Focus stacking has slowed down considerably

[murali]

Lightroom Version Number

PS 2002 v23.2

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I am mainly a LR user but occasionally use PS for focus stacking and removing unwanted objects. Since last week, focus stacking (blending) has slowed down considerably. 3-image stacking now takes 20 minutes. It used to take 2 min max. I did an edit -> Purge -> all but it didnt have any effect.
Images - NEF generated by a Nikon D810
Windows 10
RAM: 16 GB
C Drive: 512 GB SSD
PS version: 23.2

See attached screenshot. Any guidance will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jimmsp]

I agree - 20 min is out of whack.
Why don't you post a screen shot of your PS performance preferences.

Then a question, how much free space do you have on your SSD C Drive?

 

[murali]

I agree - 20 min is out of whack.
Why don't you post a screen shot of your PS performance preferences.

Then a question, how much free space do you have on your SSD C Drive?

Free space available in the SSD = 52 GB
attached is the preference->performance. The graphics card is not usable since moving to PS 2022. Im in the process of getting this resolved.

 

[murali]

I moved the NEF files temporarily to the SSD and re-processed. Focus stack performance is back to 2-3 min rage. The issue seems to be the external USB 3.x compliant Seagate drive where all my images are stored. Good that I back up the drive to 2 others including one Drobo every time I add images. The catalog is in the SSD.

 

[Jimmsp]

Free space available in the SSD = 52 GB
attached is the preference->performance. The graphics card is not usable since moving to PS 2022. Im in the process of getting this resolved.

52 GB free space is starting to approach the limit of what you need to have everything run comfortably. You should check your scratch drive setup as well. Cletus can speak better to that.
If you have other photos (or videos) on the C Drive that you are not using, you should move those to the external drive as well to free up more free space.
I have a couple of SSDs, and I maintain a folder there called "Work in Progress". When I am done post processing the active photos, I move them (via LR) to an external drive.

 

[murali]

52 GB free space is starting to approach the limit of what you need to have everything run comfortably. You should check your scratch drive setup as well. Cletus can speak better to that.
If you have other photos (or videos) on the C Drive that you are not using, you should move those to the external drive as well to free up more free space.
I have a couple of SSDs, and I maintain a folder there called "Work in Progress". When I am done post processing the active photos, I move them (via LR) to an external drive.

Having "work in progress" folder in SSD is an awesome idea. I'll relocate low priority files to another drive. Thanks for your guidance. Will wait to hear from Cletus on scratch drive setup.

 

[Jimmsp]

Having "work in progress" folder in SSD is an awesome idea. I'll relocate low priority files to another drive. Thanks for your guidance. Will wait to hear from Cletus on scratch drive setup.

Thanks. Cletus can also address the limited space on the C drive better than I can.