argh! helping! virtual memory swallowing up my hd!!

jonnyboy · June 1, 2005 8:49AM

hey all,

well it seems that azureus bittorent client has a memory leak problem which has now caused almost 10gigs of my hd to get eaten up by virtual memory! i have a gig of ram as it is. how on earth can i reset virtual memory and get it back? i have closed azureus, but it's still there!

help me please!

jonnyboy · June 1, 2005 8:51AM

p.s. where should i look/how can i clean anywhere files might be hiding? whatsize reports that my files take up 55 gigs (80 gig drive), but finder reports there's only about 400mb free on the drive!

dobby · June 1, 2005 3:43PM

open /apps/utils/Terminal.app

$ cd /

$ du -skc /* (lists directories and their size and gives you the total in KB).

$ cd direname (direname being the directory with the larges size.) /System and /Library should be only 2-3GB each.

Dobby.

mountainyeti42 · June 1, 2005 3:58PM

swap files are in /private/var/vm

if you don't have lots of files there, then the program is using temp files somewhere else

or you could just restart

kickaha · June 1, 2005 4:54PM

Many p2p apps pre-allocate the entire space for a download before downloading, to prevent a situation where you suddenly run out of room before it finishes. These files are generally hidden and invisible so you don't accidentally delete them mid-download.

IOW, are you *sure* it's *VM* that's being eaten up, and not just disk space? If VM, just restart, and it'll be cleaned out. Do *NOT* delete the VM files in /var/vm manually, you'll hose your current login, and possibly corrupt files at the system level.

gene clean · June 1, 2005 4:59PM

It's disk space. Azureus allocates the space for the entire file even if it hasn't started downloading.

If you're trying to download, say, a 5 GB file, it will eat 5 GB of your space even if you're still waiting to connect.

ebby · June 1, 2005 5:20PM

that is an option turned off by default. If for some reason you turned it on, the P2P program will eat your drive. Still, when the file is done, you will loose the same amount of space.

jonnyboy · June 1, 2005 5:29PM

restarting doesn't clear the problem. i'm assuming azureus is responsible, but actually i am only seeding at the moment. i am seeding a torrent with a very large number of files (1800) but since i already have all those files and they are stored on an external drive it is obviously some very bad behaviour that's causing this!

jonnyboy · June 1, 2005 5:30PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dobby

open /apps/utils/Terminal.app

$ cd /

$ du -skc /* (lists directories and their size and gives you the total in KB).

$ cd direname (direname being the directory with the larges size.) /System and /Library should be only 2-3GB each.

Dobby.

i got a permission denied problem on most of the directories!

jonnyboy · June 1, 2005 5:32PM

i don't seem to have lots of files in var/vm although app_profiles is permission denied

(this is an admin account i'm using, btw!)

activity monitor reports that the vm size is 8.16gb

\

gene clean · June 1, 2005 5:56PM

you need to become Root first.

'sudo' to become root.

kickaha · June 1, 2005 7:41PM

Friendly reminder: there is NO safety net with root. You accidentally delete, rename, or move a file, and that's it, it's done, no going back.

Just go get OmniDiskSweeper to find the file usage. Much easier, much nicer, much *safer*.

And do *not* muck with files in /private/var/vm, you *will* screw things up.

jwink3101 · June 1, 2005 10:17PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kickaha

Just go get OmniDiskSweeper to find the file usage. Much easier, much nicer, much *safer*.

.

Or "WhatSize" if you want a free alternative

jonnyboy · June 2, 2005 3:02AM

i have tried whatsize already. it reported that my total of used files size was about 55.5 gigs (what it SHOULD be!), but still reports the free space to be about 400mb, same as finder. it doesn't reveal where the files are.

i will try omnidisksweeper as well.

also, just spotted the APPALLING typo in the thread title, whoops!

jonnyboy · June 2, 2005 4:41AM

ok, mystery (somewhat!) solved!

i logged in as root, used whatsize and it revealed my space was going in the trash of a user name i only use for music work. i hadn't logged into it since i noticed the disc space problem as i thought i should solve it first!

so thanks for everyone's help; i guess this leaves one remaining question; is it possible to have a shared trash so all users' trash is emptied at once to avoid this happening again?

vox barbara · June 2, 2005 5:14AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jonnyboy

ok, mystery (somewhat!) solved!

i logged in as root, used whatsize and it revealed my space was going in the trash of a user name i only use for music work. i hadn't logged into it since i noticed the disc space problem as i thought i should solve it first!

so thanks for everyone's help; i guess this leaves one remaining question; is it possible to have a shared trash so all users' trash is emptied at once to avoid this happening again?

btw, regarding your...er... trash issue: it is not possible.

aplnub · June 2, 2005 4:42PM

My virtual memory usage reports in at 5.5 GB. Is that too much??

kickaha · June 2, 2005 6:23PM

Nope. Better to have VM using disk space than having it be wasted, no?

argh! helping! virtual memory swallowing up my hd!!

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