# This job was terminated because itused more memory than it wasallocated

**URL:** <https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/this-job-was-terminated-because-itused-more-memory-than-it-wasallocated/15297>\
**Category:** Resources\
**Tags:** exceeds-memory-error, resources, single-cell\
**Created:** [April 24, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/this-job-was-terminated-because-itused-more-memory-than-it-wasallocated/15297 "2025-04-24T16:29:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![1263201095](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/help.galaxyproject.org/1263201095/32/7107_2.png) [@1263201095](https://help.galaxyproject.org/u/1263201095)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/this-job-was-terminated-because-itused-more-memory-than-it-wasallocated/15297/1 "2025-04-24T16:29:17Z")

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I used the tool ‘Scanpy FilterCells’, but the result showed that it exceeded memory. However, I believe the number of cells is not that large, as shown in the image below. How could this issue occur? Thank you!

 ![微信图片_20250424232817](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/galaxy/original/2X/7/78f6647f6a9f964370a1f03442f2655a91f73cb4.png)

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**Author:** ![jennaj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/help.galaxyproject.org/jennaj/32/27_2.png) [@jennaj](https://help.galaxyproject.org/u/jennaj)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/this-job-was-terminated-because-itused-more-memory-than-it-wasallocated/15297/2 "2025-04-25T16:40:12Z")

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Welcome @1263201095

The issue might be the size of the data (when this is reported by any tool), but it is much more likely to be some format issue or a problem with the filter query. Meaning, maybe the tool couldn’t interpret the data and died.

More details about how to interpret the error message:

> [@error with Picard's MarkDuplicates - This job was terminated because it used more memory than it was allocated.](https://help.galaxyproject.org/t/error-with-picards-markduplicates-this-job-was-terminated-because-it-used-more-memory-than-it-was-allocated/13008/2):
>
> Whenever this error is reported
> 
> > This job was terminated because it used more memory than it was allocated.
> 
> The message means that there is one of these going on
> 
> 1. some input or parameter problem should be adjusted before the rerun
> 2. or, the work is actually too large to process at the Galaxy server where it was run
> 
> The public computational resources are significant, so the first case is much more common. But these do have practical limits.
> 
> If you think your job is actually running out of processing memory resources, the solution can be to try at a different server. Please see the directory here for choices → [Public Galaxy Servers](https://help.galaxyproject.org/docs?topic=10860).
> 
> Note: The computational processing memory utilized for job execution is unrelated to storage space (quota) for your account.

* * *

* * *

For single cell data, there can be a few formats. The tutorials for the tool can be one source of help since these cover some of the manipulations. Then we have more tutorials for the entire process – these might be really helpful for you, especially if some of the data was not generated in Galaxy.

- 🎓 GTN Tutorials for [Scanpy FilterCells: based on counts and numbers of genes expressed](https://training.galaxyproject.org/training-material/by-tool/ebi-gxa/scanpy_filter_cells/scanpy_filter_cells.html)
- 🎓 GTN Tutorials for [Inspect AnnData: object](https://training.galaxyproject.org/training-material/by-tool/iuc/anndata_inspect/anndata_inspect.html)
- All Single Cell tutorials → 🎓 [Single Cell / Tutorial List](https://training.galaxyproject.org/training-material/topics/single-cell/)

One simple test to run to look at the content is **Inspect AnnData**. Then compare that to your query with **Scanpy Filter Cells**. Your object is currently missing some of the common annotation layers.

Please let us know if this helps or not! 🙂