Memory size ~100GB for Photoshop on Mac mini pro 2024

[am3104photo]

Since I have been using Mac mini 2024 with M4 pro, consumed memory size is getting bigger like over 100GB when I continue to use photoshop 2025. 
OS Sequoia 15.2

Mac mini pro M4 pro 24GB

Photoshop 26.2.0

I tried safe boost, update OS, but not much changed as Apple support suggested.

Lightroom classic has nothing abnormal.

Does anybody have this kind of issue and have implemented solution for this kind of issue?

[Rene Andritsch]

Does your version of Photoshop consume that much memory when it is idle? What kind of images are you working on? The “Swap-section” in your Activity Monitor already shows that Photoshop has to push some of that used memory onto the hard drive as your machine can only provide a maximum of probably less than 24 GB of RAM. Can you show us your “Performance” section in the Photoshop preferences? Did you already try to uninstall and reinstall Photoshop?

[am3104photo]

Yes, memory is consumed during idle (sleep mode) mostly.

Since the memory size is consumed during idle, I don't think what kind of image is processed on PS.
Regarding the memory for photoshop on setting is set as 70% of memory as your image. I can not show current setting, since I asked apple for service.
I did re-install of Photoshop, but no change after that.

[D Fosse]

If you have 24 GB installed, and Photoshop uses 95 GB, then that is obviously virtual memory - in other words, scratch disk.

Photoshop writes a scratch file from the moment it opens (regardless of RAM), and this scratch file is expanded as needed. 100 GB scratch is perfectly normal.

Raster image editing requires much more memory than any RAM you may have installed. There is no such thing as "enough RAM". Think of the scratch disk as Photoshop's main memory, with RAM as a fast access cache holding the most current data. The scratch file contains all history states for all open documents, plus overhead. If you're forced to work with limited scratch space, reduce history states.

EDIT: note that the scratch file is not deleted until you close Photoshop.

[am3104photo]

I forgot to mention one very critical thing regarding this issue.

After the memory usage exceeds 100GB in Photoshop, a pop-up appears saying there's not enough memory, and then the Mac freezes. Also I can not shut down Photoshop as normal once memory is increased.
As mentioned in another comment, the memory is consumed even when idle, so I'm not sure if the scratch file is related to this issue.

[dsaponaro]

Same issue here.

I just got a new M4 Pro Mac mini with 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 64GB memory, & 2TB SSD storage. Its been really great so far with one exception...

With a A fairly new virgin OS install and minimal third party applications other than PS & Creative cloud. I’ve been getting a message saying I’ve run out of system memory quite frequently when using Photoshop. I don't have this issue with my laptop using 16GB of Ram while working on the same files so I’m not really sure what the issue could be.  As can be seen in hte screen grab PS memory usage baloons to ver 200GB memory usage.  This happens slowly over time and does not matter wether files are open or worked on.  As long as PS is running it starts to happen.

Anyone have any insight or similar experience? Thanks!

[D Fosse]

As pointed out above, this includes virtual memory, in other words data written to disk. A 200 GB scratch file is perfectly normal in itself. What is not normal is that this should bring the whole system down.

But you still need to have physical RAM available for system processes and other applications, and the Photoshop components that need to be loaded in RAM. A complicating factor here is that Apple silicon uses shared system memory, and the GPU can eat up a large chunk of it. GPU memory use tends to increase over time, while Photoshop tends to grab the available amount quickly.

Have you changed the memory allocation in PS preferences? The normally advised setting is 70%, but with shared system memory I would go down on that, to 50 or 60, to avoid conflicts.

Can you break down RAM and disk usage in more detail? I don't do Mac, but on Windows there are graphs to track usage over time.

[dsaponaro]

Thank you for your response.

I understand that a 200 GB scratch file is normal.  Ive just never had it freeze my system up and give me an error stating "Your system has run out of application memory".  Even with systems that have far less specs.

 In regard to PS preferences for memory allocation I have tried to adjust that but it doesnt seem to make any difference. Eventually it ends up causing the system to lock up and run out of application memory even if PS is the only application running.

I do have  1.03 TB available of 2 TB drive for my scratch drive so the 200GB really shouldnt be an issue I wouldnt think either.

Im unsure as to what type of breakdown to provide but happy to do so. In the activity monitor app in addition to the memory section I just posted there is a "Disk" section that has several data stats in real time for all of the machines processes and Applications etc...

[am3104photo]

Recently I talked this issue with Apple support at Apple shop and they proposed to get new Mac mini to demonstrate whether this issue is happened on my Mac mini. I bought new same model at the Apple store and tried to install PS and LRC as I have in my Mac mini. I confirmed no issue with RAM for PS was not happened.
I brought this result to Apple store and they accepted to replace the system board of my Mac mini.

Based on this, I think I could say that this issue is related to Mac mini itself.
I am still waiting for my Mac mini with ne system board arrive.

[dsaponaro]

Im not sure how feasable it is for me to purchase a whole other Mac Mini to compare.  Looks like I may have to make an appointment at an Apple Store though. Oy!

[am3104photo]

I think you can return your apple product once you buy in Apple Store within 2 weeks. So I bought one at Apple Store and check the issue on the new one. Then returned it to Apple Store immediately as Apple told me as only option to check on another Mac mini.

Im not sure how feasable it is for me to purchase a whole other Mac Mini to compare.  Looks like I may have to make an appointment at an Apple Store though. Oy!

By dsaponaro

[dsaponaro]

Some further RAM & Disk usage stats.  Hopefully someone can give some further insight?

[dsaponaro]

So I just got back from an Apple Store and they round about suggested the same thing to me. I'm not crazy about putting down for a whole new computer but may have to do so.  Can I ask, what specific configuration was yours?  Mine is a M4 Pro Mac mini with 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 64GB memory, & 2TB SSD.

i wonder if there is a correlation between specifics?

[Trevor.Dennis]

Another regular forum poster recently upgraded to a new MacBook Pro with this spec.  I could that person share opinions if it would be helpful?

16-inch MacBook Pro - Silver

• 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display²
• Accessory Kit
• Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English
• Apple M4 Max chip with 16‑core CPU, 40‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
• 4TB SSD storage
• 64GB unified memory
• 140W USB-C Power Adapter
• Three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, headphone jack, MagSafe 3 port
• Standard display

We have a light hearted test we use to compare systems.

30,000 X 30,000 pixel 8bit image

5000 pixel fully hard brush with 1% spacing

Touch down in one corner, and shift click on the diagonally opposite corner.

We use the Info panel to record the time

I have a Windows 11 system with the following spec, and it takes 11 seconds to complete the above test.  The MBP M4 MAX system above does it in 4.5 seconds!

i9-13900K

Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Hero MB

RTX4080

64GB memory

Two Samsung 2TB 980PRO drives (plus six other assorted high end drives)

[am3104photo · Accepted solution]

Mine has a 12-core CPU, a 16-core GPU, 24GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD.

However, I was able to find the solution myself after switching to a new Mac mini. The new Mac mini exhibited the same issue as before. I then contacted Adobe, and they suggested performing a clean installation of Creative Cloud and Adobe applications such as Lightroom Classic (LrC) and Photoshop (PS).

I followed the instructions provided in the link below:
https://adobe.ly/3twZlZA

This page might be in Japanese, but you can use a web translation tool if needed.

After completing the clean installation, the issue with increasing memory for Photoshop was resolved.

I also identified the root cause of the problem in my case. I had used Time Machine to transfer my Mac environment from my previous MacBook to the Mac mini, which caused issues with Creative Cloud.

When I initially bought a temporary Mac mini, I didn’t use Time Machine since it wasn’t my permanent setup. However, after getting my new Mac mini and restoring from Time Machine, the same issue reappeared.

So, it turns out that Time Machine was the culprit behind this issue.

Thank you for your participation, but I believe I have resolved this on my own.

[D Fosse]

@am3104photo 

Thanks for reporting back, that's very interesting and very useful to know.

From time to time we see these reports of memory leaks, both on Mac and Windows, and it's always a mystery because most of us can't reproduce it. But this suggests it could be either a corrupt install or corrupt preferences (or both).

Going forward, a completely fresh install with fresh preferences will be my first suggestion.

We do know that migrating preferences is pretty common. I've always warned against that, because the risk of accumulated errors carrying over is high, and with new application code it may suddenly bring out latent issues.

I wrote above that this excessive memory reported is virtual memory including the Photoshop scratch disk. That turns out to be not correct, the scratch disk is not included here. It is virtual memory, but actually the system pagefile. When that fills up, the whole system chokes.

[dsaponaro]

Interesting.  I do use Time Machine to back up but I did not use it to restore/set up my new Mac mini.  I just manually copied my documents and lies over.  I don't believe I copied any preferences ether but will have try a complete reinstall of creative cloud and report back.

[am3104photo]

Please try the clean installation.

[Dominick262478557k1t]

I Uninstalled and reinstalled Photoshop and Creative Cloud this morning about 5 hours ago.  After the reinstal I opened a modest PSD file did some minor edits and closed out the file.  Activity Monitor showed Photoshop as using about 3.6 GB of memory at the time.  Looking at activity monitor now it has balooned up to 51.57 GB since then.  Again, this is without any further files being open and only the app open for 5 hours now.  The reinstall of creative cloud did not seem to fix the issue.  Activity Monitor screengrab attached showingthe current status.

[dsaponaro]

I Uninstalled and reinstalled Photoshop and Creative Cloud this morning about 5 hours ago.  After the reinstal I opened a modest PSD file did some minor edits and closed out the file.  Activity Monitor showed Photoshop as using about 3.6 GB of memory at the time.  Looking at activity monitor now it has balooned up to 51.57 GB since then.  Again, this is without any further files being open and only the app open for 5 hours now.  The reinstall of creative cloud did not seem to fix the issue.  Activity Monitor screengrab attached showingthe current status.

[am3104photo]

Did you erase all Adobe and Creative cloud related files manually?
Just in case, I recommend you to contact Adobe support for thi smatter.

In my case, there is no memory increase even after 24 hours.

Good luck.

[dsaponaro]

I manually deleted all preferences in my preference folder in my library folder..  other than that I'm not quite sure what else or how to find any others.

I'm not loving the idea but I may have to do a fresh virgin install of the OS and Creative cloud to test this out.  Sigh...