Kaynekayne
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Apple Mail - "File Cache" chewing up memory ; 12GB out of 16GB

mac mini ;

processor : 2.3GHz Intel Core i7

Memory: 16GB 1600 DDR3

OSX: 10.9.4

 

I have 16GB of memory, but after opening mail it chews up 12GB of memory.  After checking the Activity Monitor.  "File Cache: 11.66GB"

Tried exiting mail and all apps, after restart File Cache around 2-3GB.  I tired to open the apps one by one to see which one has the biggest effect.

I find that Apple Mail, after opening (with all other apps closed) the File Cache quickly accumulates to over 11GB.

HOW DO I REDUCE the File Cache in Mail app ??


 

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Aug 31, 2014 11:55 PM

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Kaynekayne

Q: Apple Mail - "File Cache" chewing up memory ; 12GB out of 16GB

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  • Helpful answers

  • by lllaass,Helpful

    lllaass lllaass Sep 1, 2014 3:26 AM in response to Kaynekayne
    Level 10 (190,886 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 1, 2014 3:26 AM in response to Kaynekayne

    You do not. The OS tries top use all the memory that is available. That is most efficient.

    Does Activity Monitor show anything be geen for memory pressure?

    How large are any page ins and page outs?

    OS X Mavericks: About Activity Monitor

    Are you have any problems?

  • by BDAqua,Helpful

    BDAqua BDAqua Sep 1, 2014 2:47 PM in response to Kaynekayne
    Level 10 (123,905 points)
    Sep 1, 2014 2:47 PM in response to Kaynekayne

    As an example of how File Cache works, if you've been using Mail and then close it, the RAM that Mail was using is marked as File Cache. This RAM is now available for use by another app. If you open Mail again before its File Cache is used (overwritten) by a different app, Mail opens more quickly because its File Cache memory is converted back to App memory instead of loading all of its contents from your drive.

    OS X Mavericks: About Activity Monitor

  • by Kaynekayne,

    Kaynekayne Kaynekayne Sep 1, 2014 7:49 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 1, 2014 7:49 PM in response to lllaass

    Thanks for the info,

     

    I have 2 Mac Mini, one 16GB (2x8GB) at work, and one 8GB (2x4GB) at home.

    I have 'Memory Clean" app on all the time to monitor the available free memory.

     

    The 8GB one at home, I do feel the system gets much slower when I open multiple apps at the same time, but they are not demanding apps; usually Mail, excel, word, evernote, safari and at the most Photoshop.  And often I see the Red warning on Memory Clean status bar where it shows the memory is down to < 50MB.

    I use to run Lion on the same setup and never experience similar down time on the system.  Its after upgrading to Mavericks I started to literally feel the difference.


    This is why I got another Mac Mini with 16GB for work, and 8GB for home use.

     

    The 16GB one is working fine most of the time, but I am kind of a 'windows' freak, where I always have 7~10 excel windows, and 3-5 word windows opened at the same time.  And due to the nature of my work, I will need to do some simple photo editing in preview or photoshop, while going back and forth to excel and word.  So on a busy day I do feel the system is noticeable slower then normal especially on Mail. 

     

    I am a little frustrated, because I am not using any demanding apps and thought 16GB should be more then sufficient for the work I do... Thought about upgrading the memory to 32GB but from the sound of it, the OS will just use it up for for cache too ?

     

    Any suggestion or steps I should take to improve this ?

  • by Kaynekayne,

    Kaynekayne Kaynekayne Sep 1, 2014 7:58 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 1, 2014 7:58 PM in response to lllaass

    I am not sure which figures are page ins and outs ?

    Is it the Sent Bytes and Receive Bytes ?

     

    Screen Shot 2014-09-02 at 10.54.28 AM.png