Large structures won't save

I have a large structure 'L' containing data (700MB). When I try to save it I get:

>save('test','L')

Out Of Memory during serialization of the Subsystem Data

??? Error using ==> save

Error closing file c:\...\MATLAB\test.mat

I'm running in Matlab 2011a on WinXP 32bit. If L is < ~500Mb it will save,more importantly and it works fine in Matlab 2007a and 2009b on the same machine.

memory gives the following output: >memory

Maximum possible array: 1022 MB

Memory available for all arrays: 1642 MB

Memory used by MATLAB: 1100 MB

Physical Memory (RAM): 3326 MB

Thanks for any ideas!

Answer 1

[Peter]

Turns out somewhere between R2009 and R2011 the "save" function changed in such a way that a copy of the structure is made by the "save" command - thus exceeding the available memory and breaking code that worked on the earlier version. The fix is to use save with the -V7.3 option.

 save('-v7.3','data')

[Kjeld Jensen]

I had similar problem saving a fairly large full workspace, getting the 'Out Of Memory during serialization of the Subsystem Data' error. This was with v2013a. However, the '-v7.3' trick worked. However, I notice that the resulting mat file is huge compared to similar workspace files saved without this trick.

Answer 2

[Richard]

I doubt that MATLAB is out of memory. You are probable just saving the data incorrectly. Look at

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/newsreader/view_thread/240851

[Walter Roberson]

I see no inherent reason why MATLAB might not be out of memory. It seems possible to me that MATLAB needs to create internal versions of the structure in order to save it; and it seems possible to me that MATLAB might not need an internal copy for a plain numeric array.