Slow rewrite of EXIF data

Does anybody know why it takes so long to rewrite EXIF data? When I add a description to a 30MB file in CS, the HD head starts jumping around as if it's rewriting the entire file over. You would think it is a quick operation only requiring the HD to write a *few bytes* of data. What am I missing?

"Tommy Huynh" wrote in message

Does anybody know why it takes so long to rewrite EXIF data? When I add a description to a 30MB file in CS, the HD head starts jumping around as if it's rewriting the entire file over. You would think

it

is a quick operation only requiring the HD to write a *few bytes* of data. What am I missing?

Depending on the OS and memory, a new temporary file is created, the old one marked for deletion, and the temp one is renamed.

Bart

"Tommy Huynh" wrote in message

Does anybody know why it takes so long to rewrite EXIF data? When I add a description to a 30MB file in CS, the HD head starts jumping around as if it's rewriting the entire file over. You would think it is a quick operation only requiring the HD to write a *few bytes* of data. What am I missing?

It may not be possible to write only a few bytes to a file. Instead, it may be necessary to write the entire file.
Jim

Tommy Huynh wrote:

Does anybody know why it takes so long to rewrite EXIF data? When I add a description to a 30MB file in CS, the HD head starts jumping around as if it's rewriting the entire file over. You would think it is a quick operation only requiring the HD to write a *few bytes* of data. What am I missing?

That PS might actually rewrite the file and even re-compress it (if you change EXIF data for JPG files).

If you only want to change EXIF data use an exif editor, not an image editor. I recommend "Exifer".

Michael

Does anybody know why it takes so long to rewrite EXIF data? When I add a description to a 30MB file in CS, the HD head starts jumping around as if it's rewriting the entire file over.

That's because it is rewriting the entire file over. If the file is a JPEG, it is also re-compressing the JPEG, meaning that the image is being degraded even more.

Photoshop is an image editor, not an EXIF editor. If you want to just rewrite the EXIF data without rewriting and re-compressing the image, use the right tool for the job; there are many freeware and shareware programs that can do this.

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