What Exactly Does "Disable Memories" Mean?

Turning off memories won’t delete them from the in-game book, it will just stop new memories from being generated. To delete, you have to do it manually or use a mod like MasterController to wipe them all.

I disabled memories in my game long ago because those floating emoctions ruin everything and auto-generated memories are useless. But the old ones never got deleted on their own.

I've had memories disabled for so long now that I forget what they do. I get screen shots or videos now to record anything I want to remember. I know I did have some old memories but of all of the memories I got I only kept one of them.

If you go to www.thesims3.com and log in. Find your Studio. There is a memories tab. If there are any memories you want to keep you can right click the picture and save it to the location you choose. eg. Hard Drive. They are very small images though so you can't do a lot with them. But you will at least still have them.

This might have some useful info for you.
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/turn-on-or-off-Memories-in-Sims-3/td-p/1034500

It looks like there is a mod available to manage them too.
http://modthesims.info/d/446281/no-or-fewer-automatic-memories-with-custom-tool-to-make-your-own-mod-edited-01-16-2014.html

I don't know anything about the mod though. I just have my memories disabled.

@Crinrict is always a great source of information on these games. Her blog is an excellent resource.

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/06/faq-how-do-i-turn-off-the-memories.html


EDIT: I still have 3 memories saved in my studio. I had to manually delete the other memories to make extra space so I suspect the answer to your question is No, disabling memories doesn't automatically delete the memories you already have in your Studio.