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Asked: 2026-05-21T11:20:50+00:00

I have a large table (x) to covert to matrix (y). I used two

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I have a large table (x) to covert to matrix (y).

I used two different commands.

x <- reshape(y, direction="wide", v.names="column1", 
             timevar="column2", idvar="column3")

or

x <- cast(x, column1~column2)

After waiting for several hours, an error message appears.

 Error: cannot allocate vector of size 87 KB

In addition: There were 50 or more warnings (use warning() to see the first 50)

when I type warnings(), I found it is complainting 

Reached total allocation of 1535 Mb:
see help(memory.size)

In a second trial, I type “memory.size(TRUE) first, a message comes up: 

[1] 12.88

Then, I do the analysis all over again. However, the same error message appears.

I am using a desktop PC with windows 2000. I am using R2.12.0

Could you mind to let me know if it is possible to get rid of this problem?

Could you mind to let me know when I firstly type memory.size(TRUE) “12.88” comes up, does it mean that it all the 12G physical are RAM readily used by R in the second trial?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    On most windows systems, memory usage is very limited (in R).

    You want to look at the results of memory.limit instead of memory.size, and then also use memory.limit to alter it.

    In the best case scenario, you may crank this up to maybe 4 Gb, which may still be too little for your purpose (depends on the details of your OS – apparently, your machine has enough RAM, so physical memory is not the issue here (yet)).

    See rw-FAQ for more info.

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