7 Replies Latest reply: Nov 13, 2008 11:05 AM by gurglamei RSS

    How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?

    gurglamei Community Member
      There is a very good paper on the same subject regarding Photoshop, however I can't find any similar information about Lightroom. Does anybody have any suggestions?

      I would like to know what hardware to use, how to configure Lightroom, where to put files, cataloges etc. to optimize performance.

      Christopher
        • 1. Re: How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?
          MethodPhoto CommunityMVP
          Well I have a book that offers suggestions! ;)

          But to summarize; If you want the fastest experience then a computer with a fast processor is good, but multiple cores are well worth it. So if you are looking at a power setup a dual quad-core makes great sense.
          Disk drives should be SATA, SAS, eSATA or FW800 for ultimate performance. But also have several for making backups.
          A good graphics card is worth having anyway, but there is no GPU acceleration in Lightroom, so it is more of benefit for Photoshop CS4.
          Personally a MacPro makes a good solution as it has power, multiple-cores space for 4 internal discs and a fast card. There is also a sneaky way to add eSATA (from Newer Technologies). I also have a sneaking feeling that the Mac version of Lightroom is faster than the PC version, but that is more from anecdotes than real world testing. I have not compared Leopard to Vista only XP.

          Ideally store your Catalog on a separate disk from your image Library. Ensure that you turn off Auto-writing XMP in the Catalog Preferences, as it slows things down a bit and you can always save changes on the fly.
          And Backup, backup, backup! :)

          Ensure you create a backup of your Catalog at regular intervals but only keep the most recent one or two (or you waste diskspace). Every month or so Optimize your Catalog (hugely dependent on your throughput, of course)
          • 2. Re: How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?
            Photo_op8 Community Member
            Fully agree with Richard. I have 1st generation dual-core Intel DeskPro, 4 GIG ram, 4 internal 7200rpm HDs and LR2.1 screams. Also, either shut down anti-virus or selectively exclude photo folder, catalogue folder AND cache folder from scan, regardless of what drive they are on. No problems with adjustment brush. Sync screams. Search screams. Ingest screams. Sorry.
            • 3. Re: How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?
              MethodPhoto CommunityMVP
              Yes being a Mac user I forgot about the invasive-ness of Anti-Virus apps.
              It is definitely something to factor in
              • 4. Re: How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?
                gurglamei Community Member
                Thank you for answering! It appears I am heading in the right direction.

                I am on a PC with a Intel core 2 dual quad core Q6600 @ 3.2 GHz, with 8 GB Ram runing XP64. My OS and programs is on a 10000rpm velociraptor, and I have the catalogs on the same disk but on a separate partition. Images are on separate disks, and the images I work on are on a separate velociraptor. (I have several backups of catalogs and images)

                My main quible with this setup is the time it takes to generate thumbnails when I open a folder with many images. When I scroll down and randomly stop it takes a few eyeblinks before the thumbnails are ready. If I click on a thumbnail it is generated almost instantly. Furthermore reading and presenting a 1:1 preview also takes a few eyeblinks to generate.

                I will try to deactivate my virus controll and see if that makes an improvement. I will look into your book Richard next time I am at the book store.
                • 5. Re: How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?
                  Jao vdL Community Member
                  >My main quible with this setup is the time it takes to generate thumbnails when I open a folder with many images. When I scroll down and randomly stop it takes a few eyeblinks before the thumbnails are ready. If I click on a thumbnail it is generated almost instantly. Furthermore reading and presenting a 1:1 preview also takes a few eyeblinks to generate.

                  It takes an eyeblink on the fastest machines available. On my MacPro quad core with 10 gig and very fast disks, I would describe it as an eyeblink too. That just might be inherent to the program.
                  • 6. Re: How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?
                    MethodPhoto CommunityMVP
                    Thank you! :)

                    One thing to note is that Lightroom is not 'officially' supported on XP64. The only 64 bit it is supported on is Vista.

                    I would also not store your Catalog on a partition as I'm pretty sure it won't act faster.

                    Different versions of Lightroom have tweaked the thumbnail display options, so what we currently have is the best compromise.
                    • 7. Re: How to optimizing performance of Lightroom?
                      gurglamei Community Member
                      Ok, thanks for clarifications and your suggestions.
                      I guess I will just have to live with an eyeblink or twos delay in seeing the thumbnails and previews. No big deal - it is just that I enjoy optimising my hardware and programs :-)!

                      Deactivating virus protection did not appear to make any difference.

                      The reason for having my catalogs on a separate partition is simply that I find it more convenient and I haven´t experienced any perfomance hit due to this. However, since the cataloges change all the time, I would guess that having them on a separate partition would reduce fragmentation of the OS partition.

                      As for running Lightroom64 on XP64, I know it is not officially supported. I have only done a little bit of testing on the library and develop module, and all appears to work as expected. I am hoping to skip Vista and wait for Windows 7.

                      Again, thanks for your help!

                      Christopher