One of my EagleFiler libraries seems to be having trouble. When I open it, it takes a while to be ready and then is slow to move from one folder to another.
The size of this library’s Files folder is 8.4 GB. The size of the .eflibrary file is 716.4 MB. It’s a mix of many file types. There are about 30000 files in the library (not including the many folders these files are in)
Is this too big? Should I split it up? Smaller libraries that I use don’t have this problem.
I’m wondering if the problem is that I don’t keep it open all the time. I only open it when I need it, so I’m usually in a bit of a hurry. Right now, I opened it a little while ago to write this message and it has been backing up metadata for some time.
I’m probably getting a new MacPro when the new Apple Silicon ones arrive so I can wait if it’s a slow hardware problem that will be solved by a faster machine.
I don’t consider 30K files to be a large library. Backing up metadata can take a while, but it happens in the background without interrupting what you’re doing.
If switching folders to view is slow, it could be related to the particular information that EagleFiler is being asked to display. For example, if you have it set to sort by Size, EagleFiler will have to calculate the size of each file and folder in the list. I recommend recording a sample of you moving from folder to folder so that we can see what’s causing the delay.
My main Mac, where I use EagleFiler, is connected by ethernet to a local server that is always on, and all the files in the EF library are on this server. This is necessary because I need to access the files directly (not using EagleFiler) from other rooms with other devices. This happens mostly in the evening when my main Mac is turned off.
Do you think that explains the lag? If so, there’s nothing I can do about it except learn to be more patient.
Yes, network storage introduces a lot of latency and therefore can really slow EagleFiler down. If you can use Dropbox or iCloud Drive or a similar service that maintains a local cache, that will perform much better.
We do use iCloud for certain things but we don’t want to put gigabytes of our personal stuff on a distant server in another country. This is most likely a purely psychological problem that many people don’t have, but there’s not much we can do about it. Probably something to do with not being very young. And our 40 years of experience with computers (the first one was a ZX81).
So, since I now know why EF is sometimes a bit slow, I can accept it serenely and not get worked up for nothing.