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Previews.lrdata folder size as it relates to performance?

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Braders

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Would like to see what size (Mb/Gb) everyones previews.lrdata folder is and how many images in the catalog?

For some reason my previews folder is 2.8gigs, yet only 20,000 images! Is this normal?

I am getting serious poor performance issues with 3.4 and preview generation and writting of data into dng's is killing me.
 
100GB, 20'000 images, lots of 1:1 previews

Beat
 
I do not think Previews.lrdata folder size has much bearing on performance. My justification for this is that most of the time you are importing and working on new images. These do not exist in Previews.lrdata or in ACR Cache until you begin working with them. There will always be a performance hit generating these into cache and preview location initially. Your cache and Previews.lrdata folder capacity only needs to be large enough to hold a current import card(s) worth of data. It would be better if to were empty available space rather than caching operations to drop older files to add new ones. You only need to keep these in cache while they are active. If you rework an old file, then the cache get regenerated only when you do.

FWIW, my Previews.lrdata folder is 10GB and my ACR Cache is limited in preferences to 35GB I keep my 1:1 previews for 1 week and my preview size is 1680 pixels
 
Would like to see what size (Mb/Gb) everyones previews.lrdata folder is and how many images in the catalog?

For some reason my previews folder is 2.8gigs, yet only 20,000 images! Is this normal?

I am getting serious poor performance issues with 3.4 and preview generation and writting of data into dng's is killing me.

1. 2.8 Gb from previews is no problem. Must be just the last 30 days setting. Sound like more a hd or i/o problems.
2. What kind of hard drive and how much free disk space do you have?
3. How are you using the SSD? What is it for? Catalog...
4. What else is running at the same time? Antivirus?
5. Have you done a disk cleanup to delete the temporary files?
6. Have you done 4 or 5 disk defrag after removing the temps?

Don't forget that previews are not necessary. LR will generate them on the fly instead of reading them from the disk.
 
Previews in another drive

The catalog (lrcat) is essential; the previews (lrdata)are NOT.

The former should be included in the backup plan; the latter, optional.

So why both set of files must be placed under the same LR folder?

Can I place the lrdata in a temp folder or drive, probably the same one where the ACR cache resides?

Could you, PLEASE, include an option to do that in the Catalog Configuration dialog?

Thanks.
 
AndreGurgel17, Welcome to the forum.

Previews.lrdata folder is essential. It is one of the things that keeps LR running efficiently. Sure you can delete it , but LR will just rebuild it. And rebuilding it each time is inefficient causing performance to take a hit until the cahce folder is back to optimum size. The folder needs to be located in the path where the LR catalog is located. (i.e. adjacent to the catalog. This permits LR to find it or know that it can write to it in a path location that the OS has permitted LR write privileges. I suppose you could tell LR to write the previews somewhere else and you are welcome to submit this as a feature request in the link at the top of this page.
Previews Cache are different from TEMP folders and LR uses these too. If you want to physically locate the cache file in a different location from the catalog, create a symbolic link using the OS to reference the actual location.
 
I second Andre's request for it to be configurable in catalog settings. I myself use a symbolic link so I can have my previews on an SSD. But why should I have to bother with OS tools, which are only accessible as command line tools and also not from an explorer context menu without any add-ons or third party software installed.

Beat
 
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