Slow Import

[Nappa19]

I just built a brand new computer with all top-of-the line components (win 11 pro, i9 14400, 2TB m2 drive, 96gb ram, 10gbe compatible motherboard, nvidia 4080 super video card - all drivers up to date) .  I also have a new Synology 923+ NAS (DSM 7.2.1 update3) with a 10gbe LAN and a 10gbe capable switch all directly connected to the main PC.  I'm still new to adding the NAS to my workflow, so I've been doing my best to streamline. Needless to say, I was expecting excellent performance with this setup.

Right now, whenever I import to lightroom (LrC 13.1) from my USB-C card reader, the process is PAINFULLY slow.  I use the normal import dialogue to create a collection, rename the files, and copy the RAWs directly on to my NAS where all my other RAWs live and are backed up to the cloud. Once I have everything all set and I click "import", the process bar at the top left hand corner of the screen shows up and says "importing", and then literally nothing happens for more than 20 minutes.  Then, all of a sudden, the bar will split in 2 (showing simultaneous processes taking place - import+creating previews) and I'll finally see some images start to come across... maybe 10 at a time, then a 5-10 minute delay, then another 10-20 images will come across.  It took over hour to bring over 500 RAW images (19GB) last night and it was driving me MAD. I know I can move that number/size of files directly within windows in a matter of minutes.  So what gives? Why is Lr choking on this request? It is horriffically slow. Is there anything else I can do to speed this up natively to Lr? I've read people suggest work-arounds like importing directly into my internal m2 drive, then move everything over to the NAS afterwards... but that seems like a bandaid and does nothing to address the real problem here.  Does anyone know if there's a -real- fix to this issue? Thanks for any advice!

[Nappa19]

(Sorry, small typo... my processor is the i9 14900)

[GoldingD]

I have split out several of your statements as to inquire separately and to attempt to make sure I do not miss a statement that would answer my inquiries if I had only read them up front.

 I also have a new Synology 923+ NAS

First Inquiry, is you have not placed your catalog on that NAS, correct? Adobe does not Support locating a catalog on a server share, be that a actual server, a NAS, or the Cloud. Some make this work, that is until the catalog gets corrupted.

The catalog is a SQLite databse. SQLite was created in conjunction with Adobe for this purpose (the original Lr), it does not natively support network shares. A Synology may be better than most NAS in terms of applications, but typically servers and NAS and whatever is on a Cloud do not include good support for SQlite and sharing. Adobe has apparently absolutely zero desire to fix that.

copy the RAWs directly on to my NAS where all my other RAWs live

As you stated, many recommend not doing that. I take it your images are all kept on the NAS, that you do not later import them to a hard drive?

Some make this work. Eventually issues occur. Typically missing folders, easily fixed. Some possibility that a catalog may get corrupted. But this is not as hazardous as placing the catalog on a NAS.

Adobe apparently supports that, but most members find that eventually fails.

I click "import", the process bar at the top left hand corner of the screen shows up and says "importing", 

I assume your Import type is ADD? Correct?

How to fix? It does not look like Adobe is doing anything to improve the use of NAS, neither for catalog location, or photo location. Recommend using the NAS for backup only. Keep catalog on local hard drive, keep photos on a local hard drive (they do not need to be the same hard drive)

A summary of questions:

• Catalog location is a local hard drive, not the NAS correct?
• Photo location is the NAS, not local hard drive correct?
• Import method is Add, correct?

[Nappa19]

1) Correct, my catalog is on my fast, internal m2 drive. I am aware of the local-only limitation and the need for the catalog to be on the fastest internal drive possible.

2) Yes, all my RAWs are on the NAS. My images have surpassed the ability to keep them on an internal drive, and upgrading space internally has become a nightmare, which is why I moved all my RAWs to the NAS to simplify future expansion, drive redundancy, and cloud backup.

3) I'm not sure what you mean by this.  Under the import tab, I do/select the following: build smart previews, don't import suspected duplicates, add to collection, rename files, apply lens+CA Correction, and set the location to a folder I create inside the NAS.  I assume this is "add" as you asked... I'm not "moving" the files from the card, as I am very meticulous about creating multiple backups (dual card reader, then add to NAS, then NAS adds to cloud) before I ever delete anything off a card.

Are these answers what you are looking for?

For the record, once the files get on to the NAS, the catalog and system work pretty darn well.  Even with 90,000 images, the catalog can reference the NAS rather quickly, and I don't have to wait too long for an image to load full-resolution in order to do things like zooming to 1:1.  It's very pleasant to work with once I suffer the pain of getting the images into the NAS.

[Nappa19]

Sorry, I just saw the "ADD" option across the top of the import screen.  I use COPY, I do not ADD when I'm importing. Is this what you mean? For what it's worth, I'm using a CFExpress card with a USB-C connection.  Before I moved to the NAS, I could pull 500 images over to my internal drive in a matter of minutes - So I know my reader, card, and connection speed are all good.

[GoldingD]

If you copied your images to the drive (or NAS) before importing them into LrC, and you are happy with that location, then you should use the Add method in Import. Their is no reason to use Copy or Copy as DNG, as they are already located where you want them.

Using Copy will just slow things down.

While your LAN is very very nicely quick, you could still have some communication issues going on between computer and NAS and switches in between and anything else running on the LAN, so why increase the complexity of the Import? (P.S. for other members, on my LAN on my NAS I also have that LAN speed, I find copying files to the NAS is quicker than copying files to an external drive via USB, so we are talking some serious LAN speed)

Try using Add instead of Copy. See what occurs.

[Nappa19]

Ok. I understand what you are suggesting. The way my file structure is set up on the NAS, this could be a little complicated, but I'll have to think about the best way to attempt it. 

Do you think it would be best to copy from card to NAS with normal windows file manager, then ADD inside of Lightroom (to include renaming) and then later MOVE (within Lightroom) to a new location in case my first location on the NAS isn't ideal? Or will that also be complicated?

[GoldingD]

Yes

You may want to rename after the import. And add any metadata like copyright, title, caption, keywords, that you want to save to the originals after import.

[Nappa19]

Ok thanks so much.  I'll give it a try next time I have a big import and report back here.

It would be great if Adobe tried to fix this problem, as I beleive photographers using their own NAS is becoming more and more common...