Photoshop & Illustrator CS2 memory consumed but never freed 1

[JBL312]

OS: Windows XP Professional
Special boot options: 3 GB memory switch set in boot.ini
Memory: 4x 1GB 667MHz
HD: 5x 74GB 10,000 SATA RAID
CPU: Intel Pent D 830
Photoshop & Illustrator swap file directory: C:\

Hello,

I am experiencing memory problems with Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Illustrator CS2. Both programs consume more and more memory but never free any memory until the program is exited.

After rebooting the computer, I opened Task Manager. I then opened Adobe Photoshop CS2 and watched Task manager, looking for the amount of memory used by the Photoshop process. With out any files open, Photoshop is consuming 60-80 MB of memory. I can then open a 600 KB JPG file and the Photoshop process will consume about 100 MB of memory. If I close the 600 KB JPG file, and watch the Photoshop process, the amount of memory used by the process never drops back off. With no files open, the Photoshop process is consuming roughly 100 MB of memory.

When ever I open another image, the amount of memory that the Photoshop process uses, increases. The process does not relinquish any memory, it just keeps consuming more. It will do this until there is nothing left to consume and then the program throws a memory error.

When Adobe Photoshop is closed, the Photoshop process quits. The process does not hang. There is never more than one Photoshop process listed in Task Manager. When Photoshop is reopened, the process is repeated. Memory is consumed but never freed. This happens regardless of rebooting the system.

Adobe Photoshop CS2 is not the only program that does this. Adobe Illustrator CS2 does this as well. Illustrator was even reinstalled recently and this problem is still occurring. If I repeat the same process with Adobe Illustrator CS2, which I did with Photoshop CS2, the same consumption of memory is observed. Never is the memory freed until the program is exited.

If you have any thoughts on this, I would appreciate your input. Thank you for your time.

 

[mscallisto]

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/320005.html

This link cites a possible problem with "3G switch" in some machines

 

[carlow]

there is no problem with photoshop.

The problem is windows and the way it handles ram memory.

Those intial MB of ram are reasanoble, Photoshop is always greedyon ram, so when you start the prog, it immediatrely says "I want ram" and allocates it for his purposes. Can you blame Photoshop

Graphic programs always allocate a lot of ram for themselves, just because they need it... And once they grab it they don't want to give it back.

It's all about calculations

By the way, if you want Illustrator and Photoshop at the same time and have the best use of your available ram... Then first launch Photoshop and afterwards Ilolustrator. Cause illustrator is even hungier for ram than photoshop

So, maybe this explains some details,maybe they don't...

The answer THE MORE RAM, THE BETTER

good luck

 

[JBL312]

I have found that this is the default behavior for the adobe products that I was able to test. This includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat. Upon executing the application, the application process consumes a large amount of RAM. Everything that you do to the application from that point on will only increase the amount of RAM that the process is using. Even after you save and then close an image you were working on, the amount of RAM that the process is using does not return to the level that it was at prior to beginning work on the image.

I have so far found only one way to get Adobe products to relinquish the excess RAM that they have reserved but are not using. Minimize the application and then restore it.

The following are steps to reproduce this odd behavior.

1. Open Task Manager and click on the Processes tab. Ctrl + Shift + Esc
2. Open any of the Adobe products mentioned above. Photoshop, Illustrator…
3. Locate the applications process name in Task Manager and observe the Mem usage.
4. Minimize the application.
5. View the applications memory usage with Task Manager.
6. Restore the application to its previous state.
7. View the memory usages reported by Task manager, for the application process.

I understand the need for an application such as Adobe Photoshop to reserve a portion of RAM. If this were the case then Photoshop should reuse portions of the RAM that it has reserved, for doing new things. If I open an image, memory is used. If I close the image, the memory that was being used to open and display the image should become available again once I close the image. This is not the case. And in addition to this, if Photoshop has truly reserved the RAM for it’s self, why then does it give up the RAM that it is not using, once you minimize the program and then restore it? That does not make any since to me.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post, I appreciate it.