I noticed a strange memory issue with VMware Fusion Beta 3.
I have a Macbook Pro core Duo 2.0 MHz with 2GB ram and 80GB HDD
On a fresh start activity monitor shows that i have the following memory characteristics.
Wired: 123.34 MB; Active: 173.07MB; Inactive: 187.74MB; Used: 485MB; Free 1.53 GB; VM Size(OS x Page file) 5.71 GB
After stating VMware i restore my Windows appliance that has been assigned 800MB. It takes a bit of restore and ends up taking 856MB, which is perfectly fine as I am running Visual Studio for testing purposes. the VMruns very very fast with no lags and the performance on OS X is also very very good
So while running VMware my Memory characteristics are as follows
Wired: 260.23MB; Active: 800.62 MB; Inactive 379.54MB; Used 1.37GB; Free 636MB; VM ize (OS x page file) : 7.16 GB and VMware-vmx taking up 820MB
Heres the strange thing after i quit VMware (during quit it also suspends the virtual appliance) i get the following memory characteristics.
Active 129.77MB; Active: 864.38MB; Inactive: 341.79MB; Used 1.30 GB; Free 712MB; VM Size(OS x pagefile): 5.71GB
Where did my memory go? The running programs do not add up to the abnormal useage. It seems like once vmware quits it takes the memory with it. Performance issues after vmware quits is not an issue os x is very very snappy like always. But i never seem to get that memory back. If i use a different program like Garageband which takes up about 600MB however right after i quit it i gives me all the memory back.
If I relaunch vmware and open the appliance again it restores very very fast. this is even if i have been doing a lot of other things on my computer. If i continue to keep launching and quitting vmware fusion the "free" memory keeps decreasing and the "Active" keeps growing till i hit under 100Mb free and 1.8GB active after which the system becomes unusable.However Launching VMware is now very very fast and the VM runs very very good.
I understanding is this: somehow everyone the Vm launches all the stuff is being cached in RAM thus subsequent launches are fast. but after quitting the cache is no given back.