Lightroom - export too slow.

[Marco Grassi]

Hello,

I have my LR catalog on my Macbook Pro(check the bottom to see specs) and I'm experiecing speed issues while exporting files from external SSD disks, when the file are on my laptop as well as when my files are stored on my QNAP system (raid).

My catalog has 95000 images and is my laptop when I'm using LR.

BUT i've also tried to create a new catalog with just 1200 images from a timelapse project and the export time did not change! (So i guess is not becasue the catalog is too big)

I did several tests having the files on my laptop and exporting to the laptop, having the files on external hardisk/ssd and exporting to laptop or from the hardisk/ssd exportiing to hardisk/ssd but haven't found a real difference is still incredibly slow.

Evertime I'm exporting it takes ages and LR uses all the CPU making it impossible to even write an email. Since I do this for work is driving me nuts,  is a waste of time time!

 I've been trying to export 400 images (Jpegs low res with final size 4,2mb) from a timelapse today and took forever, 4h and 20 which means more then 1 minute per image. Which is crazy.
Something to consider is that if I export 10 images it won't take 10 minutes but way less. Just tried at the same resolution and took 30 sec.

So because of this issue I've been thinking of buying a Computer with better specs. I'm considering to get a  16 CORE or even a 32 CORE. But honestly before spending so much money I would like to know if that makes sense and if it will actually change something. 
Or if the problem will persist becasue in fact is a problem with LR and not the machine. 

MACBOOK INFO

  Processor Name: Intel Core i7

  Processor Speed: 2,6 GHz

  Number of Processors: 1

  Total Number of Cores: 6

  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

  L3 Cache: 9 MB

  Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled

  Memory: 16 GB

  Grafics: Radeon Pri 560x4 GB

Thanks to everyone that will help me out

Cheers

BAD UPDATES. 

I've been in contact with LR stuff and they tried to help me using my laptop in remote with no success.

The first try they told me, after trying several things, to update my MAC to Catalina so the CPU would have been updated with LR updates. And get back to them if the issue was not resolved. (Updateding to MAC Catalina was a terrible idea, is a really heavy updated and laptop was slower and of coruse did not worked out)

The second one told me after trying really bascis stuff that this is happening becasue the files are way too big. HUGE files.

Reallity is that the files are the actual industry standard, a RAW file of 42MB from a Sony A7R3.
They told me files are too big and when LR exports the photos also exports the edit made on LR. So is like exporting twice the files they told me. They asked me to cancel the adjustments and try exporting without the adjustems and was way faster. So for them at that time problem solved. 
But it should be honestly just the begining og the problem becasuse for sure files are going to have adjustments. I import and edit in LR why should I export unedited RAW files? lol

Today I formatted my laptop as I started thinking maybe there was an issue on the machine itself and was too complicated to understand what was causing the problem. Now I have nothing but 400 test images, brand new catalog & latest version of LR and I'm running on the latest version of Mojave.

Funny story...I've now been waiting 12 minutes for exporting only 8 photos.  

So the problem is definitey not solved
Need to get this fixed ASAP as a client is waiting for me to deliver a timelapse.

[Ian Lyons]

Spending more money on better / faster hardware likely won't improve things. As you've already discovered the number of images selected for export is the underlying reason. So, PITA as it is, you're best breaking your export down into smaller batches.

[Marco Grassi]

Yeah but breaking down the number of images is not the solution to the issue. 
I was speaking to some friends that are using PC with 8 core and to export 900 images takes them approx. 15 min.

I have to understand the issue in order to fix it. 
(I'm of course using the last version of LR)

[dj_paige]

You can't simply compare one person's export to another person's export. There are many other factors that determine export time, although over one minute seems unusually high.

First, disk speed is irrelevant here. 

Image size in megapixels is an extremely important factor (that's image size before you export, not the final size of the file on disk). The amount of upsizing or downsizing that you are doing also matters. The complexity of the editing also matters (editing operations such as spot healing and brushing take much longer than exposure or cropping, for example). And of course, hardware makes a difference, it seems as if your export is hitting some sort of barrier, while your friends export is not ... it's not just the number of files being exported.

But I agree with the above, you first need to chop this into smaller batches to see if you can find the "sweet spot" where exports happen quickly.

[Lumigraphics]

Create a new test user account and turn off all unneeded software and system add-ons. Open JUST Lightroom and try the export.
Note that Catalina 10.15 has some major problems with both NAS boxes and Adobe CC software. That could be an issue as well.

[Marco Grassi]

Some updates. 

I've been in contact with LR stuff and they tried to help me using my laptop in remote with no success.

The first try they told me, after trying several things, to update my MAC to Catalina so the CPU would have been updated with LR updates. And get back to them if the issue was not resolved. (Updateding to MAC Catalina was a terrible idea, is a really heavy updated and laptop was slower and of coruse did not worked out)

The second one told me after trying really bascis stuff that this is happening becasue the files are way too big. HUGE files.

Reallity is that the files are the actual industry standard, a RAW file of 42MB from a Sony A7R3.
They told me files are too big and when LR exports the photos also exports the edit made on LR. So is like exporting twice the files they told me. They asked me to cancel the adjustments and try exporting without the adjustems and was way faster. So for them at that time problem solved. 
But it should be honestly just the begining og the problem becasuse for sure files are going to have adjustments. I import and edit in LR why should I export unedited RAW files? lol

Today I formatted my laptop as I started thinking maybe there was an issue on the machine itself and was too complicated to understand what was causing the problem. Now I have nothing but 400 test images, brand new catalog & latest version of LR and I'm running on the latest version of Mojave.

Funny story...I've now been waiting 12 minutes for exporting only 8 photos.  

So the problem is definitey not solved
Need to get this fixed ASAP as a client is waiting for me to deliver a timelapse.

[dj_paige]

As an experiment, turn off your anti-virus program and then try the export.

[Marco Grassi]

I don't have an anti virus on mac