Mac OS X 10.4.11 (fully updated), on m'QuickSilver 2002, 1.5 GB RAM (maxed)...
Ahm having an odd problem... Poked around and found an ok
workaround, but not an actual fix to the issue. Wondering if you'all
have seen this?
I'm trying to burn large files to DVD+RW media, using Finder, or Burn
(preferred), or Toast. (Burn is the most convenient, simple
drag'n'drop and its smart enough to automatically erase the media
before burning - which the other tools don't). Usually the burn and
verify goes just fine. But sometimes it fails, either during the
burn or verify steps. The apps just tell me that the burn failed.
Nothing more is thrown to the logs.
Tried cleaning the burner, clearing caches, rebooting - didn't help.
Tried different media. Even tried -RW media. No improvement.
I thought maybe my machine was too bogged and it was causing some
sort of buffering issue. So I moved the data source to my boot
volume and idled other apps. Same failures. But the burn does work
if the system has been freshly booted, and nothing else is running.
Then I realized the problem is with free memory. Doesn't matter that
I had a gig on the inactive list... If I have at least one quarter
of my memory on the *free* list, the burn & verify works reliably!
If the free list is tiny, regardless of the size of the inactive
list, the burn or verify fails! huh? You'd think the burning engine
in OS X would be smart enough to properly allocate buffers!? But
apparently not?
Ok, so how to load up the free list? At first I was telling
GraphicConverter to open my whole desktop picture library. That's
about 60 files. It grabs all available memory, then when I
mass-close the windows, frees it all. That works, but it's a PITA to
do.
Then I discovered the 'purge' command. Much faster. (log below).
But I'm wondering... Have any of you seen this type of problem
before? Is there a way to make the burning grab memory properly in
the first place? Are there issues with using the 'purge' command -
it's kind of a big sledgehammer.
dans-quicksilver:~ dan$ vm_stat
Mach Virtual Memory Statistics: (page size of 4096 bytes)
Pages free: 4876.
Pages active: 167911.
Pages inactive: 173358.
Pages wired down: 47070.
"Translation faults": 255085132.
Pages copy-on-write: 589104.
Pages zero filled: 237974768.
Pages reactivated: 5216713.
Pageins: 229903.
Pageouts: 149098.
Object cache: 107891 hits of 156714 lookups (68% hit rate)
dans-quicksilver:~ dan$ purge
dans-quicksilver:~ dan$ vm_stat
Mach Virtual Memory Statistics: (page size of 4096 bytes)
Pages free: 173061.
Pages active: 138382.
Pages inactive: 35146.
Pages wired down: 46576.
"Translation faults": 255181889.
Pages copy-on-write: 589408.
Pages zero filled: 238050846.
Pages reactivated: 5247502.
Pageins: 235546.
Pageouts: 149098.
Object cache: 107919 hits of 156799 lookups (68% hit rate)
Thx,
- Dan.
--
- Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth.
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