Final Cut Pro is eating up all my RAM!

[Texasbuster]

Im at a loss. I have 24 GB of ram and when I use Final Cut Pro X, it literally uses up all my memory and causes my 2012 Mac Pro to come to a screeching halt.


I've closed out all other programs, deleted all the unused render files, deleted backup files and cleaned out the cache.

I've done this before and after a day or two, Final Cut Pro would run flawlessly for about a week or two and then I would have to go through and clean up all the junk.

I've even recently tried sending all the files and cache to an external SSD drive...and still it's using all my RAM.

If I can't find a solution I'm giving up on Final Cut Pro and going to Premiere.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Which version of MacOS are you using please? How often do you shut down -- have you tried restarting with reopen windows when logging back in unticked in order to clear the RAM & prevent background processes from reopening?

If so, have you tried completely uninstalling FCPX by dragging into AppCleaner, then reinstalling? Links are below.

For 10.9 or earlier: https://freemacsoft.net/downloads/AppCleaner_2.3.zip
For 10.10 or later: https://freemacsoft.net/downloads/AppCleaner_3.4.zip

Best wishes & let me know how you get on.

 

[Keebler]

Hi there,

Look at Memory clean. It can help clean your ram.

Cheers,
Brian

 

[kohlson]

A couple of comments. First, depending on what you're editing and how you're editing it, 24GB may be too much or too little - a description may help resolve any issues. Second, What version of MacOS X are you running. I had good results with Memory Clean in earlier versions, but sometime around 10.9 it was no longer required.

 

[Unami]

same here - depends on what your editing (project length, complexity, codec of your source footage,...). but 24GB doesn't sound out of line for a FHD project.

on the other hand, final cut usually still runs o.k. and just pages out to the ssd if it runs out of ram - maybe you have some demanding effects on your footage? how much free space do you have on your editing drive? premiere is usually worse.

 

[Unami]

btw., are you on the latest version? 10.3.3 seems to have some ram-issues

 

[Anonymous Freak]

First - let the OS do its own memory management, don't use any goofy utilities that claim to "clean your RAM" - they're snake oil.

Second - it doesn't matter if you have 4 GB of RAM in a MacBook Air or 128 GB of RAM in a Mac Pro, Final Cut Pro will "use" it all. It claims all available RAM when launched so that it has scratch space to use whatever it actually needs. RAM usage listed in Activity Monitor doesn't actually tell you how much it is *actively* using.

Third - if you're experiencing slowdowns, it's probably some other reason. We'd need to know more about your setup.

You say it's a 2012 Mac Pro - what video card do you have? If it's the stock low-end one, it isn't helping at all, a more modern card will provide assistance in FCP. Is your boot drive a spinning hard drive or an SSD? An SSD boot drive will provide *MUCH* better performance for FCP than using an SSD for storage would. (The scratch space used on a boot drive is more "random" access that SSDs excel at - the "storage" is more linear reads/writes, something spinning drives do just fine at.) You also mention using an external drive - how is it connected, what type is it? If you're using a USB drive, it will be far slower than it should be capable of.

 

[northernmunky]

It will likely be a Final Cut plug-in that has a memory leak. Try removing any installed plug-ins and try again and see if it makes a difference.

 

[bergieTexas]

1 . .memory issue happens with me when using Import ..
and selecting a AVCHD file .. that is listed ZIPped per say.. have to right click and select Show package.
And select the files and drag them in to FM not to have the memory issue.. a work around that works.