As I’ve used DTPro beta over the last month, I’ve noticed that both DTPro and my entire system appear to have grown more sluggish. I have an 800MHz G4 iMac with 512 MB of RAM. My DTPro beta database now includes about 5000 documents; the total size, includling backup, is about 300 MB.
Using Activity Monitor, I’ve been checking DTPro’s RAM usage over the last couple of days. Yesterday, “real memory” usage was up to 160 MB. Today, after a restart, “real memory” usage is 99 MB, and virtual memory is 335 MB. Note that this 99 MB figure represents DTPro in a relatively passive state: it’s not doing an index or backup at the moment (in fact, Activity Monitor right now shows it using 0% of CPU).
This RAM requirement seems awfully high: equal to Safari, Mail, and MS Word combined! Does this represent a “memory leak” problem" or just DTPro’s normal operating requirement?
I’ve noticed my powerbook getting a bit sluggish with DTPro open for extended periods of time. It makes it less appealing to work with as other apps may be used on and off (safari text edit etc) when locating information or performing online research.
DTPro’s UI is not really a viable substitute for a browser (neither is DevonAgent IMO) so it’s still necessary, for me anyhow, to use other apps.
Quitting and restarting does help but isn’t the most convenient way to work.
I have no ide if this is a DT issue or related to something else.
This doesn’t help much but at least you are not crazy! (unless we are both insane… )
I probably should have mentioned in my original post that I’m running Mac OS X 10.3.6. I’ve already ordered a RAM upgrade from 512 to 768 MB.
Would be nice to have a technical guru weigh in on how DTPro uses (or hogs!) RAM. The numbers I’m seeing would make DTPro virtually unusable for anyone with a minimum 256 MB system.
DEVONthink is completely based on an artificial intellicence core, which, like the human brain, likes online storage (RAM) more than offline storage (disk). So, yes, DEVONthink is somewhat memory-hungry. We use a lot of caching techniques to reduce this, but buying more memory is probably the best solution.
So, yes, using DT Pro on a machine with 256 MB of RAM is no fun. But we believe, 768 MB of RAM should be standard today anyway.
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