Hex compare maximum file size

[mem@scii]

Hi,

I know this has been asked before but the answer given doesn't fit with my experience.

According to the Knowledge Base the hex viewer should be able to compare two files up to 700MB each in size. However I am unable to compare two files of less than 450 MB. One file is opened while the other remains blank with an error like "This command is not possible due to not enough memory" -- actually I have English BC3 installed on a German language Windows and the error is "Cannot open file "<filename>". Für diesen Befehl is nicht genügend Speicher verfügbar". I guess that the English part of the error message comes from BC and German half might have come from the OS.

I'm running XP with 3GB RAM the default virtual memory settings. Manually creating a huge swap file didn't help.

Any idea what the issue is here and how I can work around it? Splitting the files each time is less than ideal.

What's really annoying is that BC2 with the Hex Plugin used to perform this comparison without a grumble.

BR.
JBM.

[Aaron]

Hello,

There isn't a huge difference in the memory requirement for the Hex Viewer vs. Hex Compare. Do you have multiple tabs open or were running previous comparisons. Please try shutting down BC3 completely, then re-opening it and trying the Hex Compare as the first thing by itself.

[mem@scii]

Hi,

I'm not sure what you mean with regards to the memory requirements "Hex Viewer vs. Hex Compare"?

I'm not using multiple tabs and I still have the issue if I reboot Windows completely and then do the comparison without starting any other apps. I normally compare files using the explorer context menu to select the two files but see the same issue if I start BC3 and select the two files manually. My colleagues with similar specced machines have the same issue.

BR.
JBM.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Sorry for the confusion. Hex Viewer is BC2's method, Hex Compare is the BC3 session type. If BC3 is running out of memory, but BC2 was able to open the file, the mostly likely cause was having other BC3 tabs or windows open.

Do you still have your BC2 license? If so, please install BC2 on the same machine and test with the same files. You do *NOT* need to uninstall BC3. You can have BC2 and BC3 on the same system at the same time. They install to separate directories and store settings in different locations.

You can download the latest version here:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/download.php?zz=dl2_en
Once registered, you can install the Hex Viewer plugin here:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/downl...p?zz=v2plugins

[mem@scii]

Hi Again,

Okay, so I installed BC2 v2.5.3 and the Hex Viewer doesn't work on these 450MB files either. Both panes remain blank and there is no aligning bytes dialog.

Curiously on my older machine (with only 1GB RAM) BC2 compares these files with the Hex Viewer without a problem. This old machine had BC2 v2.0.1 and HV v2.5, so I upgraded to the latest versions of both and it still worked. As a further experiment I (temporarily) installed BC3 on this machine and the compare fails with the same error as on the machine with 3GB.

So in conclusion:

Laptop A - Win XP SP3 - 1GB Ram
BC2 v2.5.3 - Hex Comparison of two 450MB files - OKAY
BC3 v3.2.4 - Hex Comparison of two 450MB files - FAILS

Laptop B - Win XP SP3 - 3GB Ram
BC2 v2.5.3 - Hex Comparison of two 450MB files - FAILS
BC3 v3.2.4 - Hex Comparison of two 450MB files - FAILS

I'm not really sure what conclusion to draw from that.

BR.
Iain.

[Aaron]

Hello,

That is quite odd.

Are your files being read over the network or FTP? If so, can you copy them locally to your Desktop and compare from there?

Please be sure to *not* open any additional views, tabs, or windows of BC2 or BC3. Have only a single window open for these tests.

[mem@scii]

Hi,

No the comparisons are all local and and there is only a single window with a single tab.

BR.
Iain.

[Aaron]

Hello,

I'm not sure what's causing the behavior you are seeing. Would it be possible to get your sample files, just in case it is something specific with them? If you could host them on an FTP and email us a user/password, please let us know (and include a link to this forum post in the email for reference.)