I'm encountering an issue with setting memory that I have not seen covered by the large database FAQ or in the Statalist archives.
When I open Stata and try the 'set mem xxxm' to a large memory allocation (it seems as if it's anything over 500m), I sometimes get the r(909) error saying “op. sys. refuses to provide memory”. The strange part, however, is if I set the memory to a much smaller number, e.g. set mem 250m, and then gradually raise the memory allocation, I can get up to and past the original allocation that was originally refused.
For example, today I did the following:
set mem 800m
op. sys. refuses to provide memory
r(909)
set mem 250m
set mem 500m
set mem 800m
op. sys. refuses to provide memory
r(909)
set mem 700m
set mem 800m
set mem 850m
I can't figure out why this occurs. This can be a real pain for programming purposes, since it's difficult to predict what exact memory allocations will be accepted from day to day (I'm working with large datasets).
I'm running Stata/SE 10.1 with XP SP3. I'd love to hear the input of those more familiar with the working of Stata. Right now, I'm stumped.
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