OS X using all of my RAM

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OS X using all of my RAM

Hello everyone, I have a problem with the memory management in OS X.

I use a Mac Pro 6,1 with 32 GB of RAM, mainly for Logic Pro X. The sample libraries I use for orchestral libraries are quite large but it's still around 8 GB in total for the project I'm working on.

The problem is, OS X allocates a lot more memory than required so that it can cache everything. That's all good and everything, but midway through loading the samples into RAM, OS X manages to allocate ALL 32 GBs OF RAM by caching everything in the universe.

This still sounds fine, but no, it is not. When almost all 32 GBs of RAM is already allocated, loading the remaining samples into RAM becomes INSANELY SLOW. You can run a marathon by the time it takes to load the rest of the samples. Whoever thought it was a good idea for OS X to completely allocate my RAM when it's not necessary at all and not giving me the option to disable that functionality was clearly not in their right mind.

Can I even do anything about this other than selling my Mac?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 4, 2015 11:52 AM

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Answer 1

nitrocan Author

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Aug 4, 2015 12:43 PM in response to nitrocan

Oh also, I'm aware of the purge command but that's more of a hack than an actual solution. If I write a script to automatically purge every now and then, I get micro delays in audio whenever it happens which is not ideal.

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Answer 2

Aug 4, 2015 3:21 PM in response to nitrocan

The cached items can be released in an instant and re-loaded later, which is why this memory management approach is not so crazy as it may seem. "Purging" is neither necessary nor helpful.

You should be suspicious that this is "insanely slow" because you have a Disk Drive problem. This may be that you have too many things dependent on the Boot Drive, and have the classic Traffic Jam there, or it could be that drive is failing.

The ideal setup is where Boot and Applications are on one really fast drive, Source is on its own drive, Destination is on its own drive, and scratch or samples are on their own drive.

User Tip: Creating a lean, fast Boot Drive

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Answer 3

nitrocan Author

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Aug 4, 2015 3:25 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I doubt the drive is failing since it's very new.

You can tell that it's getting noticeably slow towards when RAM is close to being filled. Whenever I start loading the project when RAM is free, it's really fast. Don't really know what to make of it.

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Answer 4

Aug 4, 2015 3:30 PM in response to nitrocan

When RAM is close to full, some things may be rolled out into a swap file. That file is on the Boot Drive, as is most everything else unless you took pains to set it up differently. The competition for that drive can really slow things down.

are you using an Apple-brand Boot SSD, or third-party?

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