Memory Useage

[mhamel_98@yahoo.com]

Hello c.l.a.  Another question, I have a program that stores data on
the disk using sequential_io.  When I later read that data into an
array, the memory growth after ingesting a file is much much larger
than the disk footprint.  A file that takes 26.8MB on disk (over 134k
records) causes the program to swell by over 600MB!  Holy bloatware.
A short overview of what I'm trying to do - each sequential_io data
file has an associated header file with stuff like number of records,
etc.  The header is read, and an array is then created based on how
many records are said to be in the data file.  The data file is then
read, sticking a node into the array.  Some abbreviated code below,
the spec:

generic
  type Node_Type is private;
package Node_Manager is

  package Seq is new Sequential_Io (Node_Type);

  type Node_Array is array (positive range <>) of Node_Type;
  type Node_Ptr is access Node_Array;

  type Data_Rec is
    record
      Hdr : Node_Hdr;
      Data : Node_Ptr;
    end record;

Body stuff:

  procedure Free is new Unchecked_Deallocation (Node_Array, Node_Ptr);
  procedure Open (File : in out Data_Rec;
                           Name : in String) is
    Curr : Positive := 1;
    Node : Node_Type;
  begin
    Read_Hdr (Name, File.Hdr);
    File.Data := new Node_Array (1 .. File.Hdr.Size);

    Seq.Open (Dat_File, Seq.In_File, Name & ".dat");
    while not Seq.End_of_File (Dat_File) loop
      Seq.Read (Dat_File, Node);
      File.data.all (Curr) := Node;
      Curr := Curr + 1;
    end loop;
    Seq.Close (Dat_File);
    ...

The program works as I've wanted, though up until recently I've only
dealt with very small data sets, which is why I've never noticed undue
memory growth.  Now that I'm working with some "large" data sets, the
bloat is unbearable.  Any suggestions? (Besides look for another line
of work ;) )
Platform is ObjectAda 7.2 on WinNT.