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Archive 2014 · Lightroom Catalog size

  
 
msoomro
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Lightroom Catalog size


I use single catalog in LR. It has now grown over 30 GB and I am 'feeling' there is performance issue. Is there a maximum or optimum size for catalogs?

Anyone using multiple catalogs: what does your workflow look like to keyword/find images

Thanks



Aug 30, 2014 at 05:37 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Lightroom Catalog size


are you saying the LRcat file is 30gb on its own?

how many images do you have ? I think i have around 150k of images and my lrcat is about 1.3gb

I know the amount of edits and things like keywords affect the size of the cat file but even so (going on a ratio of 1gb per 100K ) that's 3 million



Aug 31, 2014 at 12:37 AM
kwilliam8
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Lightroom Catalog size


I am confused too. I have 170k of images, and my catalog file is 1.8gb. I have wondered whether I should split my catalog into two or three catalogs. So far, my performance still seems to be good. I built my own computer about a year and a half ago, and have two SSDs where I keep the various PS & LR caches as well as the LR catalog file. The image files go on two regular hard drives.
Keith W.



Aug 31, 2014 at 01:21 AM
msoomro
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Lightroom Catalog size


Let me check and post details on Monday night. On the road for long weekend.

Cheers and thanks



Aug 31, 2014 at 02:22 AM
OntheRez
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Lightroom Catalog size


Adobe does make a passing reference to "very large" catalogs having performance problems but doesn't give any hard numbers - and no I can't remember where I read it in their maze of support docs

I have >150GB in photos. The cat is 820MB and the preview file is ~3.2GB. I keep most of my "worked" images in the catalog so I suspect mine is a bit larger than average. If you really have 30GB (I assume this includes previews?) you either have a huge library or something is awry with you system.

Robert



Aug 31, 2014 at 08:29 AM
msoomro
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Lightroom Catalog size


Yea, I do keep previews. From memory, my images directory is about 1 TB.


Aug 31, 2014 at 08:45 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Lightroom Catalog size


The catalogue file and preview file are desperate items . They have to reside I the same folder .
If your looking at folder size then yeah it could easily be that large but shouldn't be an issue .

If your images reside on a 1 Tb drive then I. Dry much doubt you can have a 30gb CAT file .

Do you keep all your previews ? Do you keep all your 1:1 previews (these can increase the preview file size a lot )



Aug 31, 2014 at 09:45 AM
Alan321
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Lightroom Catalog size


The size of the preview cache would be nothing to worry about, so long as it fits on the drive comfortably and is able to be backed up. Having lots of full size previews just makes it faster to browse through images in the Library module - especially if they live on a speedy SSD or RAID.

If you have any smart previews that are not required (they are only needed for working on images that are temporarily not available) then delete them with no negative consequence. Just re-create them if and when required.

Avoid multiple catalogues because none of them can know anything about what is in the others, and that will greatly limit your capability in terms of searching for all relevant images at once (whatever "relevant" may be for you at the time, whether it be info about the images or the equipment that took the photos). Furthermore, you cannot have more than one catalogue open at once, and so you would have to shut one down to open another.

- Alan



Sep 01, 2014 at 05:12 AM
OntheRez
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Lightroom Catalog size


Strongly endorse Alan's assertion to "avoid multiple catalog". This way leads to hell as you will never know for sure what you have and where it is.

The only exception to this that I've seen work is where totally separate collections were kept on separate drives (with associated backup systems) and one completely switched both drive and catalog. I helped set such a thing up for a medical imaging practice where they refused to pay the $10,000s for a "professional solution." In their case they built catalogs anatomically which was a rather slick solution if your Latin was good.

Robert



Sep 01, 2014 at 09:07 AM
Jman13
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Lightroom Catalog size


I've seen catalogs start to slow down after around 100,000 images or so. When I was a bit beyond that (about 3 years ago), I split mine in two and now do a new catalog each year. Keeps it lean and mean. Since I shoot around 25-30,000 images each year, it helps keep it organized too. I have 3.2TB of images, so lots of previews (though I only keep them for 30 days, but I generate 1:1 on import).

BTW, yes I have my images backed up. External drive plus all cloud backup.



Sep 03, 2014 at 09:47 PM
msoomro
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Lightroom Catalog size


Thanks all: Here is my update

I have under 20,000 images. however some of them are over 2 GB post processed. I checked the catalog is only about 230 MB and the rest 30 GB is 1:1 preview. I generate previews at import and are set to never expire. By comparative standards my image library and cat are not huge. The images are on RAID 0 and the cat is on a separate Solid State drive. Despite this setup, I often see performance issues. E.g. when i flag images for Rejects, after 10-15 images the flag does not change state. I have to close and reopen LR. I also see similar minor nuances. Not sure if its performance or something else.

@JMan13: Which cloud backup are you using.



Sep 03, 2014 at 09:56 PM
Jman13
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Lightroom Catalog size


Crashplan.


Sep 03, 2014 at 10:17 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Lightroom Catalog size


msoomro wrote:
Thanks all: Here is my update

I have under 20,000 images. however some of them are over 2 GB post processed. I checked the catalog is only about 230 MB and the rest 30 GB is 1:1 preview. I generate previews at import and are set to never expire. By comparative standards my image library and cat are not huge. The images are on RAID 0 and the cat is on a separate Solid State drive. Despite this setup, I often see performance issues. E.g. when i flag images for Rejects, after 10-15 images the flag does not change state. I
...Show more

have you tried to 'optimize' your catalogue ( File > Optimize catalogue) ? you certainly dont have a catalogue size or number of images that cry start a Cat .

I could be worth letting LR re generate its previews again . I dont have any issues on my imac (main machine) but ive found that on my surface pro I can have the odd 'stall' (not a full blown crash) and that deleting the preview file and letting LR re generate it again cures it for a while .

another question is how are you recording your edits ? are the written just to the cat or are you using sidecar XMP files ?
if your only dealing in LR then XMP files are not required as the CAT still records all edits as well (xmp is for other software to know whats been done to the RAW file)

if your using xmp then its possible that LR is tripping up at writing to your image drive .




Sep 03, 2014 at 11:09 PM
Alan321
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Lightroom Catalog size


msoomro wrote:
Thanks all: Here is my update

I have under 20,000 images. however some of them are over 2 GB post processed. I checked the catalog is only about 230 MB and the rest 30 GB is 1:1 preview. I generate previews at import and are set to never expire. By comparative standards my image library and cat are not huge. The images are on RAID 0 and the cat is on a separate Solid State drive. Despite this setup, I often see performance issues. E.g. when i flag images for Rejects, after 10-15 images the flag does not change state. I
...Show more

Are you doing the flagging in the library module or in the develop module ? The library module will be far more efficient because going to an image in the develop module will re-convert it from raw and apply all edit instructions even if you do not want to edit it. I imagaine that messing with 2GB .psd files or .tif files will choke it a bit but I don't use such large files. In the library module Lr will use its existing previews.

- Alan





Sep 07, 2014 at 04:55 AM
Steve Wylie
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Lightroom Catalog size


I don't keep my post-processed images in Lightroom. After LR edits, I export the images to a Selected folder within the original, and then do my detailed edits there. Once I'm finished with LR edits, I rarely need to go back into the original, so detailed and large files never clog up my catalog. I have over 75,000 images in my single catalog, with no performance lags. I recently asked a Lightroom team member from Adobe if he thought my catalog was getting to be too large, and he said that there are folks with catalogs approaching 1 million images.


Sep 26, 2014 at 12:48 AM





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