Why is Bridge so Slow?

**stepheno** · 06-07-2006, 20:53

I use RSP not CS2 for RAW conversion but if I am in CS2 editing I would like to use Bridge for browsing (since I'm already there). BUT....Bridge takes an hour and a day to load and close so I don't use it. I have heard others say similar but why? For info, I have

Athlon XP2500 Barton
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
1024Mb SDRAM
Windows XP Pro SP2
NVidia GeForce FX5200 (128mgb)

For space and storage I keep Windows and programs on an 80gb PATA, Photos on a 160gb SATA and keep another 160gb SATA as a Scratch disk. Now by my reckoning I ought to have things pretty much covered. But can any PC gurus tell me if I'm lacking anywhere. If not then I'll just put it down to Bridge being c**p and not bother trying to use it. Many thanks in anticipation.

stevec · 06-07-2006, 22:39

OH good I was thinking it was just me slow as a slow thing

***Dave*** · 07-07-2006, 10:10

Oh no, I'm running with only 1400 CPU & 512MB ram & was hoping an upgrade would speed Bridge up also

One thing I have notice though, is since I've organised files to be processed in dated folders, there isn't so many shots in one place for Bridge to process. It therefore starts & runs quicker within these smaller folders. Now when I used to open it in a folder that had 100's of shot's.....well...off to make a coffee

Be interested to see if / how Steve uses Bridge, as I know he has CS2 pretty well setup with 4 scratch disks etc..

tommy · 07-07-2006, 13:24

I've just started using Lightroom in the hope that it'll speed up my work flow. Previewing 500 raw files using Bridge is just a tad too slow to be fun on my (admittedly pretty old) mac. Lightroom so far seems pretty nippy. And don't get me started on Aperture...

Toonie · 07-07-2006, 13:45

Dave

Ive just timed Bridge @11 seconds to open to the last used folder, ACDsee 7 @ 10 seconds but for some reason it always feels a lot longer with bridge, I use a 2.8 P4 & 1 gig ram. I also set it to use Distributed cache files which seems to make a big difference when navigating through folders. I do not use a scratch disc, tried it & didn't seem to make a bit of difference, I only ever use Psd's, sometimes quite large files The thing that takes time is building the cache in the first place.

***Steve*** · 08-07-2006, 17:28

Sorry Guys, I don't use bridge at all...

Raw images I view in RawShooter and I have my file system so that I know what each psd file is either from the Raw (as seen in RS) or the tiff/jpg which I can view directly in windows...it therefore removes my need for bridge completely.

**stepheno** · 08-07-2006, 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

Sorry Guys, I don't use bridge at all...

Thats good enough for me....I wont bother either.

Thanks Steve.

VikingPhotography · 13-07-2006, 23:16

Adobe Bridge runs far more smoothly if you organise your shots into subfolders, rather than having a catch-all folder for your RAW files

For these purposes, I create a folder for each shoot with the date in reverse order and a descriptor of the shoot, e.g. "060713 Pixalo Community"

Why reverse date order? Well, bridge will automatically sort the folders in name order and display the oldest shoot first

You can also speed up Bridge's performance by increasing the size of it's Camera RAW cache file... this is quite important if you shoot a lot of images per project. Each 1GB assigned allows for around 200 RAW shots to be cached - any wedding or event shooter will need to adjust the cache size in accordance with their average shoot quantities.

Lastly, upgrading to 2GB or more of system RAM will help a lot, especially if you have/need Photoshop to be open at the same time.

Lastly - and this is often overlooked - if you're simply performing basic edits on RAW files before batching them to TIFF or JPG, you should use group select the shots, right click on them and use the "open in camera RAW" option... this will allow you to quickly perform ACR edits without Photoshop loading in the background and becoming a memory hog.

For what it's worth, I use Bridge and ACR almost exclusivley for everything and only step into Photoshop if I need to perform some kind of alteration or processing on the image to refine it. I'm looking forwards to the advances that Lightroom will bring to my workflow when they get around to releasing a PC beta

**stepheno** · 14-07-2006, 07:29

Thanks for your input VP. I also use exactly the same naming format as you. I might try your other suggestions but I am not hopeful

***Dave*** · 14-07-2006, 08:02

Thanks VP, I was thinking of getting 2GB for next PC.....your post confirms that is correct way to go

orangepeel · 14-07-2006, 09:47

another thing - something most people don't consider - is a couple of very fast hard disks in RAID0 mode will also make a big improvement.

***Dave*** · 14-07-2006, 11:12

Oh just keep bumping the price of my next PC up why don't you

Rob Barron · 18-10-2006, 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangepeel

another thing - something most people don't consider - is a couple of very fast hard disks in RAID0 mode will also make a big improvement.

I'm afraid I have two HDs RAIDed but I still get the frustration of slow Bridge. Admittedly I only have 1Gb RAM and not 2 so I am guessing the extra RAM is the best choice.

Not ging to get more RAM but when I get my next PC I shall definitely go for 2Gbs RAM, even more if it is possible as in my experience increasing the RAM has always produced better improvements than any other upgrade.

Cheers,
Rob