Calibre - really slow to initialize??

yogi62 · 09-26-2017, 12:07 PM

I'm using Calibre 3.7 on a windows 7 pro machine 64 bit version and every time Calibre starts it takes at least 7 mins to open. The library is approx 23,000 books.

I also run it on another computer (same library/system) and it opens in approx 90 secs.

On the first machine I can hear the hard drive being continually read during Calibre start up so I'm wondering is Calibre rebuilding some data each time it initializes? which is causing the long delay in opening?

The library is stored on a second internal drive not the primary drive. Shouldn't Calibre remember the location/database details once created?

I have Kaspersky security on my system but I have tried starting Calibre both with and without Kaspersky running so I know it isn't the antivirus software affecting it.

Thoughts anyone?

theducks · 09-26-2017, 03:12 PM

Calibre does remember. The configuration folder is where.
I suspect issues with that folders permissions.

DaltonST · 09-26-2017, 04:10 PM

yogi62:

Your slower machine might have much less RAM than the faster machine, causing its page-file to be heavily used to initially read your metadata.db. Try physically compressing the Calibre metadata.db via Library Maintenance > Check Library. If that helps, then defragmenting file metadata.db might also be worthwhile.

DaltonST

BetterRed · 09-26-2017, 05:11 PM

@yogi62 - try starting calibre with no plugins see calibre command

Do you have a device attached - if so try un-attaching it.

Do you have any columns built from other columns that involve interrogating the database or file system serially. I recall a v.slow startup issue with displaying the virtual library names in the book list - but why one machine and not the other

How do you synchronise the copies of the library on two machines?

BR

kovidgoyal · 09-26-2017, 10:14 PM

calibre does not rebuild anything on startup. Most likely you just have a bunch of old microsoft updates on your machine. Run the disk cleanup tool (with administrator permissions) and remove them.

yogi62 · 09-29-2017, 02:42 AM

Thanks all for your respones. Update as follows:

kovidgoyal:
I regularly back up my whole primary drive to external drives and clean down the primary drive

Today the initialization took 4min 21 secs. Shutting down and restarting Calibre took 10 secs on two subsequent re-starts.

Betteread:
Two libraries no synchronization
No plugins
Only default columns

Dalton ST
Slower machine loads faster
Faster machine has 12GB pagefile with 32Gb Ram and Microsoft machine base score of 7.9

theducks:
Full permission to ALL users

theducks · 09-29-2017, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogi62

Today the initialization took 4min 21 secs. Shutting down and restarting Calibre took 10 secs on two subsequent re-starts.

Something is still wrong. 4min (even if it is just a first start)

Something appears to be caching the program during that first start or you A/V is checking the program, then whitelisting that runtime version.

I run on a slowly

, core 2 duo, (16G RAM) and Calibre still starts up in well under a minute.

BetterRed · 09-29-2017, 05:23 PM

@yogi62 - couple of ideas

Have you tried safe mode ?

Have you tried the 32bit version - you can install it alongside the existing 64 bit version, it will use same settings and libraries.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogi62

On the first machine I can hear the hard drive being continually read during Calibre start up so I'm wondering is Calibre rebuilding some data each time it initializes? which is causing the long delay in opening?

Makes me wonder if the hard disk is failing

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogi62

The library is stored on a second internal drive not the primary drive. Shouldn't Calibre remember the location/database details once created?

Yes is should, and yes it does. If it's not then something is wrong.

Is the library folder a symbolically linked or junction folder, or synchronised to a cloud service, shared, encrypted, or otherwise encumbered? Similarly for the drive.

Calibre starts in the last library used, so try creating an empty library on the same drive at the root of that drive and then start/stop calibre - should be quick, if not then

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogi62

I have Kaspersky security on my system but I have tried starting Calibre both with and without Kaspersky running so I know it isn't the antivirus software affecting it.

Last time I wanted to 'run without' Kaspersky on a visitor's machine (couple of years ago) I had to completely uninstall it - via a separately downloaded, well hidden, utility from K'y. I've had similar problems with other AVs.

BR

dwig · 09-30-2017, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@yogi62 - couple of ideas...
Makes me wonder if the hard disk is failing
...
BR

My thought as well.

It has now been quiite a while ago, but I had this happen to me back in, I believe, the Calibre 1.x days. Over a period of a month or so, calibre began to take a rather long time to launch. I didn't notice any slow down in other apps, but there were likely some. My HD failed eventually, and when replaced calibre's startup was significantly faster.

Failing HDs return read and write errors. Operating systems simply retry the disk operations multiple times before "throwing in the towel" and notifying the user. When launching an app package like calibre that is comprised of a large number of small files there will be a lot of disk reads and possibly some writes. If the OS is constantly having to retry the disk operations it can add up to a substantial increase in load time.

BaronKrause · 10-01-2017, 03:41 PM

Sounds like a slowly failing HD.

Also even though you disabled Kaspersky, it still might be Kaspersky. Try adding a directory exception to your calibre library, or uninstalling Kaspersky completely as a temporary test (just reinstall it right after). I've seen many AVs that cause issues with software that don't resolve themselves from disabling it, only removal.

yogi62 · 10-07-2017, 04:11 AM

Firstly thank you to all of you who have replied and tried to assist.

The issue is definitely not a failing hard drive. The library is stored on a partitioned separate internal hard drive from the operating system and I have no issues in accessing any other programs/data on that partition. However to be sure I re-installed the library on a third internal drive with similar startup times.

Once Calibre has loaded and I close it, I can re-open it in a matter of seconds without any sounds of the drive 'seeking' information. However if I reboot the computer then the drive can clearly be heard as it seeks something?

Searching for files - rebuilding a cache? who knows.

As can clearly be seen I am no expert in how Calibre works so wondered if there is a cache somewhere that is being deleted on shutting down the computer and which needs to be rebuilt on boot up?

Or if there is a cache has it been created in a separate location and is affected by the re-boot?

As it stand it seems I must simply wait for Calibre to load and be patient.

Thanks to all

PeterT · 10-07-2017, 12:26 PM

Are you sure you shut down calibre and that its not just hidden in the system tray?

DaltonST · 10-07-2017, 12:43 PM

Unfortunately, you have not yet clearly differentiated your performance data between "Calibre the Program" and "Calibre's Last-Used Library".

Run Calibre. Create a new, fresh, empty Library, and switch to it. It is now your "last-used Library" that Calibre the Program will automatically load upon startup. Exit from Calibre immediately. Reboot your PC. Run Calibre. What happens when Calibre the Program loads your empty Calibre Library? How does its performance differ from that you have stated in your previous posts? If the performance has not drastically improved, then your problem is not with your Calibre Library folder, which is totally new and empty, and therefore is as small as it gets. If the performance is identically awful, then it is either hardware or related to how your Calibre program has been installed, including the temporary file folder that you have told Windows to use in general, or for Calibre to use within Windows. Check your environment variables for Windows for Temp, Tmp, and also any specific to Calibre. Also clean your Drive C: using "Disk Cleanup" within Windows, including all System Files (including Windows Update). Then defragment/optimize C:. Reboot, run Calibre (still with the "empty" Library as the "last-used library" to keep that variable constant for this test), and compare its new performance to the prior performance. What, if anything, has changed?

DaltonST

chaley · 10-07-2017, 12:57 PM

Following up on Kovid's post (#5) take a look at this long thread. The link is to the post where discussion of a solution starts. That solution is to run Windows Disk Cleaner as admin, clean Windows Updates, then reboot. The reboot can take a long time.

BetterRed · 10-07-2017, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogi62

As it stand it seems I must simply wait for Calibre to load and be patient.

@yogi62 - I urge you to follow the advice in post #14, which I also suggested in post #8

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Calibre starts in the last library used, so try creating an empty library on the same drive at the root of that drive and then start/stop calibre - should be quick, if not then

DaltonST has done some pre-emptive chin scratching

And, as he suggests you can also try using dedicated locations for the calibre configuration, temporary and cache data via the requisite environment variables

BR

09-29-2017, 02:42 AM	#6
yogi62 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2017 Device: Kindle paperwhite	Thanks all for your respones. Update as follows: kovidgoyal: I regularly back up my whole primary drive to external drives and clean down the primary drive Today the initialization took 4min 21 secs. Shutting down and restarting Calibre took 10 secs on two subsequent re-starts. Betteread: Two libraries no synchronization No plugins Only default columns Dalton ST Slower machine loads faster Faster machine has 12GB pagefile with 32Gb Ram and Microsoft machine base score of 7.9 theducks: Full permission to ALL users Last edited by yogi62; 09-29-2017 at 02:43 AM. Reason: typo's

10-01-2017, 03:41 PM	#10
BaronKrause Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: Android	Sounds like a slowly failing HD. Also even though you disabled Kaspersky, it still might be Kaspersky. Try adding a directory exception to your calibre library, or uninstalling Kaspersky completely as a temporary test (just reinstall it right after). I've seen many AVs that cause issues with software that don't resolve themselves from disabling it, only removal. Last edited by BaronKrause; 10-01-2017 at 03:54 PM.

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09-26-2017, 12:07 PM	#1
yogi62 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2017 Device: Kindle paperwhite	Calibre - really slow to initialize?? I'm using Calibre 3.7 on a windows 7 pro machine 64 bit version and every time Calibre starts it takes at least 7 mins to open. The library is approx 23,000 books. I also run it on another computer (same library/system) and it opens in approx 90 secs. On the first machine I can hear the hard drive being continually read during Calibre start up so I'm wondering is Calibre rebuilding some data each time it initializes? which is causing the long delay in opening? The library is stored on a second internal drive not the primary drive. Shouldn't Calibre remember the location/database details once created? I have Kaspersky security on my system but I have tried starting Calibre both with and without Kaspersky running so I know it isn't the antivirus software affecting it. Thoughts anyone?

09-26-2017, 03:12 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,778 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Calibre does remember. The configuration folder is where. I suspect issues with that folders permissions.

09-26-2017, 04:10 PM	#3
DaltonST Deviser Posts: 2,265 Karma: 2090983 Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Texas Device: none	yogi62: Your slower machine might have much less RAM than the faster machine, causing its page-file to be heavily used to initially read your metadata.db. Try physically compressing the Calibre metadata.db via Library Maintenance > Check Library. If that helps, then defragmenting file metadata.db might also be worthwhile. DaltonST

09-26-2017, 05:11 PM	#4
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,550 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@yogi62 - try starting calibre with no plugins see calibre command Do you have a device attached - if so try un-attaching it. Do you have any columns built from other columns that involve interrogating the database or file system serially. I recall a v.slow startup issue with displaying the virtual library names in the book list - but why one machine and not the other How do you synchronise the copies of the library on two machines? BR

09-26-2017, 10:14 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,842 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre does not rebuild anything on startup. Most likely you just have a bunch of old microsoft updates on your machine. Run the disk cleanup tool (with administrator permissions) and remove them.

10-07-2017, 04:11 AM	#11
yogi62 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2017 Device: Kindle paperwhite	Firstly thank you to all of you who have replied and tried to assist. The issue is definitely not a failing hard drive. The library is stored on a partitioned separate internal hard drive from the operating system and I have no issues in accessing any other programs/data on that partition. However to be sure I re-installed the library on a third internal drive with similar startup times. Once Calibre has loaded and I close it, I can re-open it in a matter of seconds without any sounds of the drive 'seeking' information. However if I reboot the computer then the drive can clearly be heard as it seeks something? Searching for files - rebuilding a cache? who knows. As can clearly be seen I am no expert in how Calibre works so wondered if there is a cache somewhere that is being deleted on shutting down the computer and which needs to be rebuilt on boot up? Or if there is a cache has it been created in a separate location and is affected by the re-boot? As it stand it seems I must simply wait for Calibre to load and be patient. Thanks to all

10-07-2017, 12:26 PM	#12
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,155 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	Are you sure you shut down calibre and that its not just hidden in the system tray?

10-07-2017, 12:43 PM	#13
DaltonST Deviser Posts: 2,265 Karma: 2090983 Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Texas Device: none	Unfortunately, you have not yet clearly differentiated your performance data between "Calibre the Program" and "Calibre's Last-Used Library". Run Calibre. Create a new, fresh, empty Library, and switch to it. It is now your "last-used Library" that Calibre the Program will automatically load upon startup. Exit from Calibre immediately. Reboot your PC. Run Calibre. What happens when Calibre the Program loads your empty Calibre Library? How does its performance differ from that you have stated in your previous posts? If the performance has not drastically improved, then your problem is not with your Calibre Library folder, which is totally new and empty, and therefore is as small as it gets. If the performance is identically awful, then it is either hardware or related to how your Calibre program has been installed, including the temporary file folder that you have told Windows to use in general, or for Calibre to use within Windows. Check your environment variables for Windows for Temp, Tmp, and also any specific to Calibre. Also clean your Drive C: using "Disk Cleanup" within Windows, including all System Files (including Windows Update). Then defragment/optimize C:. Reboot, run Calibre (still with the "empty" Library as the "last-used library" to keep that variable constant for this test), and compare its new performance to the prior performance. What, if anything, has changed? DaltonST

10-07-2017, 12:57 PM	#14
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,733 Karma: 6690881 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Following up on Kovid's post (#5) take a look at this long thread. The link is to the post where discussion of a solution starts. That solution is to run Windows Disk Cleaner as admin, clean Windows Updates, then reboot. The reboot can take a long time.

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