Pinwheel of death

[chasinf5s]

Hi,

I have a 2021 M1 Macbook pro with 64 gb of RAM.  I am using Bridge and Camera Raw and noticing that every 5-10 minutes it is freezing and I get the pinwheel of death.  It last anywhere between a 10 seconds to almost a minute.  Has anyone else experienced this?  Is there any options I can change to prevent this as its getting very annoying.

Thanks

[gary_sc]

Hi @chasinf5s, I have some questions for you:

Where are the files located? How many files are in any given folder? Is this happening regardless of the file's location and regardless of file type (e.g., TIF images being processed in ACR)? Which release of ACR, Which release of Bridge, and what release is your OS?

Sorry for all the questions, but I need to limit the number of possibilities.

[nevwg]

I have the same problem. OS 12.6.3  Bridge 13.0.2

The spinning beachball keeps appearing at random. I could be just trying to open a file, rename a file, editing in Camera Raw, copy a file -- it doesn't seem to matter. It then seems quicker to Force Quit and reopen rather than wait for the beachball to stop spinning. This never used to happen, but I can't remember when it started, and whether I'd just applied an upgrade.

Whatever the cause, Bridge is becoming unusable.

[gary_sc]

Where are the files located? How many files are in any given folder? Is this happening regardless of the file's location and regardless of file type (e.g., TIF images being processed in ACR)? Which release of ACR, Which release of Bridge, and what release is your OS?

Sorry for all the questions, but I need to limit the number of possibilities.

[nevwg]

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.3     Bridge 13.0.2     ACR 15.2.0.1381

Files are all ultimately in Dropbox but stored on the computer (iMac 2019). It happens at random regardless of file location or file type. It could be when using ACR on an image, or when opening a PSD file. It never used to happen at all.

[gary_sc]

Hi, @nevwg; I'm glad that you added that the issue could show up with any files stored at any location on the computer because Bridge is just not reliable when working with files that are in folders being backed up to the Clouds. Yes, even the contents of those folders. Bridge was designed to work with files on a computer and/or files on external drives to that computer. Cloud service, servers, etc. are "tempermental" when being used by Bridge—just a warning/comment.

There's one thing I think you can try and see if that helps:

Go to Tools (menu) -> Cache -> Purge cache for folder ~ (where ~ represents the folder that you're currently looking at).

In general, Cache's in Bridge are finicky and occasionally need the proverbial "dope slap" of being purged. Let's see if that solves the problem. 

[nevwg]

Ah -- that could well be it. Thinking back, the problem could well have started when Dropbox changed its storage location. I think I might have to devise a new storage system. I'll try to set up folders on the computer, and have Carbon Copy Cloner copy those folders to Dropbox. That way, I'll still have all the files on Dropbox but be able to use them without hindrance in Bridge. It would mean that any edited files wouldn't be in the Cloud immediately but would have to wait for the CCC schedule, but a short delay wouldn't matter. Does that sound like a sensible solution, given that I do want my files ultimately in the cloud?

[gary_sc]

I agree that DropBox (in concept) is a good way to have backups. But, as it appears, it's not working out. 

FWIW, let me explain what I do. 

Over the years, I've had several hard drives crash, and yes, I've lost stuff. Here's what I now do:

I have a 4 TB drive that holds all of my images and many documents. I have a 2nd 4TB drive that I use to back up my first drive. I manually* do this at least once a week or more often if I've done a lot of work.

I have a 3rd 4TB drive I use for Apple's Time Machine.

I also use a cloud service in case the house burns down. Am I paranoid? No, just a realist. In a worst-case scenario, I would not lose much, at worse, sometimes. 

* I use Chronosync; see below

[Note: the 4TB is entirely based on what I need. Your needs may demand more or less hard drive space. Whatever you think you need, double it. Oh, the backup drives do not need to be SSDs or anything fancy or fast, just reliable. Do not use portable drives, as they are not as robust as desktop drives. And be aware that your first backup will take a long time. Also, look for backup software that can update your data as opposed to replacing your data. If you're on a Mac, I can strongly recommend ChronoSync. If you're on a PC, I'm sure someone can make recommendations.]

[nevwg]

Thanks for all that. I too have layers of backup, and Dropbox used to work really well until they moved its location. I like it because it makes it so easy to share/copy link to/transfer files to other people, which is why I'm loathe to move to something else. I'll have a look at ChronoSync. As I said, I use Carbon Copy Cloner for mass copying, though that is less useful now that bootable clones don't work the same way that they used to do. 

[gary_sc]

Oh, I still use DropBox all the time. But I still have a free account for some of the things you mention. I just do not use it for photo storage. Good luck!

Oh, two of the things that Chronosync does that are great is that it does bitsum checks to let you know that every file was transferred properly. In addition to that it compares what is going to be transferred to where it's being transfered to. So, if you use "Mirror" seeting (like I do), if you have files A, B, C &D. in one area that is matched and later you delete C, it will be deleted in the receiving end as well. In other words, what you have in location will be mirrored in the other. If you are afraid of losing things you meant to keep, you can also Archive things that are tossed in the original side of things.

Simply, it's very powerful.