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EarPlugs
EarPlugs
Known Participant
July 18, 2021
Question

Memory issue with M1 Mac and Lightroom Classic 10.3

  • July 18, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 2230 views

I am running into serious performance issues with LR Classic 10.3 on a M1 Mac with 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD.

 

My LR Classic Catalog is about 15GB with approx 900,000 images. Yes it is a big catalogue. Opening the catalog is no problem, processing files is usually ok, but once I start to do other tasks, such as face detection, or do some file management tasks, say Synchronizing Folders, the machine quickly runs out of memory. I see that LR often consumes way more than 16GB of memory according to Activity Monitor... and usually, once it uses more than 16GB, the machine will slow to a crawl. Is this because my catalog is so big? I really do not want to break up the Catalog, but this is not functional. I am sure this has a lot with the fact that the M1 Macs are currently capped at 16GB of RAM, but I wonder if there is anything Adobe can do to work around this limitation for the time being.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    Ian Lyons
    Community Expert
    Ian LyonsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 18, 2021

    Given that the issue relates to perfomance on hardware that LrC has only just been updated to support natively, then I think it best you submit the details on the Lightroom Classic Feedback forum https://feedback.photoshop.com/topics/lightroom-classic/5f5f2093785c1f1e6cc40872 This forum is monitored by Adobe QE, etc

      DdeGannes
      Community Expert
      DdeGannesCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 18, 2021

      Lightroom Classic specs is Minimum Ram 8 GB, Recommended 16 GB.

      If you are using LrC and Photoshop CC at the same time I would prefer and advise getting more. Currently I am using an iMac 2015 model with 24GB and I have put the M1 Mac with 16GB limitation as a replacement out of my mind.

       

      Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
      EarPlugs
      EarPlugsAuthor
      Known Participant
      July 18, 2021

      No I am not using LR and PS at the same time.

      I had 64GB in my iMac Pro before. But with the new M1 Macs, they max out at 16GB, there's no way to add more.

      D
      dj_paige
      Legend
      July 18, 2021

      I can understand how synchronizing folders with a catalog of 900,000 images would use a lot of memory.

       

      ... but I wonder if there is anything Adobe can do to work around this limitation for the time being.

       

      I think you can change your workflow so that synchronizing folders is not needed. You can also add more memory.

      EarPlugs
      EarPlugsAuthor
      Known Participant
      July 18, 2021

      Oh I never tried to Sync the entire catalogue! I only tried to sync a folder, perhaps with 1000 images, and it would choke. 

      And no I cannot add more memory. That is not an option in the current M1 Macs.

      D
      dj_paige
      Legend
      July 18, 2021

      Yes, I understand, but to sync 1000 images, the entire catalog has to be searched for  duplicates.

       

      Anyway, you need to file a formal feature request/bug report with Adobe.

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