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M1 macOS version uses 500+MB or RAM

I use an 8GB MacBook Air and it routinely runs out of RAM and starts running slow. I recently was checking to see what the memory hogs are and the biggest is the browser, but I see that DropBox takes a minimum of 500MB (when the subprocesses are included), which is too high for something that is just syncing files. My Synology Drive Sync Client uses only 60MB.

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Walter

Hi there @theMotoMan, thanks for flagging this with us.

Can you clarify the desktop app's exact version and status when you notice the RAM spikes as shown in your menu bar?

Thanks so much!

theMotoMan

The 500+MB of RAM usage (including all subprocesses) is not a "spike", it takes up that much all the time. The syncing was idle when I took the screenshot. BTW, it was like this with macOS 12 too. I have wiped my disk and did a clean install of macOS 13.

theMotoMan

Here is another data point. This info is from my M1 Mac mini 16GB model running macOS Ventura 13.1. The previous reply was data taken from my 2020 MBA 8GB. Again, I will mention, the 500+MB memory usage is not a "spike", that is normal memory usage.

In the second activity monitor screenshot, you can see the memory usage is actually much more than 300MB when you factor in the DB helpers and Activity Provider - 515.1MB!

Screenshot 2022-12-27 at 9.08.46 AM.png

Screenshot 2022-12-27 at 9.06.04 AM.png

Screenshot 2022-12-27 at 9.06.29 AM.png

Nancy

Hi @theMotoMan! Sorry for jumping in.

Is there any chance that your Dropbox app is syncing more than 300k files, in general? Please also check this Help Center article, and let me know if anything mentioned there could be true.

theMotoMan

No, I have a very minimal amount of files there. I mostly just use this for sharing a You Need A Budget database with my wife.

One question I do have, is what memory sizes are others experiencing? Even at 250MB or 200MB, that is still too large IMHO. DropBox has 8 processes running too, which on my system makes the total RAM consumption 564.1MB!

For comparison, my Synology NAS drive client (DropBox-like app) only takes 60MB.

Hannah

Hey @theMotoMan, can we actually email you, so we can look into this privately?

theMotoMan

Yes, that would be fine. I receive emails from you already, so I assume you have my email address. I don't want to post it here in a public forum.

BTW, here is another data point - my wife's 2020 M1 MBA. It is using 538.5MB of RAM.

Hannah

Thanks for the additional info! I just sent you an email, so we can continue from there. 🙂

McSpeedmouse

Seems all OS do have the same problem

I have 6000 files running on Windows and a RAM usage of 300MB.

What can I do to solve this?

Nancy

Hey @McSpeedmouse! Sorry to hear you’re having the same issue.

Before looking into this further, can you please let me know if you’ve checked the Help Center article Walter linked above?

This can help us isolate the issue more and guide you further.

theMotoMan

You can't fix this, the excessive memory consumption is just the way DropBox is designed. They danced all around the issue and never would tell me what the memory consumption should be. We have had 5 MacBooks and they all exhibit the same excessive RAM usage. The solution is to switch to another storage vendor.

McSpeedmouse

I might not have seen that article, but is is fully in line with my reads so far : RAM and CPU usage get out together to confuse the less pc minded people...
Furthermore I can say that I am nowhere near the mentioned 300K files (only 6K)., still my Ram usage is 300MB, at a CPU usage of 0%. Therefore I also see no reason why I would need to go selective of the program (Dropbox) is behaving correctly.

theMotoMan

McSpeedmouse,

I don't think I am fully understanding your last reply. If you are stating that 300MB is too much for the number of files you have on Dropbox, then I would agree with you. I stated if you want to fix that excessive memory consumption, you will need to switch to another online storage vendor, because DropBox is stating this is how their app works. In other words, it's not a bug, it's a feature. If you are stating this RAM consumption is okay, then you are good to go and don't need to do anything but enjoy your Dropbox app.

BTW, you will likely find that it is using more than 300MB if you look at all of the DropBox processes running and add up the RAM usage for all of them. See my previous post showing the task manager with all of the processes running. Dropbox has chosen an architecture for their app that is not easy on the RAM usage.

McSpeedmouse

I am waiting an official reply from the Dropbox team...

I am awaiting a solution ... or a confession...

theMotoMan

Yeah, I would not hold my breath for either of those! Their recommendation will be to upgrade your computer with more RAM. BTW, the only reason I am still using Dropbox is my accounting program uses it for shared storage, so until I change accounting programs, I am stuck with it.