Memory dwindling on its own without new installs/downloads

[Libertine Lush]

Hey everyone,

I'm curious if anyone knows why when the hard drive is low on memory, it will, over time, diminish in available memory on its own--I've observed this happen on Windows too. On my SSD, unfortunately, I have but a few GB of free space at the moment. Without anything new taking up space, I notice that my free memory is progressively falling over the weeks, making a difficult situation ever more troublesome.

Thanks.

 

[jozeppy26]

It's a steady decline? You sure it's not bouncing back and forth maybe? Maybe try something like iStat Menus to track your hard drive space over the past week? Could be iPhoto if you take a ton of iPhone pictures/videos? Could be Apple Mail. I have a rMBP with very limited SSD space as well and this would definitely piss me off.

 

[Libertine Lush]

It's a steady decline? You sure it's not bouncing back and forth maybe? Maybe try something like iStat Menus to track your hard drive space over the past week? Could be iPhoto if you take a ton of iPhone pictures/videos? Could be Apple Mail. I have a rMBP with very limited SSD space as well and this would definitely piss me off.

Yea, it's a steady decline. I wonder if it's a general computing phenomenon when you're low on space, as I've been in this situation far too many times on various OSX and Windows versions.

I have iStat Menus too I don't use any of those apps you mentioned. Free space just gradually disappears on its own.

 

[Partron22]

Try using Onyx to delete your System log files. There a number of scenarios where they can slowly grow to absurd sizes.

 

[Libertine Lush]

Try using Onyx to delete your System log files. There a number of scenarios where they can slowly grow to absurd sizes.

I tried the Onyx just now. It cleared about 2 gigs for me, which still leaves me many gigs short of where I should be, but it's certainly better than nothing. Thank you for that app recommendation. I'll be keeping it and using it regularly for maintenance.

 

[simonsi]

Time Machine local backups? What happens if you restart, does some of the space reappear?

 

[Libertine Lush]

Time Machine local backups? What happens if you restart, does some of the space reappear?

How do I check my Time Machine local backups? I went to the "About this Mac" menu option and under the Storage Tab, it shows 3.2MB for Storage. Is that it?

Yes, when I restart, I have about 5 gigs free. After I open all my apps, it comes down to about 4. Unless Onyx ceased the previous behavior, over the next few days, the amount of free SSD space will continue to dwindle, and I will get OSX prompts telling me that I'm low on free memory. I reboot, and this cycle begins anew, except that over a week or so, the total free space continues to decline. And so with every reboot, I start off with just a little less free memory.

 

[simonsi]

How do I check my Time Machine local backups? I went to the "About this Mac" menu option and under the Storage Tab, it shows 3.2MB for Storage. Is that it?

Yes, when I restart, I have about 5 gigs free. After I open all my apps, it comes down to about 4. Unless Onyx ceased the previous behavior, over the next few days, the amount of free SSD space will continue to dwindle, and I will get OSX prompts telling me that I'm low on free memory. I reboot, and this cycle begins anew, except that over a week or so, the total free space continues to decline. And so with every reboot, I start off with just a little less free memory.

Do you have TM turned on? If so, unless you have entered a terminal command, you will have local backups.

The 1GB you describe there is probably the sleepimage file being written as your RAM gets used.

You need to manage your space to approx 10-20% free minimum - that leaves enough working space for the OS. You may end up here with an unbootable system.

How big is your SSD? I have a 64GB MBA 11" with 4 users and it doesn't continually run out of space but like anything, you can't continually add new without housekeeping the old. Best may be to get yourself an external drive to offload some of your less important docs/files onto...

 

[Libertine Lush]

Do you have TM turned on? If so, unless you have entered a terminal command, you will have local backups.

The 1GB you describe there is probably the sleepimage file being written as your RAM gets used.

You need to manage your space to approx 10-20% free minimum - that leaves enough working space for the OS. You may end up here with an unbootable system.

How big is your SSD? I have a 64GB MBA 11" with 4 users and it doesn't continually run out of space but like anything, you can't continually add new without housekeeping the old. Best may be to get yourself an external drive to offload some of your less important docs/files onto...

Yes, TM is on.

My original desire was to indeed keep the free space to around 10% of the max--my Air has a 250GB SSD.

I've already move as much as I can off to an external HDD. My only option now is for Apple to hurry up and release that oft-rumored 12" Retina Airbook with a bigger SSD .

 

[Libertine Lush]

Try using Onyx to delete your System log files. There a number of scenarios where they can slowly grow to absurd sizes.

I think Onyx cleared some of my Safari Extension settings when I ran it. Would you happen to know which setting may have done it? I went over the checkboxes before clearing, but I may have overlooked something.

 

[Partron22]

I went over the checkboxes before clearing, but I may have overlooked something.

Deleting logs shouldn't affect Safari ext settings. Did you also delete Application Caches, or App saved states? That might have caused your trouble.