I am running Snow Leopard, and always need to reboot to get back my RAM, but is there a freeware app that I can run instead?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Clearing Inactive RAM APP?
- Thread starter 2012Tony2012
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Do you really need to?
Does the Inactive RAM not get free once your Active RAM needs more?
Have you understood the difference yet, as linked to in that other thread of yours, yet?
There is no need to free Inactive RAM, it gets automatically freed once the Active RAM needs more RAM and there is not much Free RAM available.
PS: How much RAM do you exactly have and how much do you need to be Free for what exact purpose?
PPS: Do you read already existing responses to your questions before creating new threads asking the same questions?
Does the Inactive RAM not get free once your Active RAM needs more?
Have you understood the difference yet, as linked to in that other thread of yours, yet?
There is no need to free Inactive RAM, it gets automatically freed once the Active RAM needs more RAM and there is not much Free RAM available.
PS: How much RAM do you exactly have and how much do you need to be Free for what exact purpose?
PPS: Do you read already existing responses to your questions before creating new threads asking the same questions?
YES I really need to. When I reboot the iMac it's only using around 500MB of RAM and my iMac runs smooth and fast, but after awhile, it starts swapping out and claiming it's using over 3GB of RAM, even though I am only running firefox, and it starts getting slow and I hear the hard drive constantly, then I have to reboot and it runs fast and smooth again. I have total 3GB RAM.
And you are wrong, in my case anyway, because it never gets FREED UP, I have to do a reboot.
Anyone know an free APP, or free method that can help me free up my RAM, so I don't need to reboot all the time?
There is no need to free inactive RAM. Simsaladimbamba (did I spell that right) is correct, as OS X Memory Management takes care of that for you.
It sounds like you have many background processes going on, perhaps from all the Applications that you have installed. You do not need to install anything for the system to run. It runs at max performance by default. You only should install apps when you have a need to be fulfilled, such as needing a word processor or FTP application.
Please post a screenshot of your Activity Monitor window.
It sounds like you have many background processes going on, perhaps from all the Applications that you have installed. You do not need to install anything for the system to run. It runs at max performance by default. You only should install apps when you have a need to be fulfilled, such as needing a word processor or FTP application.
Please post a screenshot of your Activity Monitor window.
Look at that other thread of yours about apps, I mentioned one and also gave you hints to find more via the Mac App Store (MAS).
Maybe also read the link MisterKeks provided, it is the same one you ignored in that other thread.
As you only have 3 GB of RAM I suppose you have an older Mac, which does not take more RAM? Sorry, I forgot what you use, and am too lazy to look in any of your other threads, if you ever posted it there.
Maybe you use too much Firefox?
Purge only works if I install the Developer tools!
But I found a great solution, I am very happy. I went to App Store and installed an App called "FreeMemory", and chose "Free Memory" from the menu and after ariund 10 seconds waiting, it freed up all my memory, went from 0 RAM free to 1.91GB FREE.
I am very happy, now I don't need to constantly reboot my iMac
Will not work in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard without Developer Tools installed, and also recommended it in that other thread, forgetting OP was using Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
But then again, walls.
----------
Purge only works if I install the Developer tools!
But I found a great solution, I am very happy. I went to App Store and installed an App called "FreeMemory", and chose "Free Memory" from the menu and after ariund 10 seconds waiting, it freed up all my memory, went from 0 RAM free to 1.91GB FREE.
I am very happy, now I don't need to constantly reboot my iMac
Hope that works for you, but please read the article MisterKeks linked to, to understand what other problem might occur.
Seems to work so far, but what other choice do I have, I can't keep rebooting the iMac so regularly to regain my RAM. I would have thought the iMac would do a better job with this, but it seems it doesn't.
So for now I will use FreeMemory and see how it goes. It's nice to not have to always reboot.
Seems to work so far, but what other choice do I have, I can't keep rebooting the iMac so regularly to regain my RAM. I would have thought the iMac would do a better job with this, but it seems it doesn't.
So for now I will use FreeMemory and see how it goes. It's nice to not have to always reboot.
The thing is, that is 100% not normal. I found the other (near identical) thread, and it seems like you just have a lot of inactive memory, which is fine, and is actually a good thing, had you read the article you were linked to twice now.
You have started many threads regarding your worries about the activity monitor and whatnot. I suggest using the computer normally, and not worrying about the contents of the activity monitor.
P.S. How many tabs do you have open in Firefox before and after shutdown?
P.P.S. Do you open and close many applications?
I was reading the reviews in App Store about FreeMemory, and it seems I am not the only one with this RAM Issue, so FreeMemory is helping many people free up that RAM that Mac OS obviously doesn't release.
But I honestly don't think that this issue exists, and I clearly am not the only one. A couple hours of use should not render a computer unusable, because memory management is built in to OS X. How many tabs are running in Firefox, and what is the amount of inactive memory in activity monitor.
I wouldn't call it a "good thing" when I start hearing my hard drive churning, even though I only have firefox open with 2-3 tabs, and the iMac using over 3GB RAM for just Firefox. That cannot be a "good thing" or normal.
But when I run FreeMemory, it says 1.7GB Free RAM and the hard drive stops churning and the iMac starts loading apps faster and smoother and running a lot better. I was getting same results rebooting, but rebooting regularly through the day was a pain!
Is it the latest stable Firefox version? Maybe Firefox is the culprit, as I often have ten or more tabs open in Safari 5.0.5 and Mac OS X 10.6.8 and Safari is not using more than 933 MB right now.
I am running firefox 17.0.1
Firefox doesn't use more than 280MB RAM, but what I meant to say is that after awhile of Mac usage, opening and closing Apps etc, all that is left running is Firefox, yet my iMac claims the iMac is using around 3GB RAM.
It seems my Imac isn't releasing the RAM so I ended up getting a slow running Mac with the hard drive being heard swapping out to, so I ended up having to reboot throughout the day.
But now with FreeMemory it seems that is solved the problem
Try repairing permissions. There's gotta be something that doesn't let the OS manage RAM as it's supposed to. Not sure if repairing permissions will help but it won't hurt.
It's normal to have inactive RAM. Inactive RAM is RAM which was recently used. It's only freed up when necessary. (If another program needs it or if the OS feels to that is). And this works fine in OSX, so if in your case doesn't, then there's something wrong.
A good way to see this is Unraring a large file. Didn't notice on purpose. I was just unraring a 73GB file and saw my used RAM scaling up. 25%, 37%, 55%... up to 100% (I got 16GB so don't really see that very often). When unraring finished all that RAM went to inactive and stayed there for like 45 minutes. (Can't tell for sure because 1 hour later or so it had already been freed up).
It's normal to have inactive RAM. Inactive RAM is RAM which was recently used. It's only freed up when necessary. (If another program needs it or if the OS feels to that is). And this works fine in OSX, so if in your case doesn't, then there's something wrong.
A good way to see this is Unraring a large file. Didn't notice on purpose. I was just unraring a 73GB file and saw my used RAM scaling up. 25%, 37%, 55%... up to 100% (I got 16GB so don't really see that very often). When unraring finished all that RAM went to inactive and stayed there for like 45 minutes. (Can't tell for sure because 1 hour later or so it had already been freed up).
I wouldn't call it a "good thing" when I start hearing my hard drive churning, even though I only have firefox open with 2-3 tabs, and the iMac using over 3GB RAM for just Firefox. That cannot be a "good thing" or normal.
But when I run FreeMemory, it says 1.7GB Free RAM and the hard drive stops churning and the iMac starts loading apps faster and smoother and running a lot better. I was getting same results rebooting, but rebooting regularly through the day was a pain!
Please don't misquote people. I wasn't referring to "hard drive churning" as being a good thing. I was referring to inactive memory being a good thing, and if you had read the Apple Support Document you have been linked to twice now, perhaps you would agree. However, I am in a good mood and will quote a certain part of it here:
That is why inactive memory is beneficial. However, it seems as though Firefox has some sort of memory leak. What is the Virtual Memory Size on Firefox?
All I know is that my hard drive kept swapping out and churning, and I needed to reboot regularly throughout the day. Once I reboot Mac is only using 500MB RAM. But after a couple of hours, it goes up to over 3GB of RAM, even though everything is closed.
But I installed FreeMemory from App Store and once I run that, the hard drive stops churning and the free RAM jumps from 0 RAM to around 1.70 Free Ram.
Firefox says : Real Memory size 160MB and Virtual Memory size 3.37GB. What is VM and why does it state 3.37GB RAM seeing firefox is only using 160MB real RAM?
If that was a screenshot after a day of typical usage, you have nothing to worry about, since you have enough free RAM and no page outs and no swap.
Thank you !
Yes about couple hours of used not heavy tho!
Just wonder only two apps open and where the heck all the ram went???
PS: Haven't shut down seen iMac arrived
Yes about couple hours of used not heavy tho!
Just wonder only two apps open and where the heck all the ram went???
PS: Haven't shut down seen iMac arrived
He has plenty of unused memory, and thus no issue. FreeMemory would make things slower for him.
----------
Virtual Memory is when some of the things that can be stored in memory are being stored in the hard disk. All FreeMemory is doing is clearing Inactive RAM, which the OS does normally. Let's say you open up "Mail", but quit it. If you open it again, it will open faster, as some of it's files were already in RAM as "inactive memory". FreeMemory is just clearing the Inactive Memory.
I am not certain of this, as 2012Tony2012 has not posted any screenshots, but I believe it is the case.
Virtual Memory Info from Apple
OP said they were using Firefox. Firefox is a huge memory hog (on every platform). Installing more physical RAM is always a better solution than trying to juggle virtual memory in Mac OS X.
Unless you have a MacBook Air or Retina you can install more RAM. The minimum RAM Macs come with really is a minimum. I usually end up doubling whatever RAM the Mac came with.
Unless you have a MacBook Air or Retina you can install more RAM. The minimum RAM Macs come with really is a minimum. I usually end up doubling whatever RAM the Mac came with.