Free the Ram ??

[Kevin Monahan]

No, you have to reboot.

Kevin Monahan

fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Grahpics and Effects in Final Cut Pro

[Jeff Carpenter]

Well, this post makes me ask: Why do you feel the need to do this?

I can’t think of any reason, so I’m wondering if you have some specific one.

[Adam Taylor]

because after a busy morning editing, FCP usually has grabbed all my ram (4gb) and refuses to release any. Even if i quit FCP that ram is still unusable, so if i want to use any other program, especially ram hungry ones like After Effects, unless i can release the ram, then i’m stuck with unacceptably slow virtually memory!

adam

Editor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

[Jeff Carpenter]

Once it quits, you should be fine. That’s not happening?

Go to the Activity Monitor and look at the RAM pie chart. When you quit Final Cut, watch the red and yellow sections (Wired and Active).

They don’t go back down once you quit Final Cut? They should go down. Not all the way back to what they were after a fresh boot, but they should get much smaller.

If they’re not changing there’s some sort of problem that you should probably call Apple about.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Jeff Carpenter] “Once it quits, you should be fine. That’s not happening?”

That rarely happens. All of the Studio apps don’t release RAM well at all.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Jeff Carpenter]

>> All of the Studio apps don’t release RAM well at all.

Yeah, they’re not great, but he’s saying that all 4 GB are not being released. I’ve never had it keep that much RAM once I quit everything.

If he’s got 4 GB being locked off after quitting I’d think there was actually something wrong. Or is that normal and I’m the fluke? I’m only basing this on my own experiences.

[Adam Taylor]

i know how to use Activity Monitor – how do you think i know FCP is not releasing the ram?

Its grabbed just over 3gb – the system tends to use around a gig, probably because I had several projects open simultaneously.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with the system – its done this since day one, and i have read plenty of reports from other users mentioning the exact same problem.

If anything, Jeff, you’re the lucky one.

adam

Editor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK

[Rafael Amador]

I don’t see that in my MBP. The system release the RAM without any problem.
Easy to see in the Activity monitor. At least with FC, when I shut it I get the same free memory that I had before starting.
However I never sow no one of my Macs using 4GB RAM.

Mac OX 10.5.2-FC 6.02-QT 7.4.1
G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM-BlackMagic Extreme
PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM-AJA ioHD
JVC DTV-17″
SONY EX-1 . SONY PD170
..and always a big mess on top of the table.

[Jon Smitherton]

I assume you’re talking about RAM purging – there used to be a useful prog in os9 called ‘Ram Purge’. I usually run cron scripts and find this ‘zeroes’ the ram to default.

This can be run by launching terminal and typing “sudo periodic daily weekly monthly” (excluding quotes)

jon

[Adam Taylor]

sounds like the same as running macjanitor – i’ll give that a try next time…thanks

adam

Editor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK