[R] Error: cannot allocate vector of size 3.0 Gb

[Daniel Nordlund]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf
> Of John
> Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 12:04 PM
> To: r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: [R] Error: cannot allocate vector of size 3.0 Gb
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I have read recent posts on this topic (Dr. Ronnen Levinson's Monday 02:39:55
> pm), but before I install a 64 bit system, and purchase more RAM, I want to
> make sure I understand this interesting issue.
> 
> I was attempting to plot a data frame containing Dow Jones stock information:
> 
> > length(Date)
> [1] 19957
> > length(Close)
> [1] 19957
> > head(DowJones)
>       Date     Open     High      Low    Close     Volume Adj.Close
> 1 03/26/08 12531.79 12531.79 12309.62 12422.86 4055670000  12422.86
> 2 03/25/08 12547.34 12639.82 12397.62 12532.60 4145120000  12532.60
> 3 03/24/08 12361.97 12687.61 12346.17 12548.64 4499000000  12548.64
> 4 03/20/08 12102.43 12434.34 12024.68 12361.32 2078450000  12361.32
> 5 03/19/08 12391.52 12525.19 12077.27 12099.66 1203830000  12099.66
> 6 03/18/08 11975.92 12411.63 11975.92 12392.66 1263390000  12392.66
> > tail(DowJones)
>           Date   Open   High    Low  Close  Volume Adj.Close
> 19952 10/08/28 240.17 243.33 237.72 239.55 3940000    239.55
> 19953 10/05/28 240.00 243.08 238.22 240.44 4360000    240.44
> 19954 10/04/28 237.75 242.53 237.72 240.00 4330000    240.00
> 19955 10/03/28 238.14 239.14 233.60 237.75 4060000    237.75
> 19956 10/02/28 240.01 241.54 235.42 238.14 3850000    238.14
> 19957 10/01/28 239.43 242.46 238.24 240.01 3500000    240.01
> > plot(Date, Close)
> Error: cannot allocate vector of size 3.0 Gb
> >
> 
> 
> I currently have installed R 2.60, from source, onto Linux SuSE 10.2. I
> believe it is a 32 bit install:
> 
> > dmesg | grep bit
> > ...
> > hpet0: 3 32-bit timers, 25000000 Hz
> 
> I have 1GB of RAM, with circa 883.61 not allocated to hardware after boot.
> I naively thought 19957 rows of data would be easily handled by a fairly new
> computer. R was able to cease execution, and place control back onto its
> interpreter, while a Chart attempt in OpenOffice locks up OpenOffice.
> 
> So,  will installation of a 64 bit Operating System, and at least an
> additional 1GB of RAM  suffice to generate memory space for a 3.0 Gb vector,
> in R?
> 

John,

Am I missing something here?  You have one 1 GB of RAM, you want to get a second 1 GB of RAM, and you want to know if you will be able to create a 3 GB vector?  With or without a 64bit OS, I don't think you will be successful.  In addition to total memory available, I believe you need to have sufficient contiguous memory to allocate an object.  If memory is fragmented, you won't be able to create the vector, even if the total free space is sufficient.  If I am incorrect, I'm sure someone will be along to correct me shortly.

Hope this is helpful,

Dan

Daniel Nordlund
Bothell, WA