what is eating my memory on macbook pro

Question

what is eating my memory on macbook pro

I have a mid 2009 13" MacBook Pro, Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB Memory 1067 MHz DDR3, Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB Running OS 10.9.5. In the last few weeks I noticed there was only 17 GB of memory left so I began doing a long overdue cleaning of my hard drive. In a few days after throwing away many duplicate files I also noticed there was a time machine backup running on the hard drive that started exactly the time I noticed the memory getting low, Sept. 3, 2017. I disabled this through terminal since I have a TM backup externally and saved 5 GB and with all the duplicate or old files I threw away I was back up 80 GB free! I booted up the next morning and was back down to 45 GB free! No explanation whatsoever. I run Privacy Scan and Malwarebytes regularly. MacScan went to an unsupported version so I no longer run that. I did a screen shot of my hard drive showing all Disk Usage as well as Disk Usage under About This Mac. My Storage shows 43.34 GB free out of 159.18 GB. When I add up the space being used in my Macintosh HD including hidden files, all add up to just under 69 GB even though the bottom bar also shows 43.34 free. Can anyone help me figure out how to make these match and how to free up space?

OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), MacBookPro 2.26 GHz IntelCore 2Duo

Posted on Sep 20, 2017 12:24 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Patty1959-2013 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2017 1:26 AM in response to seventy one

EtreCheck version: 3.4.4 (448)

Report generated 2017-09-20 04:07:41

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 8:59

Performance: Below Average

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Clean up] link to delete unused files.

Problem: Computer is too slow

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,5

1 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Duo) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Check Battery - Cycle count = 523

Video Information:ⓘ

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

VG2728 SERIES 1280 x 800 @ 60 Hz

Disk Information:ⓘ

ST9160314ASG disk0: (160.04 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

(disk0s1) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 159.18 GB (43.74 GB free)

(disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N ()

USB Information:ⓘ

EHCI Root Hub Simulation

Western Digital My Passport 25AA 2 TB

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

EHCI Root Hub Simulation

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

OHCI Root Hub Simulation

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

OHCI Root Hub Simulation

hub_device

USB 2.0 Hub [MTT]

Macally Peripherals Macally ICEKEY2 Keyboard

Logitech USB Receiver

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Virtual disks:ⓘ

My Passport for Mac (disk1s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/My Passport for Mac : 2.00 TB (1.77 TB free)

Physical disk: (null) 2.00 TB (1.77 TB free)

System Software:ⓘ

OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F1911) - Time since boot: about 13 hours

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Clean up:ⓘ

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper.plist

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper

Executable not found!

One orphan file found. [Clean up]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 138 Apple tasks

[running] 40 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 49 Apple tasks

[loaded] 137 Apple tasks

[running] 63 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-12) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-05-27) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 4898e928 - installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-01-31) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper.plist (? 8ffe9417 0 - installed 2017-03-01) [Lookup] - /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper: Executable not found!

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-08-25) [Lookup]

User Login Items:ⓘ

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-07-07)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Calendar Application

(/Applications/Calendar.app)

Mail Application

(/Applications/Mail.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-13) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2016-11-06)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.22 (installed 2017-08-25) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.22 (installed 2017-08-25) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-13) [Lookup]

Default Browser: 537 (installed 2015-04-26)

JavaAppletPlugin: 14.9.0 (installed 2016-09-04) Check version

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

[not loaded] AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2017-07-27)

[not loaded] Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (installed 2016-10-27)

[not loaded] Firebug Lite for Safari - slicefactory (installed 2015-10-03)

[not loaded] Facebook Cleaner - Sonny Fazio - http://sonstermedia.com (installed 2015-10-03)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 159.18 GB Disk used: 115.45 GB

Destinations:

My Passport for Mac [Local]

Total size: 2.00 TB

Total number of backups: 63

Oldest backup: 3/14/17, 12:41 AM

Last backup: 9/20/17, 3:43 AM

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 2.00 TB > (Disk size 159.18 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

38% mdworker

37% mdworker

2% kernel_task

2% AddressBookSourceSync

1% WindowServer

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

398 MB kernel_task

58 MB Finder

52 MB mds_stores

44 MB WindowServer

34 MB cfprefsd

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

11.08 WindowServer

0.82 Dock

0.36 DashboardClient

0.28 NotificationCenter

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

2.43 GB Available RAM

1.65 GB Free RAM

1.57 GB Used RAM

803 MB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs:ⓘ

Adobe Acrobat XI Pro (11.0.22): (installed 2017-08-25)

MacBooster 5: (installed 2017-09-09)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-09-13)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

2017-09-20 04:00:08 EtreCheck.app Hang [Open]

Reply

Answer 2

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 21, 2017 9:02 AM in response to Patty1959-2013

Hello Patty, after the remarks of Grant, I assume it is good to do a FirstAid on the main disk:

Restart the mac while holding the CMD+R keys, this is slow..., When logged in start DiskUtility from the menu,

select your startup disk, then click the Firstaid tab in DiskUtility, and let it display what it does, when ready it should end with something like "OK", if not, run the FirstAid again.

Then choose Restart from the Apple menu.

Reply

Answer 3

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 20, 2017 9:35 AM in response to Patty1959-2013

- In Safari->Preferences->Extensions: uninstall all extensions; if you absolutely want an adblocker take one Adblock. The others should not come back.

- The TimeMachine disk is set to MyPassport, but there is something wrong here. I propose to eject the MyPassport, turn the TimeMachine setting in SystemPreferences to not "backup automatically". Then restart the mac. Then connect the MyPassport again, open DiskUtility, select MyPassport for Mac, select the Partition column in DiskUtility, then Partition the MyPassport: GUID Partition Table and Mac OS Extended (journaled). This is probably enough to clear the disk since the mac sees zero space on it....

This removes everything on the disk, thus after that you should make a new TimeMachine backup.

- it looks as if there is an iCloud sync is running, EscrowSecurityAlert. It is harmless, even if you don't sync with iCloud, do nothing do about it.

- I do not see any indication that MacBooster is still installed.

-

All this is not enough to explain your issue (except perhaps the TimeMachineDisk problem).

So I would like to point to another issue you have: it is time to have a new battery installed: the battery is dying. Only use a real Apple battery, all others are even worse most of the time as a dying Apple battery. I am rather sure that your issue will be over after having a new battery.

With greets to seventyone he was on the right track here, but it is his birthday today !!!

Reply

Answer 4

seventy one

Level 7

27,460 points

Sep 20, 2017 12:29 AM in response to Patty1959-2013

Hello Patty,

Download and apply this program, then publish the report as a reply to this post. It is safe to do so and will allow us to assess the most likely causes of your problems.

https://etrecheck.com/

Reply

Answer 5

seventy one

Level 7

27,460 points

Sep 20, 2017 2:11 AM in response to Patty1959-2013

Patty,

I am out for the rest of the day but I suggest you first remove MacBooster. You do not need this kind of aid; it will do much more harm than good.

Click on the clean up link at the top and follow instructions.

I'll look in again tonight and see if anyone else has added anything.

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 20, 2017 6:30 AM in response to seventy one

seventy one,

I deleted the one item I can and still nothing to find MacBooster on my hard drive. I ran EtreCheck again and it can't find my backup drive although it is clearly there.

EtreCheck version: 3.4.4 (448)

Report generated 2017-09-20 06:37:48

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 11:01

Performance: Poor

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: No problem - just checking

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,5

1 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Duo) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Check Battery - Cycle count = 523

Video Information:ⓘ

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

VG2728 SERIES 1280 x 800 @ 60 Hz

Disk Information:ⓘ

ST9160314ASG disk0: (160.04 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

(disk0s1) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 159.18 GB (44.21 GB free)

(disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N ()

USB Information:ⓘ

EHCI Root Hub Simulation

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

EHCI Root Hub Simulation

Western Digital My Passport 25AA 2 TB

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

OHCI Root Hub Simulation

hub_device

Logitech USB Receiver

USB 2.0 Hub [MTT]

Macally Peripherals Macally ICEKEY2 Keyboard

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

OHCI Root Hub Simulation

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Virtual disks:ⓘ

My Passport for Mac (disk1s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/My Passport for Mac : 2.00 TB (1.77 TB free)

Physical disk: (null) 2.00 TB (1.77 TB free)

System Software:ⓘ

OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F1911) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 146 Apple tasks

[running] 32 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 49 Apple tasks

[loaded] 139 Apple tasks

[running] 61 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-08-12) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-05-27) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 4898e928 - installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-01-31) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-08-25) [Lookup]

User Login Items:ⓘ

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-07-07)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Calendar Application

(/Applications/Calendar.app)

Mail Application

(/Applications/Mail.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-13) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2016-11-06)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.22 (installed 2017-08-25) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.22 (installed 2017-08-25) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-13) [Lookup]

Default Browser: 537 (installed 2015-04-26)

JavaAppletPlugin: 14.9.0 (installed 2016-09-04) Check version

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

[not loaded] AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2017-07-27)

[not loaded] Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (installed 2016-10-27)

[not loaded] Firebug Lite for Safari - slicefactory (installed 2015-10-03)

[not loaded] Facebook Cleaner - Sonny Fazio - http://sonstermedia.com (installed 2015-10-03)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 159.18 GB Disk used: 114.97 GB

Destinations:

My Passport for Mac [Local]

Total size: 0 B

Total number of backups: 0

Oldest backup: -

Last backup: -

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 0 B < (Disk used 114.97 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

46% UserEventAgent

7% syncdefaultsd

3% WindowServer

2% kernel_task

2% mdworker

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

428 MB kernel_task

187 MB mds_stores

140 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

111 MB softwareupdated

53 MB cfprefsd

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

18.38 backupd

3.84 EscrowSecurityAlert

0.86 launchd

0.42 periodic-wrapper

0.30 softwareupdated

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

2.43 GB Available RAM

1.73 GB Free RAM

1.57 GB Used RAM

723 MB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs:ⓘ

Adobe Acrobat XI Pro (11.0.22): (installed 2017-08-25)

MacBooster 5: (installed 2017-09-09)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-09-13)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

2017-09-20 04:00:08 EtreCheck.app Hang [Open]

Reply

Answer 7

seventy one

Level 7

27,460 points

Sep 20, 2017 9:00 AM in response to Patty1959-2013

Patty,

Just passing through home than out again. There is still a reference to Macbooster almost at the end. It relates to the initial download. It is difficult to get rid of these things sometimes; they get into every corner of your system.

Reply

Answer 8

Sep 21, 2017 10:27 AM in response to Lexiepex

Hi Lexiepex,

I am jumping up and down with joy literally! I did not get to see these latest posts yet. I prayed this morning with my son for God to lead us in all that we do today. We went to do errands and when I got home I told my son "I am going to run Disk Utilities." I did and it told me to restore from a backup. I just got through the whole process while we made lunch and patiently waited. Now we are rebooted and and and! Drum roll please.....I ran Disk Utilities again to see the result and all is Green! There is 96.17 Gigs free obj my hard drive and the battery is at 100%! Talking with ALL of you helped my brain to reboot (after 1-1/2 years of working an outside job what scrambled me up and now I am free from there) and now I can think more clearly as to what to do with my computer again! THANK YOU ALL & 100-FOLD BLESSINGS ON YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP! 😍

Reply

Answer 9

Sep 20, 2017 2:36 AM in response to seventy one

seventy one,

I saw that too and wondered what happened. I downloaded it thinking it could help my issue and realized in the first few minutes it wasn't going to help so I uninstalled it using its uninstaller. It's not anywhere I can find it. So that puzzles me. As for the other file, I deleted it. Thank you!

Reply

Answer 10

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 20, 2017 11:06 AM in response to Patty1959-2013

So far you get an Apple battery only in the Apple service center and they make the replacement !

Afaik you can not buy it separately and build it in yourself (maybe at an Apple Authorized Service Center).

If you absolutely want to do it yourself: I would only trust the "Anker" make, but they are almost the same price as an Apple original.

Reply

Answer 11

seventy one

Level 7

27,460 points

Sep 20, 2017 9:49 PM in response to Patty1959-2013

Thank you for the birthday greetings, Patty. I see Lexipex has made a substantial contribution towards solving your problems, sufficient it seems to have really helped you. And Grant's comments are also important considerations.

Let us know sometime how things worked out.

Reply

Answer 12

Sep 21, 2017 7:32 AM in response to seventy one

Your battery situation needs to be addressed, and with condition of "Check Battery" your Mac may not be usable for more than a few minutes on battery power, but should work fine with the power adapter for many weeks before the battery requires immediate replacement -- else your Mac stops working. The next worse message says "Replace Now", and if you see that one, your needs are more immediate.

On the other hand, your Hard Drive situation is serious, maybe dire, and you should work toward getting a replacement drive right away. Be sure you understand what I wrote above. If not, I and other Readers would be happy to elaborate.

Reply

Answer 13

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 21, 2017 7:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hello Grant,

the OP is not 71 but Patty. The disk issue is on the TM disk not the startup disk:

" The TimeMachine disk is set to MyPassport, but there is something wrong here. I propose to eject the MyPassport, turn the TimeMachine setting in SystemPreferences to not "backup automatically". Then restart the mac. Then connect the MyPassport again, open DiskUtility, select MyPassport for Mac, select the Partition column in DiskUtility, then Partition the MyPassport: GUID Partition Table and Mac OS Extended (journaled). This is probably enough to clear the disk since the mac sees zero space on it....

This removes everything on the disk, thus after that you should make a new TimeMachine backup..."

Lex

Reply