RAM usage too high for what I do (mds_stores?)

I have recently bought a MBP13 2015 (2.9Ghz i5, 8GB RAM, 500GB SSD) refurbished from a third-party. It's my first Mac, and a great device overall, but I'm having one problem. My device seems to be using too much RAM. In particular, kernel_task and mds_stores use 700MB+ RAM even when I've got a few of safari tabs open and nothing else. My RAM usage also looks very high, at 6.5-7GB. My previous Windows device had 8GB RAM as well, but I never had a problem with RAM.


I've attached the EtreCheck report at the bottom.

Is this report normal? I'm particularly concerned about mds_stores and mds worker, as they seem to be eating lot's of CPU, memory and battery!

I should mention that my SSD health is good, and I'm currently utilising 350GB out of 500GB. I don't particularly use Spotlight (which I believe is what mds represents).


------------------------------------------------------------

EtreCheck version: 3.4.7 (461)

Report generated 2018-02-14 00:50:14

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 2:12

Performance: Excellent


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

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


Problem: Other problem

Description:

some processes using too much ram (mds_stores and kernel_task in particular)


Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

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

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro12,1

1 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-5287U) CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 219


Video Information:

Intel Iris Graphics 6100 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 2880 x 1800


Disk Information:

APPLE SSD SM0512G disk0: (500.28 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 500.07 GB


USB Information:

USB30Bus

Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth USB Host Controller


Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus


Virtual disks:

Macintosh HD (disk1s1 - APFS) / [Startup]: 500.07 GB (131.14 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB (131.14 GB free)

(disk1s2) <not mounted> [Preboot]: 500.07 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB

(disk1s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 500.07 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB

(disk1s4) /private/var/vm [VM]: 500.07 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 500.07 GB


System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47) - Time since boot: about 13 hours


Gatekeeper:

Mac App Store and identified developers


Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.mbam.rtprotection (3.1 - SDK 10.12) [Lookup]


/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] org.dungeon.driver.SATSMARTDriver (0.8.1 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]


System Launch Agents:

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 178 Apple tasks

[running] 70 Apple tasks

[killed] 36 Apple tasks

36 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


System Launch Daemons:

[not loaded] 37 Apple tasks

[loaded] 174 Apple tasks

[running] 95 Apple tasks

[killed] 25 Apple tasks

25 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


Launch Agents:

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13) [Lookup]

[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.frontend.agent.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2018-02-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-31) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? 0 ? - installed (null)) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2014-08-11) [Lookup]


Launch Daemons:

[running] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13) [Lookup]

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13) [Lookup]

[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.rtprotection.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2018-02-11) [Lookup]

[running] com.malwarebytes.mbam.settings.daemon.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2018-02-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-01-31) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2015-09-11) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? 0 ? - installed (null)) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.eyebeam.SelfControl.plist (Charlie Stigler - installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2014-08-11) [Lookup]


User Launch Agents:

[running] com.coppertino.VoxHelper.plist (Coppertino Inc. - installed 2018-02-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2018-01-31) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-01-31) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? a9c42199 f3aca444 - installed 2018-02-12) [Lookup]


User Login Items:

Mail Application - Hidden

(/Applications/Mail.app)

BetterTouchTool Application - Hidden

(/Applications/BetterTouchTool.app)

HyperDock Helper Application - Hidden

(/Library/PreferencePanes/HyperDock.prefpane/Contents/Resources/HyperDock Helper.app)

Android File Transfer Agent Application

(~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-01-31)

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

Dropbox Application - Hidden

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)


Internet Plug-ins:

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-02-13) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-01-19)

AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20036 (installed 2018-02-13) [Lookup]


Safari Extensions:

[enabled] AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2018-02-01)

[enabled] Save to Pocket - Read It Later, Inc. - http://getpocket.com/ (installed 2018-02-01)

[enabled] Turn Off the Lights - Stefan vd - https://www.turnoffthelights.com (installed 2018-02-01)


3rd Party Preference Panes:

HyperDock (installed 2017-04-07) [Lookup]

VOX Preferences (installed 2017-03-15) [Lookup]


Time Machine:

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 500.07 GB Disk used: 368.92 GB

Destinations:

1TB Ext. HDD [Local]

Total size: 999.46 GB

Total number of backups: 7

Oldest backup: 05/02/2018, 03:05

Last backup: 12/02/2018, 01:41

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 999.46 GB < (Disk used 368.92 GB X 3)


Top Processes by CPU:

19% mdworker32

18% mdworker32

17% kernel_task

10% mdworker

10% WindowServer


Top Processes by Memory:

965 MB kernel_task

414 MB Safari

220 MB mds_stores

146 MB RTProtectionDaemon

140 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent


Top Processes by Network Use:

Input Output Process name

378 KB 214 KB mDNSResponder

182 KB 161 KB Dropbox

62 KB 16 KB netbiosd

17 KB 13 KB Wunderlist

23 KB 3 KB Mail


Top Processes by Energy Use:

24.98 WindowServer

12.22 mdworker32

11.88 mdworker32

7.50 Dock


Virtual Memory Information:

2.10 GB Available RAM

59 MB Free RAM

5.90 GB Used RAM

2.04 GB Cached files

823 MB Swap Used


Software installs (last 30 days):

Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac: (installed 2018-01-29)

Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2018-01-31)

Microsoft AutoUpdate: (installed 2018-01-31)

OneDrive: 17.3.7131 (installed 2018-01-31)

Evernote: 6.13.1 (installed 2018-01-31)

NordVPN: 4.2.3 (installed 2018-01-31)

Open Any Files: 1.4.1 (installed 2018-01-31)

Dr. Unarchiver: 1.3.1 (installed 2018-01-31)

PDF Reader Pro Free: 2.1.1 (installed 2018-02-01)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous): (installed 2018-02-01)

Twitter: 4.3.2 (installed 2018-02-01)

Send Anywhere: 8.1.31 (installed 2018-02-01)

Microsoft OneNote for Mac: (installed 2018-02-01)

Microsoft Word for Mac: (installed 2018-02-01)

Microsoft Excel for Mac: (installed 2018-02-01)

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac: (installed 2018-02-01)

ArtWall: 1.0.2 (installed 2018-02-04)

Pocket: 1.7 (installed 2018-02-04)

AnyDo: 3.2.1 (installed 2018-02-04)

Wunderlist: 3.4.7 (installed 2018-02-04)

The Unarchiver: 3.11.3 (installed 2018-02-04)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.009.20050): (installed 2018-02-04)

Battery Health 2: 1.4 (installed 2018-02-04)

SAT SMART Driver for DriveDx: 0.8 (installed 2018-02-05)

SanDisk SecureAccess™ v3.0: (installed 2018-02-05)

OneDrive: 17.3.7294 (installed 2018-02-06)

Pocket: 1.7.1 (installed 2018-02-06)

XQuartz 2.7.7: (installed 2018-02-07)

Wine Stable: (installed 2018-02-07)

Java 8 Update 161: (installed 2018-02-09)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2018-02-09)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2018-02-09)

Evernote: 6.13.3 (installed 2018-02-09)

HandShaker: 2.1.1 (installed 2018-02-10)

Malwarebytes for Mac: (installed 2018-02-11)

feedly: 1.1 (installed 2018-02-11)

Image2icon: 2.8.1 (installed 2018-02-12)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.011.20036): (installed 2018-02-13)

ARMDC Agent Installer: (installed 2018-02-13)


Install information may not be complete.


Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events):

2018-02-12 21:07:23 com.apple.WebKit.WebContent High CPU use [Open] [Details]

2018-02-11 23:07:27 feedly.app Crash [Open]

Cause: objc_msgSend() selector name: _handlePlaybackQueueDidChangeNotification:

2018-02-11 12:59:32 callservicesd Crash [Open]




Any help and advice would be appreciated!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.3), 13" 2015, 2.9 Ghz i5, 8GB RAM

Posted on Feb 13, 2018 5:28 PM

Reply

Similar questions

3 replies

Feb 14, 2018 4:04 AM in response to y_p_w

I was wondering if having too many items on my SSD may cause spotlight to act up, and therefore whether removing ~100Gb or more may help with this regard? And if that is not the case, and spotlight is a 'runaway process', will quitting it help?


I am particularly worried if the state of my SSD or RAM is alright, despite what the report suggests.

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RAM usage too high for what I do (mds_stores?)

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