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Low on memory?????

K

kari

I don't know what is going on! How can a fairly new computor run low on memory? I am using Sony Vegas and yes I do have a a lot of short videos on file but this whole computor is about six months old.

I cant render anything all of a sudden because it says system is low on memory. This is driving me crazy?

Does anyone know what I can do? What the problem is?

Thaks.
 
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Is it running low on RAM (system memory) or storage space (disk memory)? If it is RAM, how much RAM do you have? The RAM is a relatively cheap upgrade, and very easy to do (even if you are squeamish about cracking open your system). You can never have too much RAM!!! Also make sure you aren't running any other programs while you're editing; that can save you some RAM right away.

Another thought is to search google for performance optimization tweaks for both your operating system and the software you run. A little time and effort and you can get your system cooking...just be sure to back up anything before you change it.

If you are running low on disk space, grab yourself an external drive and start moving things over to it (that's a good place to store videos that you aren't currently working on, music, etc), or you can back things up on DVD-Rs. Despite the vast size of hard drives these days, it's pretty easy to fill them up!
 
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I use sony vegas too, and for some reason the only video format that it will take is AVI, which I think is the video format that takes up the most memory. So for me just formatting a single day's shoot takes alot of working around to fit it all my laptop.
 
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I'm thinking you don't have enough hard disk space to render your video file. That is what Vegas measures first.

RAM should not be an issue with a PC. That would be a Mac problem. PCs create virtual memory with hard disk space.

Sounds like you need an external hard drive via your USB2, USB3, or firewire port. That will resolve your problem.
 
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okay thanks for the reply. I am thinking its space...so being I am terrible with computors 101, what do I do from here? Do I empty out what I have in this computor and how?

I mean in steps what do I do? Go to Radio shack and buy usb2? then what?

Thanks for the patience!
 
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Your computer must have a USB2 port if it is fairly recent. Look for deals with USB2 external hard drives.

If you are not computer savy, deleting files on your hard drive is VERY risky. If you delete the wrong stuff, you can knock out your computer.

Buying an external hard drive and using it for placing all of the videos you render is your safest bet. 1 Terabyte drives are becoming very affordable now.
 
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In addition to Ernest's suggestion, open up "My Computer" (or hit the windows key+e to bring up the explorer), right click on your hard drive for the "Properties" option. You should see how much space you have, how much you've used, and an option for "disk cleanup" that'll help you free up space by deleting things people sometimes forget to (internet cache, etc).

RAM can be an issue on a windows system too (again, more is never bad). Virtual memory is not infinite (the pagefile can be set, and for best performance 2x physical RAM is usually recommended, but the reasons for that are another conversation and way above "average user"). But, yeah, doesn't seem to be the problem in kari's case. Still not a bad thing to learn about, and to learn how to use efficiently.
 
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thanks for the reply josh i did hit windows key + E but couldnt find hard drive or properties optin....

what is see is programs and a list under it, docments, contral panel and music...

what am i doing wrong?

thanks again!
 
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what version of windows are you running? win+e should bring up explorer, with "My Computer" in the address bar. The other way to get to it is under the start menu->accessories->windows explorer (that usually defaults to user directory, but the computer and the hard drive should be visible in the left hand window). If you have an icon on your desktop that says "my computer", that will take you where you need to go, but I think Win7 no longer does that by default.
 
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My notebook is a little newer than your PC, but if you click on the round windows icon on the left it will bring you to different items including Computer. If you left click on that, it will tell you how much space you have. Mine is a HP and other computers may work differently. Some you have to right click on when you are just told about a drive.
 
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Let's do this. There should be a Windows icon on your computer that tells what version of Windows came with your computer. Windows _________?

Windows Vista and Windows 7 has an icon called "Computer" that is the same in function in Windows XP and earlier to "My Computer."

Double click on "Computer" or "My Computer" and you will find a Drive C:, which is your hard drive. Right mouse click on your C: drive and click on ?PROPERTIES" That will say how much hard drive space you have.

That does not always tell too much when rendering video files. The size of the file you are rendering may be enormous. That can trigger an out of memory message too.

10 Gigs and even 20 Gigs of free space can be too little for rendering a video.
 
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For the record... Mac OSX is a derivative of openBSD and uses virtual memory extensively... the previously mentioned lack of VM on the Mac is outdated information from over a decade ago... but, not necessary information for this conversation, just future searches of it.

RAM is operating memory for the software on the computer to use. The Hard drive is storage... think Desktop vs. Filing cabinet. Video files are huge and take up lots of room on both.

Video apps on any platform are hungry little beasts. I've got a primary production machine with 4Gb of RAM and 2.5Tb of harddrive space. You'll want to add more RAM and a nice fast external Hard drive for storing your projects.

If your main Hard drive is still full, then you may want to take the computer in and get the internal Hard Drive upgraded to a larger one. I just ahd to do that with my Laptop to be able to use it as a working machine.. it's Got 3Gb RAM, 500Gb Internal drive and 3Tb external drive.

Video is hungry, feed it. Your system also wants about 10% of the total capacity of the hard drive to be free to use as virtual memory. I start to panic when I get less than 100Gb free on any working drive I've got... after that, machine performance starts to suffer.
 
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Oh, and Virtual Memory is the computer using the free space on the hard drive as RAM... the problem is that the hard drive is a gazillion times slower than RAM and useless for video production. Speed is king as you're realizing and giving the computer space to work in is key to getting that speed.
 
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Thanks for all the replies. I have to take some basic classes in this to at least have a basic clue of anything.

I think I am going to bring this computor in to the computor place and have them take out all the videos I have in this and put them into a dvd (if I can). In future, not put so much on here. Really, there is a LOT of videos on here.
 
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Be careful with DVDs, they can get lost or scratched. Put your files on an external drive, like others have said.

And this should go without saying but remember, have two copies of everything, unless you don't mind losing them.
 
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To Supplement Dready's statement, put them all on the external harddrive and on DVDs. I keep all my video projects backed up like a paranoid data professional (which I was for 10 years). Original tapes are never overwritten. working project goes on main harddrive in a way that allows me to drag and drop backup. these are backed up weekly to an external harddrive. Then when finished with the project, I move them to smaller bare internal harddrives that I have an external connector for for cold storage of the finished project.

This way, if the internal harddrive fails, I've only lost a weeks worth of work. If the backup fails, the project is backed up on cold storage devices elsewhere. If those fail, I only lose 2 or 3 projects rather than all of them.
 
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