Will InDesign be snappier if I store my working projects on an SSD drive instead of a 7200rpm HD?

[Christine Holzmann]

Hi all,

I do a lot of catalogues and booklets in InDesign with LOTS of graphics and lots of transparency. Sometimes the backgrounds of projects that I am working on have multiple layers of transparencies which can cause slowdowns as well.

At the end of last year I splurged on a beefed up iMac Pro with internal SSD drive and tons of RAM, REALLY hoping that it would dramatically speed things up in InDesign but I have been greatly disappointed as working in some of my projects is still painfully slow. I am wondering if this is because all of my projects are stored on an external Thunderbolt (1st gen) 7200RPM hard drive. If I go ahead and store all of my work projects on a Thunderbolt 3 SSD Drive instead, will this make a huge difference to the performance of InDesign? InDesign in ITSELF works great because it is running off my beefed up iMac Pro ... but it is the projects that I am working on that really impact the performance, and I think it is because they are stored on the 7200RPM drive.

What are your thoughts?

Thank you in advance for your help

Christine

[Test Screen Name]

Well, we could offer an opinion,  but each project is different so I'd suggest you just copy one (in its entirety) to a folder on the internal SSD to see what effect it has. Also, have you used Activity Monitor to see where your bottlenecks are? It's very easy to throw money at the wrong problem.

[Christine Holzmann]

Test Screen Name, I will indeed be experimenting with this!! As soon as I come across another exceptionally slow project in ID I will package it up onto my desktop and work with all files on the internal SSD.

Also, exporting to IDML seems to really help clean up most potential issues and is one thing that helps tremendously the majority of the time.

[BobLevine]

Please define tons of RAM?

Hint: if it’s not at least 32GB, it’s not a ton.

[rob day]

InDesign uses the startup drive for virtual memory, so if you were to run out of available RAM, ID would go to your internal SSD disk and not the external. The only affect the external drive would have is the time it takes to open the file or save.

Sometimes the backgrounds of projects that I am working on have multiple layers of transparencies which can cause slowdowns as well.

Have you tried changing the Display performance to Typical? Make sure Preflight is turned off when you are not using it, and check that all images are placed and not pasted or embedded.

[Christine Holzmann]

Bob, I have 64GB of RAM

TestScreenName, yes I do use Activity Monitor regularly to check everything, and especially so when things seem slow. When working in InDesign I always make absolutely sure that system resources are not clogged up.

Also, I have already addressed just about all software related issues/tips & tricks that I possibly can from within InDesign so as to speed things up (turn preflight off, keep info box closed, and all the other tips & tricks once could possibly think of). I have been having these terrible slowdowns for quite some time on my documents...not ALL of them, but mainly the files that are loaded with graphics and transparency, and some of these documents are not even very large ... one is just 12 pages and another is only 2. Also, I do have my larger projects broken up into separate documents as part of a BOOK.

I do know that one project I was having major issues with at the start of the year turned out to be from some "corrupted" links and/or graphics/images ... I only discovered the issues when exporting as an IDML and reopening in ID. Once I reopened the file, those images were suddenly reported as "missing" (broken links that were not apparent before exporting) and after replacing the images with new instances, all was well once again.

To update everyone, since writing this post last night I decided to try packaging up one of the painfully slow 16-page documents and experiment working on my desktop with the same file and found that it would not package due to "missing plug-ins". AHA...I WONDER if THAT could be the major part of the problem!! I exported as in IDML, reopened in ID and was then able to successfully package the file. Seems like the new file was quicker but I wasn't 100% sure because it was sooooo late and I was super tired already I opened the newly saved InDesign file from the package on the desktop, (with all links on the desktop too within the package) and it did seem to be quicker. But I need to play more!!

I am thus wondering now if the missing plug-ins is a huge part (the MAIN issue??) of my problem. I definitely need to export to IDML more often when working with troublesome documents. I will absolutely report back here after more experimenting

I have posted this same question on another InDesign forum elsewhere, so I apologise to those of you who have read all of this twice I was going to come back here and delete this original post but saw that I had already received some replies so thought I would go ahead and update everyone in one places, in case it will be of help to others in the future

[BobLevine]

Yeah, that’s a ton.

I’ve got 32 and it’s fine.

I’d try to cut them down into smaller files.

[Christine Holzmann]

Thank you Bob Yes, my larger documents are broken up into smaller files.

I am not going to break up smaller ones such as 12 or 16-page documents tho'...those 16 page files are not even all that large...only around 40MB in size...some of those are the sloooooooow ones too I think there are definitely other issues going on... and I am starting to think now that perhaps the plug-ins/missing plug-ins are an issue. All I am really using is DTP Tools tho'... perhaps it is because I have deactivated some of the individual plug-ins from the DTP Tools and it is still looking for those... will be doing some more experimentation...

[BobLevine]

The only way to clean those out (as you know, but for the lurkers) is to export to IDML.

[rob day]

Maybe try a safe boot as well as disabling the plugins? Also experiment with replacing the fonts with system fonts to see if that has an affect.

[Dov Isaacs]

Font replacement shouldn't have any measurable effect. No Adobe application differentiates between so-called system fonts and fonts installed by the user (either in the system fonts directories or in the document's own fonts directory created during packaging). Likewise, Typekit fonts will not make a difference in terms of performance.

What could make a difference, depending on OpenType features used in your document, would be the size and complexity of a font. Ironically, the current versions of Arial and Times New Roman distributed by Microsoft as system fonts are larger and more complex than most professional fonts.

          - Dov

[Christine Holzmann]

One thing I am curious about however is... wouldn't it slow things down if there are tons of linked graphic images that reside on the external 7200RPM drive (that is connected with Thunderbolt 1 - FIRST generation). I imagine it would be MUCH snappier if everything was on a Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive. And YES.... I WILL be experimenting and will report back... just thinking aloud

[Test Screen Name · Accepted solution]

I meant to test with the whole project on the SSD. You can try packaging it.

[Geоrge]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Test+Screen+Name  wrote

I meant to test with the whole project on the SSD. You can try packaging it.

Yes, it is. Than it will be "snappier". Amount of "snappier" can be different, some indd-projects will not so faster than with your old HDD. But I use it SSD from the beginning, when Windows Vista was being in plans of MS

Captain obvious says - don't use it HDD from network or as external, SSD faster than HDD, etc. Cap in fire!