OS Lion + Beach Ball in PM

[patrickhamilton]

Kirk,

I've just upgraded (if you could say that) to Lion OS 10.7.2 & I have found that I am getting a lot of Beach Ball action , when I am using PM - ranging from copying pictures to another folder to captioning to swapping from safari back to PM , when double checking Google news whilst captioning .…. The pauses seem to last about 20 seconds . Is this a common problem or is it a problem specific to me ? ( I do realise I have human frailty , like all humans , so be gentle with my soal :-) I heard from a colleague , that a Lion version is available ?

Hope you are keeping  well …..

Slainte

Patrick

[Kirk Baker]

Patrick,

I've just upgraded (if you could say that) to Lion OS 10.7.2 & I have found that I am getting a lot of Beach Ball action , when I am using PM - ranging from copying pictures to another folder to captioning to swapping from safari back to PM , when double checking Google news whilst captioning .…. The pauses seem to last about 20 seconds . Is this a common problem or is it a problem specific to me ? ( I do realise I have human frailty , like all humans , so be gentle with my soal :-) I heard from a colleague , that a Lion version is available ?

Yes, please get version 4.6.8 from our website.  Also, check to see if your system is running low on memory (use the Activity Monitor).  What you're describing sounds like virtual memory paging to me.

-Kirk

[patrickhamilton]

Kirk,

What should I be looking for & what is a solution ? I'm running a Mac Book Pro with 8 GB of RAM , so I would not have thought memory is the issue , but you know more than I . I am running 4.6.8 .

[Kirk Baker]

Patrick,

What should I be looking for & what is a solution ? I'm running a Mac Book Pro with 8 GB of RAM , so I would not have thought memory is the issue , but you know more than I . I am running 4.6.8 .

Safari is a huge memory hog.  I have stopped using it almost completely.  I now use Firefox exclusively.  Saved me several GB of RAM for what windows/tabs I need to keep open to do my work.

When you run Activity Monitor (it's in the Utilities folder which is inside your Applications folder) there are tabs down at the bottom of the window.  One says System Memory which you should select.  You'll want to check to see how much Free, Used, Page ins, and Page outs you have.  When you switch between apps, you can watch the Activity Monitor and see if your Page ins/outs change during the switch.  This would indicate that you're encountering virtual memory paging which is indeed very slow.  You can also select an app and use the 'Sample Process' button in the toolbar to get insight into what an app is doing when it is busy.  If you want to do that to Photo Mechanic and send me the samples you're welcome to.  Just send them to me in a personal message (don't post it here.)  If you decide to send me one, please also tell me what your Caching sizes are (in PM's Preferences dialog) and how many images you have in all of your Contact Sheets at that time.

-Kirk

[patrickhamilton]

Thanks Kirk .... I'll get a message to you within the next few days .

Thanks mate ... you're a star

Patrick

[patrickhamilton]

Kirk,

It seems the beachball problem is getting worse . I've got a couple of probs . Firstly , the beach ball appears when ever I use PM , to transfer images into a separate folder , when I'm captioning  , basically at all times when using . Their is a pause of 20-30 secs , each time I try to use PM making filing to a deadline really very slow & frustrating .

Also when I was filing to AFP pic desk in HK, this afternoon, the caption info was not appearing ,in there system ....

Any clues ?

Should I uninstall PM & reinstall  ? Will this help ?

Or should I think about wiping my HD & reinstalling to maybe look at a deeper issue with my MacBook Pro  ?

I need to fix this , as I'm shooting the final day's play at the Australian PGA , again for AFP on Sunday , & need to try and solve this ASAP , within the the next two days.

Sorry to put the pressure on , but I really depend on PM , but this problem has got me very puzzled .

I'll touch base again in 10 hours , Friday AM , my time

Patrick

[Kirk Baker]

Patrick,

It seems the beachball problem is getting worse . I've got a couple of probs . Firstly , the beach ball appears when ever I use PM , to transfer images into a separate folder , when I'm captioning  , basically at all times when using . Their is a pause of 20-30 secs , each time I try to use PM making filing to a deadline really very slow & frustrating .

Also when I was filing to AFP pic desk in HK, this afternoon, the caption info was not appearing ,in there system ....

Any clues ?

Did you do any investigation with the Activity Monitor like I directed you to do above in my previous post?  Is your system running low on memory?

Should I uninstall PM & reinstall  ? Will this help ?

Or should I think about wiping my HD & reinstalling to maybe look at a deeper issue with my MacBook Pro  ?

I need to fix this , as I'm shooting the final day's play at the Australian PGA , again for AFP on Sunday , & need to try and solve this ASAP , within the the next two days.

Sorry to put the pressure on , but I really depend on PM , but this problem has got me very puzzled .

I'll touch base again in 10 hours , Friday AM , my time

I wouldn't suggest anything as severe and time consuming as the above until you know what is going on.  The Activity Monitor will let us know if you're running low on memory and if virtual memory paging is going on.

If you aren't running low on memory then I would suggest using Activity Monitor to 'Sample' PM when it hangs.  This process is very simple and will give me some clues as to what is going on.  All you have to do is the following:

Run PM and then run Activity Monitor.
Select Photo Mechanic in the list of tasks.
Then switch back to PM and use it until it hangs.
Quickly switch back to the Activity Monitor and click on the 'Sample Process' button in the toolbar.  It will work for a few seconds sampling PM and generating a report.
Save the report to a text file by clicking on the 'Save...' button in the report window.
Compress the report in the Finder and then send the report back to me.  (Contact me privately for my email address.)

With this report, I'll have a much better idea of what PM is doing that is taking so much time.

-Kirk

[patrickhamilton]

Kirk ,

I've done what you asked ... thankyou . What is  your best email address , so I can send you the info  ?

Any clues on the caption's not appearing in AFP picture system

Patrick

[patrickhamilton]

Attached is a screenshot ....

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Kirk Baker]

Patrick,

I've done what you asked ... thankyou . What is  your best email address , so I can send you the info  ?

Any clues on the caption's not appearing in AFP picture system ??

No ideas.  I'm not familiar with AFP.

I sent you a personal message with my contact information.

-Kirk

[patrickhamilton]

Thanks Kirk , I sent you a zip file .

Talk soon

Patrick

[Kirk Baker]

Patrick,

Thanks Kirk , I sent you a zip file .

In the sample you sent me PM is spending time scanning for files.  I see in your screen shot that you're sorting by Capture Time which is by far the slowest sort method in Photo Mechanic.  Try changing your sort type to Filename and see if that helps.  Also, is your user account (and the Desktop folder) on your system's hard drive or is it on a server?

-Kirk

[patrickhamilton]

Kirk ,

I've changed to file numbers , as you reccomended .

Not sure what you mean by user account on the system's hard drive ? Could you please explain (sorry if I appear thick ) :-0

Thankyou  . 

[Kirk Baker]

Patrick,

I've changed to file numbers , as you reccomended .

Not sure what you mean by user account on the system's hard drive ? Could you please explain (sorry if I appear thick ) :-0

If you've never heard of what I asked, then it is unlikely you're storing your user account on a server.

-Kirk

[patrickhamilton]

Am I running low on memory and is virtual memory paging going on ?
What should I have virtual memory set at ?
Disk Cache is set to 1024MB
Reserve 100 MB on disk cache volume
Memory Cache Size : 800