Jibz, I suspect the memory has to do with monitoring the file system -- so the use may depend on the size of the file system, or the amount of activity.
The 24hr monitoring of the filesystem in realtime to detect file changes is either a great feature if you want it, or a resource hog if like me you don't really need it (I note you can turn it off in options in CrashPlan but it doesn't change the memory use of CrashPlan in my experience).
Stopping and Restarting the service does seem to dramatically cut down on memory use -- perhaps because of java's garbage collection, the app may be holding on to large amounts of memory when it doesn't need to be..
If anyone is interested in shortcuts which will stop and start the background CrashPlanService, for times when you dont want this behemoth running, I uploaded them:
From the readme:
WHAT THESE DO:
These shortcuts simply stop and start the background invisible CrashPlanService.exe service.
INSTALL:
All of these files point to C:\Program Files\ so edit those if your CrashPlan is somewhere else.
The .lnk file is copied directly from my start menu to here from when CrashPlan was installed; if it fails to start your tray CrashPlan.exe then you can use the one from *your* start menu.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
The CrashPlan service uses an OBSCENE amount of memory (often 300mb or more) even when doing nothing.
Furthermore, there is no way to tell it to unload its background service -- the tray utility will let you exit *it* but the memory monster background service will continue.
I haven't seen any ramifications from stopping and starting the CrashPlan service,
*BUT* one might logically ask if it's that easy why isn't there an option to exit it from the tray.
The answer may be that CrashPlan's feature of monitoring the filesystem for changes may depend on it always being running.
If so, I do not know what the effect will be of stopping and restarting the service. One natural assumption may be that any files changed file the service was not running, may not be detecting and updated, so use at your own risk!
I think I should try to find a difference service, but I'm still impressed by CrashPlan. If not for the obscene memory use I would definitely recommend it.
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