Slow Edit metadata window

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by z.nina

Thanks for the advice. I use google drive only for keeping some documents or books always accessible (I copy only the files in gdrive) but I don't use it for the calibre Library

Well, that's good then.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by z.nina

I've 2 HD on my pc. 1 is partitioned in 2 (c:\ for the SO, D:\ for data) and the other with the data and backup. Calibre library is in the later. I can't move the library in the local drive because I don't have enough space.

I don't think the HD is the problem. When I've created the library with the 4000 books, I was using Calibre portable in an external HD and I didn't have this problem, everything was more slow but when I clicked the next button I didn't have to wait.

Some time I use google drive, but I close it before running Calibre.

If the drive is attached (cabled) directly to the PC, I consider it a 'Local drive'.

Some connections may be faster than others.
PATA/SATA fast. USB2 slower US1 slowest
Since you indicate Portable on a (USB) HD was faster, I suspect hardware+software configuration: like where is the Swap allowed?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by z.nina

I've 2 HD on my pc. 1 is partitioned in 2 (c:\ for the SO, D:\ for data) and the other with the data and backup. Calibre library is in the later. I can't move the library in the local drive because I don't have enough space.

I don't think the HD is the problem. When I've created the library with the 4000 books, I was using Calibre portable in an external HD and I didn't have this problem, everything was more slow but when I clicked the next button I didn't have to wait.

Some time I use google drive, but I close it before running Calibre.

Try booting your machine in safe mode, then running calibre. That will ensure that most, if not all, external programs are not running. If the performance problem remains, then it is probably related to your calibre configuration. If the problem goes away then it is probably related to some service or program that is started at boot.

Do small libraries on the first hard drive have the performance problem?

[z.nina]

Originally Posted by theducks

If the drive is attached (cabled) directly to the PC, I consider it a 'Local drive'.

Some connections may be faster than others.
PATA/SATA fast. USB2 slower US1 slowest
Since you indicate Portable on a (USB) HD was faster, I suspect hardware+software configuration: like where is the Swap allowed?

I've checked. The Swap for the HD wasn't activated. I've changed the setting with 1,5 min and 3 max the value of the RAM.
The waiting time is of 30 sec now! It's not optimal but it's half time less than before!

[z.nina]

Originally Posted by chaley

Try booting your machine in safe mode, then running calibre. That will ensure that most, if not all, external programs are not running. If the performance problem remains, then it is probably related to your calibre configuration. If the problem goes away then it is probably related to some service or program that is started at boot.

Do small libraries on the first hard drive have the performance problem?

With the safe mode, the perfomance is the same, but the problem goes away if I use the first HD.

I'm going to use the metod suggested by Adoby e move the new books in a small library in the first HD, change the metadata and then move the books in the main library.

Thank you all for helping me

[BetterRed]

FWIW my libraries are on on a physically discrete internal SATA2 drive - and I don't have this problem.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by z.nina

I've checked. The Swap for the HD wasn't activated. I've changed the setting with 1,5 min and 3 max the value of the RAM.
The waiting time is of 30 sec now! It's not optimal but it's half time less than before!

The dual partition of a single spindle (drive) only isolates data, the head seek motion still affects drive performance.
Having lots of RAM freed up by allowing VM gives Calibre more elbow room to work

30 Seconds is still a HUGE delay to post metadata changes. Have you excluded the calibre2 folder from realtime scans? (IMHO leave it active for Manual scans)

[z.nina]

Originally Posted by theducks

The dual partition of a single spindle (drive) only isolates data, the head seek motion still affects drive performance.
Having lots of RAM freed up by allowing VM gives Calibre more elbow room to work

30 Seconds is still a HUGE delay to post metadata changes. Have you excluded the calibre2 folder from realtime scans? (IMHO leave it active for Manual scans)

Yes, I've excluded calibre2 and the library folders. I've excluded even the process calibre.exe and calibre-parallel.exe. I've even tried to turn off the antivirus (microsoft) but there was no change

[theducks]

Originally Posted by z.nina

Yes, I've excluded calibre2 and the library folders. I've excluded even the process calibre.exe and calibre-parallel.exe. I've even tried to turn off the antivirus (microsoft) but there was no change

Welcome to the wonderful world of Windows
Where it works for 95% of the users

and the other 5% get ulcers because nothing appears different from the system that belongs to the 95% group. =

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

Welcome to the wonderful world of Windows
Where it works for 95% of the users

and the other 5% get ulcers because nothing appears different from the system that belongs to the 95% group. =

That's why 85% of users use Windows - the alternatives are worse

BR

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by z.nina

With the safe mode, the perfomance is the same, but the problem goes away if I use the first HD.

If the problem goes away when using the first drive your problem is half solved. Maybe someone can give you advice about the settings or drivers for the second drive.

[BetterRed]

@DoctorOhh -

@z.nina - I don't think you can do much with disk drives from windows, apart from installing drivers, formatting and partitioning.

I think you said you backup to the second drive, are you using some sort of real time on-the-fly backup tool? But your Safe Mode tests suggest this wouldn't be the cause of the problem anyway.

How much on board cache does the second drive have?

How is the drive configured in the BIOS - IDE, AHCI or RAID?

=================

I edit metadata data in the book list cells, in my media library all data is entered manually and I have the columns arranged to facilitate that, the creator (author) and title are the filename. So, every cell I change is committed to the database and gets a fresh opf, when I tab from one cell to the next I get a hesitation (½ sec maybe) but no delay as such.

The one thing I don't have that most people do have is devices, I have a Galaxy Note but its ignored in Calibre.

BR

[Adoby]

When I had my libraries on a relatively slow NAS (not supported, but worked for me) I put the metadata.db for the libraries on the fastest local drive using symlinks (Ubuntu Linux). It is possible to do the same in Windows. Perhaps you could do the same? But don't try it if you don't know what I am talking about, and definitely not without a recent backup.

One problem with editing metadata is that some edits stay in metadata.db. But some edits means that the folder that is used to store the actual book also has to be updated. If you change author or title of the book, then the folder has to be renamed. So moving metadata.db to a faster drive may not be a complete fix. And for large libraries it is slow editing and moving between fields and books anyway, even using a fast drive and plenty of memory.

Add more RAM if you can. Another option, if adding memory is not an option, and you have USB 2 or 3, is to buy a big superfast USB-stick and activate ReadyBoost on it. That might also help calibre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link

[chaley]

@z.nina: what filesystem is used on the second drive? I ask because on Windows, whenever the database is changed the database manager (sqlite3) creates a log file, writes recovery information to it, changes the db, then deleted the log file. It you are using an odd file system then that create/write/delete cycle could be the culprit. If you are using NTFS, it probably isn't the issue.

Another thing to check is whether write-behind caching is turned off on the second drive. Go to the device manager, right-click on the disc in question, choose Properties, and check in the "Policies" section. Turning off write-behind caching would be catastrophic for calibre performance.

[z.nina]

Originally Posted by theducks

Welcome to the wonderful world of Windows
Where it works for 95% of the users

and the other 5% get ulcers because nothing appears different from the system that belongs to the 95% group. =

Sadly You are so right!

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@DoctorOhh -

I think you said you backup to the second drive, are you using some sort of real time on-the-fly backup tool? But your Safe Mode tests suggest this wouldn't be the cause of the problem anyway.

No, I only run the program for the backup sometimes. It's not a real time backup tool.

Originally Posted by BetterRed

How much on board cache does the second drive have?

How is the drive configured in the BIOS - IDE, AHCI or RAID?

I don't know where to look for the onboard cache (it's the value I've set for the pagining file?). I' ve a western digital SATA II.

Originally Posted by Adoby

Add more RAM if you can. Another option, if adding memory is not an option, and you have USB 2 or 3, is to buy a big superfast USB-stick and activate ReadyBoost on it. That might also help calibre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link

Thanks for the suggestion. I've a USB 3 PCIe card and an external USB3 HD... do you think it's best to use Calibre portable there?

Originally Posted by chaley

@z.nina: what filesystem is used on the second drive? I ask because on Windows, whenever the database is changed the database manager (sqlite3) creates a log file, writes recovery information to it, changes the db, then deleted the log file. It you are using an odd file system then that create/write/delete cycle could be the culprit. If you are using NTFS, it probably isn't the issue.

Another thing to check is whether write-behind caching is turned off on the second drive. Go to the device manager, right-click on the disc in question, choose Properties, and check in the "Policies" section. Turning off write-behind caching would be catastrophic for calibre performance.

I'm using NTSF and the write-behind caching otion is on