Can someone explain what the Sam Hill "cleaning the media cache database" does?

[mikejaz2]

Mac 10.13.6, PPro/ME 2020.

I am often irked by the tedious process of Cleaning the Media Cache database.

Generally, when I begin to have anomalies (playback urps, or most currently, ME running out of memory), the first thing I do is clean the cache.

And wait...and wait...and wait, while the little blue "progress" bar creeps towards its eventual conclusion.

As I type, I'm watching the Cache location as, one by one, massive files (ranging from 176 bytes to 2KB, mind you!) are cherry picked one-by-one and...well, not trashed, cuz they never show up in the trash, they just get tossed.

I haven't cleaned the ME cache in quite some time now, so you power user geneii won't be surprised to know I've been watching this process for almost 30 minutes.

Someone, please, enlighten me as to why I shouldn't just go to the Cache location and delete all these files myself. Because I don't get paid for cleaning the Media Cache.

[John T Smith]

I'm on Windows, but I simply use file manager to go to the cache folders and delete the files when I finish a project

I have 3 drives in my computer (1-M.2 and 2-SSD) so I have enough space that I only delete cache files at the end of a project

I have NO IDEA if there is anything different about a Mac

[R Neil Haugen]

On my PC the option dumps them in moments. But you can go to Finder and just dump everything manually just fine.

Neil

[mikejaz2]

Yes, and thank you for confirming.

But, that doesn't explain why Adobe thinks wasting time watching the "progress" bar is worth money...

[R Neil Haugen]

On my system just now, using the Preferences option to delete cache files took around 12 seconds.

Neil

[mikejaz2]

Thanks. Any one else wanna chime in here?

[illumn8d]

Many customers are uncomfortable deleting files from the Finder/Windows Explorer. It makes support easier. 

[R Neil Haugen]

As someone who's always worked in a small shop, I never have any IT folks around that can handle deleting files. If I didn't constantly delete files, my systems ... with many large drives ... would quickly fill up and choke.

So I've always deleted files by the bucket.

Neil