8 Replies Latest reply: Sep 18, 2009 10:46 AM by jmottle RSS

    PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open

    jmottle Community Member

      Using ProcMon I've been able to determine that Photoshop is contantly accessing and polling the location of files saved in the recent files list.  If the recent files list contains files opened from a network and there are a lot of them, it slows down file opening to a crawl, even files on the local drive.

       

      If I clear the list it speeds up to normal speeds.  The problem is there seems to be no way to stop PS from recording the list of recent files. Even if you set the number to 0 in the preferences for "recent file list contains", PS still seems to be recording them behind the scenes.  I know this as if I set it to 30, it shows all of the recent files again.  While the speed goes up slightly by setting the list to zero, it's still slower than the performance with a completely empty list.

       

      Is there a fix or way to prevent PS from recording any recent files?

       

      I'm using Photoshop CS4 64 bit on Windows Vista Business Edition (64 bit)

       

      Cheers,

      Jeff

        • 1. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
          dec9 Community Member

          I have PS CS4 Extended on Vista Ultimate 64 bit with 8 gigs of ram. Performance monitor, on my machine, does not show what you wrote about. The software is just as responsive with 30 recently opened items on the list then with zero on the list.

           

          Also your second paragraph is confusing. First sentence you wrote that it speeds up to normal speeds when you clear the list. But in the last sentence you wrote it speeds up slightly setting it to zero but with still slower than the performance with a completely empty list. How can something be set to zero and the speed goes up yet having a empty list (a empty list is zero) have slower performance? Zero and empty are the same state.

           

          In other words:

           

          1. You clear the list and speeds are normal.

          2. You set it to zero and the speed goes up.

          3. You have a empty list with slower performance.

           

          Very Confusing.

          jmottle wrote:

           

          Using ProcMon I've been able to determine that Photoshop is contantly accessing and polling the location of files saved in the recent files list.  If the recent files list contains files opened from a network and there are a lot of them, it slows down file opening to a crawl, even files on the local drive.

           

          If I clear the list it speeds up to normal speeds.  The problem is there seems to be no way to stop PS from recording the list of recent files. Even if you set the number to 0 in the preferences for "recent file list contains", PS still seems to be recording them behind the scenes.  I know this as if I set it to 30, it shows all of the recent files again.  While the speed goes up slightly by setting the list to zero, it's still slower than the performance with a completely empty list.

           

          Is there a fix or way to prevent PS from recording any recent files?

           

          I'm using Photoshop CS4 64 bit on Windows Vista Business Edition (64 bit)

           

          Cheers,

          Jeff

          • 2. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
            jmottle Community Member

            let me clarify.

             

            1. If the recent files list is set to 30 or 15 etc. and I open many files from the network then then opening files becomes really slow. In ProcMon from sysInternals I can see that photoshop is polling the paths of EVERY file in the recent file list.

            2. Once I clear the recent files list then then everything is normal.

            3. The assumption is that if I set the recent files to 0 then in theory PS is not recording the recent files at all so the speed should stay fast.  Unfourtunately it appears that PS still is recording the recent files. If you open files with the setting to zero and then set it back to something other than zero, you'll see a list of all of the files again.  It looks like PS is just hidding the list, rather than not recording recent files.

            4.  What I am saying about speed is that the speed still gradually slows down even with the file setting at zero. It's just not as bad. Maybe it's 20% better. To confirm this I used ProcMon again with the recent files list set to zero and opened a bunch of files on my network.  Then I opened a files on my local drive. When the local file was opened PS was still polling the paths for all of those files I opened even though the list was set to zero.

             

            Make sense now?

             

            Cheers,

            Jeff

            • 3. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
              John Joslin Community Member

              It looks like your network is configured in a way that Photoshop doesn't like.


              This is a known long-standing problem with some networks.


              You could try saving locally in future and moving the saved files over to the network drive when done.



              • 4. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
                jmottle Community Member

                Hmm, the problem only seemed to have started when I moved from XP to Vista 64 bit.  Has there ever been a known solution.  Saving locally it a bit of a PITA.  Should I pay for an incident ticket with Adobe?

                • 5. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
                  John Joslin Community Member

                  jmottle wrote:

                   

                  Should I pay for an incident ticket with Adobe?

                   

                  Adobe engineers have stated categorically that they cannot cater for every concievable network configuration and recommend saving locally if problems occur.


                  So I don't think there's much point.

                  • 6. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
                    jmottle Community Member

                    Well maybe if they thought about making a feature that allowed users to turn off the recent features list completely they would not have to.  If I set the list to zero, I think it's safe to assume I don't want it to keep recording the files I open.

                     

                    Has there been any hints as to how networks are affecting this or which kind of networks.  I have a dedicated server with OpenFiler (Linux based NAS application) and I access the files via a mapped drive, although I've tried removing the mapping and just accessing via UNC, but that seems to have no effect.  As long as you open a file from the network, you're FUBAR.

                     

                    Cheers,Jeff

                    • 7. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
                      John Joslin Community Member

                      Network printers also cause problems with Photoshop for analagous reasons.


                      Maybe setting a generic printer as default would help.


                      I'm guessing, based on past reports here in the forum.

                      • 8. Re: PS CS4 Bug: Network Drives and Recent Files = Slow Open
                        jmottle Community Member

                        I did read about that and gave it another try, but it has no effect. I set my default printer to the PDF printer.