The fseventsd process on macOS is part of the operating system's infrastructure for handling file system events. This daemon is responsible for monitoring changes in the file system and reporting these changes to applications that need to be aware of them.
The fseventsd process keeps track of changes in directories and files. It plays a crucial role in various system functions and applications, including file synchronization, automatic backups, search indexing, and other processes that depend on up-to-date information about the file system.
Theoretically, the fseventsd process should not cause memory leaks when moving many files on the disk.
In recent days, I noticed my laptop was running painfully slow. Determined to get to the bottom of it, I opened the Activity Monitor to pinpoint the processes hogging an absurd amount of RAM and CPU. To my surprise, the main culprit was fseventsd. This brought back memories of a similar issue I faced before, prompting me to delve into resolving this memory-leaking puzzle again.
The root of the problem, in every instance of encountering memory leaks, is traced back to related activities involving the shuffling of a substantial number of files back and forth—an attempt to tidy up files into their respective folders and directories.
To assist "Future Herminio" in handling this issue if it resurfaces, I've decided to document the cause and solution.
The fix is refreshingly simple: open the Activity Monitor, locate/search for fseventsd, halt the process, and patiently wait for it to restart gracefully.
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