Previously I wrote a post on deleting/renaming the LR4 preferences file to speed up LR4, but I only found this to be a temporary fix. It didn't fix it permanently. A few people on the adobe forums are saying it's caused by a corrupt preferences file. I haven't explored the route of regenerating the file and making it read-only so LR4 can't "corrupt" it.
However, I have done some exhaustive researching (mainly through google) on why LR4 has been a turtle. A lot of people claim that it used to be fast (almost as fast as LR3 days). I didn't understand why LR3 was so much faster than LR4 and it was infuriating when I needed to sit down and edit. But after doing a couple things, it is pretty quick for me now and has stayed this way. Your set-up might vary, but here is mine:
2011 MBP 17" i7 2.2ghz 16gb ram
OCZ Vertex 4 SSD
Thunderbolted to an Apple Cinema 24" and daisy chained to the Promise Pegasus R4 array.
Here is what I changed:
- I made OSX start in 64bit mode, when it was only running 32bit normally (important since this allows OSX to access the full 16gb of ram)
- Potentially corrupted ICC colour profiles. So I went ahead and backed them up and deleted mine and recalibrated afterwards if required.
- LR4.2 cache size. I increased it from 20gb to 80gb on the same drive that LR4 was running. Purge your Cache.
- Resolution. I find if I decreased the resolution of my cinema display, from 2560 to 1920x? ( the highest resolution of the 17" mbp) LR4 is marginally faster. You can even test this by resizing the LR4 window and seeing how much faster it is.
- LR4 Catalog Settings -> File Handling.
-> Standard Preview Size (set to 1024, unless you need higher)
-> Preview Quality (set to low)
- Render 1:1 previews on Import
- Optimize Catalog
Hope this helps some of you LR4 users out. Your mileage may vary
Robin Usagani wrote:
im really confused why so many people have this speed problem. I am using a 3 yo desktop I bought online through costco. No problem at all.
Ok so if there are any people reading this with windows... how do I find out whether my win7 x64 is actually booting in 64 bit mode? Or is physically impossible for win7 x64 to boot any other way?
Win7 can be installed as either a 32 or 64 bit version. To find out which way it's running, start the file explorer, right click on the computer icon, select properties and it should tell you everything you need to know.
louloulou wrote:
thanks cas5, amonline. Yes, I checked and it's running on 64bit. I'm clutching at straws, I think.
Another thing, I have 16g ram and I have to wonder if LR4 is actually making good use of this however I'm not sure how to check this.
if you're on Windows, you can check your processes (Click start, then run. Next type "taskmgr" then hit enter or Right click on the taskbar and click "task manager".)
if you're on Mac, run Activity Monitor (easiest way Command Spacebar to bring up Spotlight, and type in "Activity Monitor")
Both show how much CPU/Mem your processes are utilizing.
? ( the highest resolution of the 17" mbp) LR4 is marginally faster. You can even test this by resizing the LR4 window and seeing how much faster it is. 