Shqiponja,
_set memory_ is the relevant command in here, although you might not be
choosing the right amount.
I suggest that:
(1) find out how big is your file before you decide on the memory size.
(where did you get that 726 from anyway?) If your data is about 600MB,
you'll have to set your memory at 1200MB or more to do the most basic
regressions and etc.. Given that you're reading in tab deliminated files,
the file size might grow even bigger as you read it into Stata. My
experience is that the ratio is more like 6 to 8 times as big as your
original text file.
(2) find out how much memory you have on your computer. Newer computers
will tell you that it hasn't got enough memory (op. sys refuse to allocate
more memory). Old ones will just put up with it and pretends to be running
(you can wait for days before you find out!): you can set mem equals 1000MB
even though it has only 64MB physical memory. If you haven't got enough
memory, you'll need a new computer. (Yay!!)
There are other ways to sort this problem out but these two should get you
going.
Ada Ma
Department of Economics
University of Aberdeen, Scotland
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: "TELHAJ Shqiponje" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 4:46 PM
Subject: st: still troubles in loading a big dataset in Stata---- Help
Please!!!
> Nick and Fabrizio,
>
> Thank you for your suggestions, but I am still having troubles in
> loading the data.
>
> I started with an empty Stata and did increase the amount of memory
> allocated to the data and also the matsize, by using the following:
>
> .set memory 726m
> .set matsize 200
>
> but the programme was too slow, and the data could not be loaded at all.
>
> Do you have any other suggestion?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Shqiponja
>
> Shqiponja Telhaj
> PhD student
> Department of Economics
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nick Cox [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: 05 September 2003 10:45
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: st: RE: loading a big dataset in Stata
>
> TELHAJ Shqiponje
> >
> > I am trying to load a big dataset with approx. 790,000
> > observations and
> > 170 variables in Stata. I am having trouble loading the
> > data first. The
> > data is an SPSS file. I saved the data as a tab-delimited
> > file in SPSS
> > and tried to open in Stata. However, got the following message:
> >
> >
> > . insheet using c:\yellisall.dat
> > no room to add more observations
> > An attempt was made to increase the number of
> > observations beyond
> > what is
> > currently possible. You have the following alternatives:
> >
> > 1. Store your variables more efficiently; see help compress.
> > (Think of
> > Stata's data area as the area of a rectangle;
> > Stata can trade
> > off
> > width and length.)
> >
> > 2. Drop some variables or observations; see help drop.
> >
> > 3. Increase the amount of memory allocated to the
> > data area using
> > the set
> > memory command; see help memory.
> > error in line 86591 of file
> > r(901);
> >
>
> You got three suggestions here. If you are
> starting with an empty Stata, then #3 is
> the most relevant.
>
> Nick
> [email protected]
>
>
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