Memory issues???

[cjcarsten]

I am saving all of my premiere on an external drive that has 284 gigs available. Premiere locked up on me several times today and I had to shut down my computer. Tonight I got a message saying I was dangerously low on premiere memory. What is this??:confused:

[ATR]

cjcarsten

At this late hour here I cannot remember what your operating system is. But, this is probably the route on your computer...you want to get to System Information.

Start
Programs
Accessories
System Tools
System Information

When you get to System Information, scroll down until you see Available Physical Memory and Total Physical Memory. Let me know what value is listed for each.

Then early tomorrow morning we will try to figure out what is going on. Your system probably does not have enough Available RAM to support your projects. More on that tomorrow.

ATR

[cjcarsten]

I am so glad I have guys like you....I see the problem.....I haveTotal Phys. mem of 2048 MB, Available phys. mem of 1.41 GB, Total virtual 2.0 GM....do I need more RAM? If yes, how do I get it? thanks!!

[ATR]

cjcarsten

Good Morning.

From what you wrote you have 2 GB (2048 MB) of installed RAM and 1.4 GB (1434 MB) of available RAM. At first glance, that does not look too bad, but what size project were you working on when this happened.
I think that I recall seeing a rule of thumb about for every 1 hour of Timeline you need about 1 GB RAM available. If your motherboard supports it, you could take the installed RAM to 4 GB and see what the available RAM is then and see what happens to the problem.

There is always shortening the project.

Have you done a complete computer optimization recently...defragmentation, removing junk files (with something like ccleaner), letting your computer be in control of virtual memory if it is not already (See right click My Computer, then select Properties/Advanced/Performance/Settings/Advanced/Virtual Memory)...etc.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417

If you did really need to add more memory, then....memory comes in memory modules (stick looking items) with varying amount of RAM. Your computer's motherboard inside the computer has slots in which you insert these modules. You need to add or remove modules there, but you need to know the specs for the modules that the motherboard to determine if your motherboard supports a given module amount and/or type. The following site is the one that is often mentioned as the place to go in this regard:
http://www.crucial.com/

So,
1. Please describe what you were working on when you got this low memory message, that is, the size of the project and its contents. Was your Timeline more than an hour in length? If so, what happens to the problem if you shorten the project?
2. There are reports with earlier versions that 1 GB RAM proved the choice over 2 GB because of problems with 2 GB. I would put that thought on the "back burner" for now.


To be continued....

ATR

[cjcarsten]

I was only working on a project that is 4 minutes long. I have a few projects that I am working on, all under a few minutes....so not even close to an hour. I have not defraged in maybe forever, computer is almost a year old. I am defragging now. I have put a call into the guy that put the laptop together for me, so he can help me add RAM.

[ATR]

Sounds good.

If this is the person who put the laptop together for you, then, before you add RAM, ask him about the possibility of a "Memory Leak".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

I will be watching for your progress.

ATR

[Chuck Engels]

The message can be not only in reference to Physical Memory (RAM) but also to Virtual Memory (Paging File). In most cases it has been in reference to the Paging File and not RAM. Over 1GB of free RAM is more than enough for most projects, easily enough for a 4 minute project.

I don't know where the talk of a Memory Leak came from ATR, that would be highly unlikely.

Here is an article on how to find your system specs
http://videoinasnap.chuckengels.com/source/chuck/chucks_corner_01-06.htm
At the bottom is shows how to find your Virtual Memory Settings.
Please tell us how your Virtual Memory is set up.

**Sorry had to step away for a few minutes but wanted to finish my thoughts on this problem
ADDED:
This error can also arise due to low, free, contiguous, hard drive space, the defrag you are doing may solve this problem. But the error can come up because of low hard drive space in general as well. That also may affect the Paging File/Virtual Memory. I don't know if you have mentioned how much free space you have but that would be helpful as well.

[ATR]

CE

Thanks for restating what was already included in my prior responses.

As for likely or unlikely, Memory Leak is not all that unlikely and, since cjcarsten will be talking to the person who built the laptop, I thought that an appropriate question to be brought up and looked at by the laptop builder.

Also mentioned by me, the suggestion that cjcarsten should find out how the virtual memory is being handled..by Windows or settings that the laptop builder put into place. In this situation, this matter is best looked at by the laptop builder. My preference (when the laptop builder is not available) would be to let Windows handle the job and, if that failed, then use the Adobe/Microsoft guidelines for customizing). I have been there, done that, and been successful using those guidelines.

Nonetheless, appropriate links were posted for cjcarsten to check out for backup information.

ATR

[cjcarsten]

Hey guys, I talked to my builder, he says I should have plenty of RAM. The only reason I would have a memory leakage is b/c of a bug in premiere. It is a new program for me, obviously, and I looked around and I didn't see any updates from adobe. He thinks it might be b/c I am saving directly to my external drive; he says he has had problems with this before. I will try saving to hard drive and then moving later. Right now I have tot virual= 2.00 and available I have 1.96...page file=3.85. I did defrag, so maybe that helped. cross your fingers

[ATR]

cjcarsten

Thanks for the latest news.

Did the builder of your laptop make any changes whatsoever in the laptop? How did he find your computer virtual memory, that is, controlled by Windows or the custom settings and what was left as the controller?

I would think that the only time that you would run into a problem saving to the external hard drive is if you had limited free space there. You said that you have over 200 GB free space there. But, how is that external drive formatted, NTFS or FAT32?

The defragmentation may have very well done the job. But, see how it goes and do try to get back to saving video files and those Premiere Elements scratch (preview) files to an external hard (NTFS formatted) if you are not already using one with that format.

As always, I will be watching for your progress.

ATR

[ATR]

cjcarsten

I was online, came across this article related to virtual memory and such, and thought that you would find it interesting:

http://www.tech-faq.com/windows-file-swapping.shtml

ATR