Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

GeorgeFox

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 9, 2009
1
0
I have an early 2006 Mac Pro with 5GB of RAM and I am running 10.6.2 .

In activity monitor it says I am down to 100 MB of RAM free. Under inactive it says 3.58 GB used. I go to the drop down menu and show only inactive processes; but if i add up the real memory for all the processes it is significantly less than 3.58 GB.

Does anyone have any idea what this means exactly?

Thanks
 
Inactive RAM typically will be released by the system as needed. I don't know the why's and wherefore's though. :eek:
 
Inactive is RAM that was used previously by a process but no longer in use. If the page is requested for use again, its already there and becomes active. If a page is not there, it is taken from the disk and an inactive page (oldest?) is replaced by the new active page.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.