CS Browser Sloooow…

RP
Posted By
Russell_Proulx
Nov 9, 2003
Views
900
Replies
27
Status
Closed
I was just played with the new PS CS Browser trying to configure it to work satisfactorily. In the past 15 minutes of poking at it it’s locked up Photoshop twice (Ctrl+Alt_Del -> end task got me out) and crashed PS once (error in …. whatever). These errors only took down PS, not my system.

I have folders with many many large image files and the PS CDS browser slows my system down to the point that the browser is pretty well usless! Is there a way turn OFF the browser previews except for when I open a folder that I really want to preview? Seems that when I poke into a folder I’m forced to wait until the previews are completed for the whole contents before moving on. If I’m just poking around then this causes needless waiting (mouse won’t respond until it’s done). I might just want to preview one image in a folder. How do I get more control over this tool? Note that I also use Genuine Fractals v3 which creates previews for its own files.

I’m a longtime user of ThumbsPlus for Windows and one thing I’ve always appreciated is that you could turn off "Make thumbnaikls automatically". Does the PS CS browser offer a similar choice?

System info: PS CS on a P4 1.8gHz Win2000 system, 1 GIG RDRAM, 10k Atlas on a Ultra 160 used as PS’s scratch disk, 2 other drives are IDEs, PS memory set to 75%, ‘High Quality Proviews’ turned OFF.

Do I need to use XP to get this Browser feature to perform better?

Thanks for any help.

Russell

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DP
Daryl Pritchard
Nov 9, 2003
Hi Russell,

I think I’ve seen other threads that suggest a slowdown is likely to occur until all your images have been scanned and cached by the File Browser. Some suggest just allowing it to run once overnight or while away during the day. That should help. You might also consider turning off the High Quality Previews, an option under Edit > Preferences in the File Browser.

Hope that helps,

Daryl
RP
Russell_Proulx
Nov 9, 2003
I think I’ve seen other threads that suggest a slowdown is likely to occur until all your images have been scanned and cached by the File Browser.

Goes that mean I have to stay up all night to run over 400 CDs through this process as well as two 120GIG removable hard disks (I use a removable hard disk system to archive ‘repeat client’ files)? What about when I return from a shoot with 1-2 GIGs of digital images? I’m not grumbling at you. Just saying that the above recommendation does not seem very practical. And, yes, as I wrote in the original past, I’ve already turned off "High Quality Previews".

FWIW, scanning the same directories with PS7s browser does not result in nearly as much slowdown.

Oh well…

Russell
GH
Grass_Hopper
Nov 9, 2003
Russell,

you might wish to search the PSCS and PSWin forums for slowdowns with Win2K and PSCS. I seem to recall some folks are experienceing some slowdowns, but really don’t know the details.

hth,
grasshopper
DP
Daryl Pritchard
Nov 9, 2003
Russell,

I hope there is a solution to that problem. Sure enough, I wasn’t thinking ahead enough to consider the ramifications for folks such as yourself who have such a wealth of images to deal with. I realize you’re not grumbling at me…let’s just hope my suggestion isn’t the only answer since it obviously isn’t much of a answer in your case.

Daryl
RP
Russell_Proulx
Nov 9, 2003
For now I’ll just set the Preferences to "Do not Process Files Larger than -0- MB" and click on files I want to see a preview of.

Russell
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 10, 2003
The FB is way beyond slow. PS7 FB wasn’t a champ but certainly much closer to acceptable.

I just tried timing PS8 browser and results are simply ridiculous.

250 8-bit Tiff files, 8 MB each:

High Quality Preview – 15 minutes.

HQ preview deselected – 7.5 minutes

PS7 File Browser – 2 minutes

Everything else I tried so far in PS8 seems normal and runs very snappy. Is this sluggish FB normal? This would be very high price to pay for added functionality. <G>

I have many folders with 2,000-3,000 images that are much bigger (16-bit, >35MB). I’m scared to accidentally click on any of them and get stuck for half a day with FB generating its info.

Windows 2000 pro, Dual Athlon MP 1500+, 1 GB RAM, SCSI 160 HD’s, PS scratch on separate HD (from Win Page file, OS).
ND
Nick_Decker
Nov 10, 2003
Andrew, that’s similar to what I’m seeing on Win2K (although, as you know, I’m seeing slowness in other areas as well). I think I’ll live without the high quality previews.
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 11, 2003
Nick,

That’s a bummer with your overall slow performance in CS. I hope that whatever is causing this can be sorted out quickly.

I think I’ll live without the high quality previews.

Low quality previews aren’t very fast either.

I hope this is NOT the way FB supposed to work. I like working from PS Browser and was really looking forward to new improved version…

…I guess I still am. <G>
ND
Nick_Decker
Nov 11, 2003
Yup, I followed Len’s lead and told FB to run on my whole computer (with HQ previews turned off – don’t know if that makes a difference). It’s still running. I’m still drinking.

Len, what’ll ya have?

#8~O
L
LenHewitt
Nov 11, 2003
Hi Nick,

Len, what’ll ya have?
<<

You need to ask???? PEDIGREE of course! <g>
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 12, 2003
Andrew – then something is wrong with your system. The filebrowser in CS is much faster than in 7.0.

I suspect you’re seeing the Win2K slowdown (try disconnecting the network temporarily).
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 12, 2003
Chris,

Thanks for jumping in.

then something is wrong with your system. The filebrowser in CS is much faster than in 7.0.

I’m more than eager to get to the bottom of this.

suspect you’re seeing the Win2K slowdown (try disconnecting the network temporarily).

I don’t have any network components installed on this machine; this is standalone workstation (with internet connection).

I did go after second “usual suspect”. I had Norton AV professional installed (all options, auto protect etc, disabled) it did however hug my recycle bin.

Uninstalling Norton shaved those 15 minutes (HQ preview) down to 8. So there is some good news. This is still considerably slower than 2 minutes PS 7.01 took to cache the same folder.

Note: times I posted only apply to initial opening of new folder (or purging cache). Once cashed images display instantly.

Do you have any other ideas or need any other system info from me?

Note to self (repeat until you finally get it fool) never ever install that Symantec crap on your computer again.

Andrew
SB
Scott_Byer
Nov 12, 2003
Andrew,

Photoshop 7 didn’t do HQ preview. Turn that off in the File Browser preferences for a closer comparison to Photoshop 7.

-Scott
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 13, 2003
Scott,

I see no significant improvement with HQ preview turned off about 20% maybe.

I have just gone through good number of folders to test it on various sizes and file types. Results are pretty consistent.

CS File Browser (HQ off) is still 3-4 times slower on my machine than PS 7.01.

Andrew
SB
Scott_Byer
Nov 13, 2003
What kind of file types are in there? The File Browser in CS is generating thumbnails and scanning a few more types than before.

-Scott

wrote in message
Scott,

I see no significant improvement with HQ preview turned off about 20%
maybe.
I have just gone through good number of folders to test it on various
sizes and file types. Results are pretty consistent.
CS File Browser (HQ off) is still 3-4 times slower on my machine than PS

7.01.
Andrew
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 14, 2003
Scott,

These were all standard files, 8-bit Tiffs, 16-bit Tiffs, Jpegs. Some Tiffs saved from Nikon Capture, some from Photoshop 7. All Jpegs were PS "Save for Web" with Exif data stripped.

Each folder I tested contains files of the same kind. Each time for 1 minute in PS 7 Browser PS 8.0 needed 3-4 minutes (depending on type of files tested).
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 14, 2003
Again, don’t forget that PS CS includes higher resolution previews than PS 7….
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 14, 2003
No I didn’t forget that. All these comparisons were made with HQ preview OFF. Turning it ON adds ~20% to CS browser times.

I’m getting mixed messages here. Is PS CS browser faster than PS 7 or should I expect it to be slower because of new bells and whistles? If it is slower how much slower should I accept as normal so I don’t run around looking for problem I might not have.

If I have a problem give me some hints what I’m looking for. If there is problem with CS FB then I’d like to help if I can.

I have pretty recent clean W2K install with SP4. All drives are defragmented, spy ware removed. Norton AV removed although uninstaller did leave lot of Symantec junk behind.

Whatever my problem may be is NOT affecting PS 7 browser or anything (that I can see) in PS CS other than FB.

Thank you.
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 14, 2003
Overall it’s faster – when doing the same tasks.

But HQ preview, more file types, etc. can make it slower in some cases (becuase it’s really doing a different task).
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 14, 2003
Fair enough Chris.

Like I said I don’t see any problems with FB after data had been cached and appreciate additional functionality in CS. All I want to know if time it takes to gather initial info seems normal when compared to PS 7.

Andrew
SB
Scott_Byer
Nov 14, 2003
It’s possible that for larger directories, the FB will seem to take longer in Photoshop CS. Some tradeoffs were made in order to keep things more responsive, and that could have slowed down time to finish caching a large directory – but the FB should be more responsive and useable while doing so. And even with HQ previews off, it is doing more work, especially on images out of SFW that don’t have embedded thumbnails.

-Scott
AP
Andrew_Pietrzyk
Nov 15, 2003
Scott,

Thank you for shedding some light on it. I guess it would be good time to go get a drink and relax when opening these huge directories for the first time. 😉

Andrew
8
86
Nov 20, 2003
Oh gosh ……whoops…….was admiring how fantastic this new file browser is when a job came in to print some files from a DVD.

No worries I thought….bung it in & find the images client wants printed from this fantastic file browser.

Stupid me!

DVD’s contain hoards of data don’t they!

No directories on this DVD so the poor system & file browser has to plough through 100 or so tiff files.

No worries I thought (again) just close the file browser. WRONG!
Can’t close it.
Can’t do anything with Photoshop & the rest of the sytem has come to a grinding halt.

CTRL ALT Delete closed Photoshop OK, however on launching Photoshop again the file browser still wanted to plough through this slow DVD.

Is there a way to turn it off when it is part of the way through cacheing files?

System specs:
Dual AMD Athlon MP 2000+
TYAN Tiger MPX 2466N-4M BIOS 4.02M
400W power
2 512mb DDR REG ECC PC2100
1 1gb DDR REG ECC PC2100
Matrox G550
1 WD 40gb 7200RPM 2mb
3 WD 80gb 7200RPM 4mb (2 IN RAID 0)
1 Promise F/Track 100 TX2
Sony DRU-510A DVD-ROM12x read
WIN 2K SP4

Please note I’m not having a go at the File Browser.
It works fine for me when reading from the HDD’s, however in future I won’t use it for reading from a DVD due to the slow read speed.

The problem is interupting & closing the browser while it is busy.

So it would be nice to know how to stop it should this problem occur again.

Thanks for any help.
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 20, 2003
86 — you should be able to interrupt it at any point by pressing a key or clicking the mouse. At most it should be 2 seconds before you regain control.
8
86
Nov 20, 2003
Hi Chris

No, it locked up completely.

Just tried repeating the problem with a little more patience than yesterday <grin> , experiencing delays of 30 – 90secs before I regain control.

Occasionally the Program not Responding dialogue appears (ref to File Browser not Photoshop). Clicking close program closes Photoshop, not just File Browser. Once again on re launching Photoshop File Browser continues to run.

Seems my problem yesterday was not enough patience therefore Photoshop /Windows / mobo / whatever had to cope with my frantic clicking trying to abort the File Browser, therby becoming totally confused with a backlog of commands from my mouse & pen!

You say I should only experience a delay of 2 secs though which certainly is not happenning so something’s not happy…..
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 20, 2003
86 – does this happen on any particular type of file?
8
86
Nov 21, 2003
Chris –

Tif files
CAMERA DATA: (Exif)
Make: Fujifilm
Model: FinePixS2Pro
Software: Photoshop CS Windows

I just discovered the client supplied me with a DVD containing jpegs of all files which loads fine as you would expect I suppose with the smaller file sizes.
The Exif data shows the software as Photoshop 7.0 though.

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