im exporting, FCP X eat all my HDD Space, when my HDD space drop to 100gb the whole OS hang and i have to restart. This is annoying.

I should upgrade to Mavericks and FCP X 10.1 ?

Rgds,

yuanChin

Luis Sequeira1 Author

Level 9

64,586 points

Jan 7, 2014 7:01 AM in response to yuanChin

You need to get a fast external drive and put your media in there. Your issue is not RAM, it is disk space.

Dan Haag

Level 1

0 points

Mar 6, 2014 4:18 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis, thanks so much for the Terminal code! I was very disappointed in my brand new Mac Pro because FCPX kept crashing my system while editing an effects heavy 40 min interview. It was due to the RAM problem, I had experienced this on my old iMac before and I knew my new machine couldn't have been causing the issue. FCPX just constantly used up all my RAM for no reason. I've tried your Terminal code and now I'm in speed editing heaven.

Luis Sequeira1 Author

Level 9

64,586 points

Mar 6, 2014 4:52 AM in response to Dan Haag

Dan Haag wrote:

Luis, thanks so much for the Terminal code! I was very disappointed in my brand new Mac Pro because FCPX kept crashing my system while editing an effects heavy 40 min interview. It was due to the RAM problem, I had experienced this on my old iMac before and I knew my new machine couldn't have been causing the issue. FCPX just constantly used up all my RAM for no reason. I've tried your Terminal code and now I'm in speed editing heaven.

I am surprised. This was a very old thread and I did not even remember what it was about. I am glad it worked for you, but as I stated in the first post, I cannot guarantee anything. I have not tried anything like that in recent versions of FCP X and I did not think it would do anything 😁

Dan Haag

Level 1

0 points

Mar 6, 2014 5:09 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

The memory problems started for me just recently (after the latest FCPX update on Mavericks), maybe because I was using so many third party plug-ins. Tried your solution today and so far it seems to have helped. But maybe it's just a placebo impression right now, I'll let you know if the problem shows up again. 😀

Apr 2, 2014 12:49 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

This seems to have solved a similar problem for me. Much faster editing. Thanks for the code! I didn't realize how little I was getting done.

A possible solution to FCP X memory problems - it is working for me so far