Import Bug: Classic import process very slow specifically when using larger catalogues

[Jonathan Buckley]

Operating System:
Desktop: Mac Pro (mid2010) 16GB Memory Mac Sierra 10.12.3, ATI Radeon HD5770 1024MB with1TB internal SSD
Laptop: MacBook Pro Retina (Early 2013), 2.7 Ghz Intel i7, 16GB Memory, Mac sierra 10.12.3, Intel Graphics 4000 1536 MB with 500GB internal SSD

I upgraded to Classic and tested it on a couple of new and small catalogues and was very impressed with the new way in which the Classic import process worked. With the 'Embedded and Sidecar’ option selected Previews started loading in the Grid view instantly and the culling process could begin immediately.

However, when I took the plunge and upgraded my main working catalogue, which has 177,000 images, the previews no longer appeared immediately. Instead there was a long pause while various operations appeared to be happening in the progress bar but the previews only started appearing after several minutes towards the end of the import process. Obviously this is not intended behaviour.

I have Classic 7.0.1 installed on both my Laptop and Desktop machines (internal SSD drives) with the Catalogue folder itself stored on an external SSD drive and the image files on other external drives. Because of this set up I was able to test the exact same catalogue on both Laptop and Desktop machines and thereby rule out any hardware specific issue. I made sure all preferences, both General and Catalogue specific, were the same on my main catalogue as I had on the catalogues I first used to test Classic (which worked perfectly). This meant I could rule out any issue to do with preference/import settings.

I have discovered this now appears to be a known issue. I found a number of threads on this subject on the Adobe forum as well as one on DPReview.

Bruce Houstoun has filed a bug report with further details which I have contributed to. I suggest anyone experiencing this issue (with previews not loading immediately during import when using large catalogues) likes or adds comments to this report:

<Lightroom Classic: Problem with previews during import for large volume/slower than LR CC2015.12 | Photoshop Family Customer Community>

In order to keep the report focussed it would be helpful if comments about slowness elsewhere in other modules were saved for other threads.

Best wishes,

Jonathan

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

Out of curiousity do you see the same thing if you copy the files from the card to disk and import (copy) from that location?

I noticed some strange issues in Windows with card but not disk imports; Adobe is creating a slew of folders under the destination folder that are temporary then cleaning up afterwards. Files are copied twice (card to temp folder, temp folder to destination even though the temp folder is on the same disk and a move would be instant).

I do not know if it does the same on Mac. I do not know if this is related to the slowdown, but it is really odd what it does. Try watching the destination folder in finder.

( glanced at but did not read the referenced thread so not sure if this is mentioned there).

 

[Jonathan Buckley]

Yes I had hoped that might be a workaround but sadly not, it behaves in the same way.
And yes, in the thread I referenced, Bruce Houstoun goes into a lot of detail looking at what's happening behind the scenes in the destination folder.
He noticed a difference between what happens with all these temporary folders/files when using a large catalogue as opposed to when using a new or small catalogue.
It seems that might be at the heart of the problem.
He is Windows and I'm Mac so it appears to be a cross-platform problem.