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IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 7th 15, 02:00 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Terry Pinnell[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

This occurs usually at the start of a session or after a long gap. I
double-click a JPG in Explorer and instead of loading with the usual
speed that's one of IrfanView's impressive features, it takes 10-15
secs. During this time the LED flashes on one of my external WD hard
drives.

After that, for subsequent JPGs, it's back to normal - until hours
later when it happens again. It's as if the WD unit goes to sleep and
IV has to wake it up for some reason - even though the JPG is not on
that drive.

I'm using the latest version, 4.4.0 (32 bit) on an XP PC.

Anyone seen anything similar or have any insight into the likely cause
- and a suggested possible fix please?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
  #2  
Old September 7th 15, 02:13 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
David Taylor
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Posts: 1,146
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

On 07/09/2015 14:00, Terry Pinnell wrote:
This occurs usually at the start of a session or after a long gap. I
double-click a JPG in Explorer and instead of loading with the usual
speed that's one of IrfanView's impressive features, it takes 10-15
secs. During this time the LED flashes on one of my external WD hard
drives.

After that, for subsequent JPGs, it's back to normal - until hours
later when it happens again. It's as if the WD unit goes to sleep and
IV has to wake it up for some reason - even though the JPG is not on
that drive.

I'm using the latest version, 4.4.0 (32 bit) on an XP PC.

Anyone seen anything similar or have any insight into the likely cause
- and a suggested possible fix please?


Likely cause - reading all the files in the directory.

Possible fix - upgrade to a faster HD or faster OS.

Can you try an SATA attached HD? Perhaps get an SATA card if your HD is
still the old 80-pin connector.

Win-10 does a lot of caching, providing it has enough memory. Suggest
an 8 GB or 16 GB RAM PC for maximum benefit.

XP is well past its sell-by date now.

--
Cheers,
David
Web: http://www.satsignal.eu
  #3  
Old September 7th 15, 03:30 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Terry Pinnell[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

David Taylor wrote:

On 07/09/2015 14:00, Terry Pinnell wrote:
This occurs usually at the start of a session or after a long gap. I
double-click a JPG in Explorer and instead of loading with the usual
speed that's one of IrfanView's impressive features, it takes 10-15
secs. During this time the LED flashes on one of my external WD hard
drives.

After that, for subsequent JPGs, it's back to normal - until hours
later when it happens again. It's as if the WD unit goes to sleep and
IV has to wake it up for some reason - even though the JPG is not on
that drive.

I'm using the latest version, 4.4.0 (32 bit) on an XP PC.

Anyone seen anything similar or have any insight into the likely cause
- and a suggested possible fix please?


Likely cause - reading all the files in the directory.


But that would occur whenever I opened a file in a new folder and
would vary with size of the folder, and neither is the case.

Nor does it explain the WD activity.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
  #4  
Old September 7th 15, 03:49 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
David Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,146
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

On 07/09/2015 15:30, Terry Pinnell wrote:
David Taylor wrote:

[]
Likely cause - reading all the files in the directory.


But that would occur whenever I opened a file in a new folder and
would vary with size of the folder, and neither is the case.

Nor does it explain the WD activity.


Windows will cache access to recently used directories, up to a certain
size (depending on the available memory space). It's also possible that
adjacent or next-in-line directories will be cached, although that's
more likely to be a function of the program accessing the directories
than of Windows itself. Later Windows versions (perhaps than XP) also
try to read much bigger blocks from the disk than the program requests -
512 KB rings a bell although I would need to look up the details.

If the hard disk access happens only of the first read of that
directory, caching seems the most likely explanation.

If there are too many files in a directory, that can significantly slow
things down - something like 10,000 files is too many.

Is the disk FAT32 or NTFS?

There's another issue - if your hard disk is fragmented the reads may
need to come from significantly different portions of the disk, and may
thus take longer while the read/write head moves. Not once cached, of
course. Even worse if the directory file itself is fragmented. That's
why it's worth doing a full defrag once in a while. IObit's SmartDefrag
calls it "Defrag and prioritise files", other programs will have
different names for the function.

--
Cheers,
David
Web: http://www.satsignal.eu
  #5  
Old September 7th 15, 04:30 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

In article , David Taylor
wrote:

There's another issue - if your hard disk is fragmented the reads may
need to come from significantly different portions of the disk, and may
thus take longer while the read/write head moves. Not once cached, of
course.


fragmentation does not make a difference anymore and hasn't for years.

Even worse if the directory file itself is fragmented.


that is not the same as disk fragmentation, but it can sometimes make a
difference.

That's
why it's worth doing a full defrag once in a while. IObit's SmartDefrag
calls it "Defrag and prioritise files", other programs will have
different names for the function.


a full defragment is a complete waste of time and puts the contents of
the entire drive at risk (and adds additional wear and tear too).

if the directory is fragmented, then only that needs to be defragmented.
  #6  
Old September 7th 15, 04:30 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

In article , David Taylor
wrote:

This occurs usually at the start of a session or after a long gap. I
double-click a JPG in Explorer and instead of loading with the usual
speed that's one of IrfanView's impressive features, it takes 10-15
secs. During this time the LED flashes on one of my external WD hard
drives.

After that, for subsequent JPGs, it's back to normal - until hours
later when it happens again. It's as if the WD unit goes to sleep and
IV has to wake it up for some reason - even though the JPG is not on
that drive.


I'm using the latest version, 4.4.0 (32 bit) on an XP PC.

Anyone seen anything similar or have any insight into the likely cause
- and a suggested possible fix please?


Likely cause - reading all the files in the directory.


doubtful, but if so, that's an incredibly bad design. there is no
reason to scan the file system on every launch and certainly not after
a brief gap.

what's more likely is that the drive spun down and has to spin back up,
which is why the activity light blinks.

Possible fix - upgrade to a faster HD or faster OS.
Can you try an SATA attached HD? Perhaps get an SATA card if your HD is
still the old 80-pin connector.


that won't matter if the drive spun down.

if the problem is something else, it won't make much of a difference
either because if the computer is old enough to not have sata at all,
then it's too slow to benefit much from adding it.

Win-10 does a lot of caching, providing it has enough memory. Suggest
an 8 GB or 16 GB RAM PC for maximum benefit.


any app that relies on the operating system to cache files or uses the
file system directly is fundamentally broken.

XP is well past its sell-by date now.


yep, as is the hardware on which it's running.
  #7  
Old September 7th 15, 04:20 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Bill W
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,692
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

On Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:00:26 +0100, Terry Pinnell
wrote:

This occurs usually at the start of a session or after a long gap. I
double-click a JPG in Explorer and instead of loading with the usual
speed that's one of IrfanView's impressive features, it takes 10-15
secs. During this time the LED flashes on one of my external WD hard
drives.

After that, for subsequent JPGs, it's back to normal - until hours
later when it happens again. It's as if the WD unit goes to sleep and
IV has to wake it up for some reason - even though the JPG is not on
that drive.

I'm using the latest version, 4.4.0 (32 bit) on an XP PC.

Anyone seen anything similar or have any insight into the likely cause
- and a suggested possible fix please?


You're likely catching your computer when it's doing something else,
and you had to wait for it to finish. That external drive was probably
active before you clicked on the photo - just a coincidence.

File indexing was always one of the big culprits with XP, but there's
many other thing it could be doing.
  #8  
Old September 8th 15, 08:29 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Terry Pinnell[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

Bill W wrote:

On Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:00:26 +0100, Terry Pinnell
wrote:

This occurs usually at the start of a session or after a long gap. I
double-click a JPG in Explorer and instead of loading with the usual
speed that's one of IrfanView's impressive features, it takes 10-15
secs. During this time the LED flashes on one of my external WD hard
drives.

After that, for subsequent JPGs, it's back to normal - until hours
later when it happens again. It's as if the WD unit goes to sleep and
IV has to wake it up for some reason - even though the JPG is not on
that drive.

I'm using the latest version, 4.4.0 (32 bit) on an XP PC.

Anyone seen anything similar or have any insight into the likely cause
- and a suggested possible fix please?


You're likely catching your computer when it's doing something else,
and you had to wait for it to finish. That external drive was probably
active before you clicked on the photo - just a coincidence.

File indexing was always one of the big culprits with XP, but there's
many other thing it could be doing.


Thanks, but I don't really follow that. When the WD 2TB drive is
active, its LED always flashes. The occasional very slow opening of a
double-clicked JPG in IrfanView arises when the drive is not already
flashing, i.e. not already active.

I'm almost sure it's something to do with its firmware putting it to
sleep. (Or software. I recall I could not avoid it installing some
unwanted stuff. This was a few years ago so I'm vague.)

The fact that this long delay only arises hours after the last JPG
opening reinforces my opinion about the sleeping.

When I open a JPG the WD flashes:

1. For 10-15 s (only after a long gap), before IV displays the JPG.

2. For 1 s or less, if another JPG is opened shortly after the above
first attempt eventually succeeds.

3. Not at all. This is the state for a long period after the above.
JPGs open immediately, with no apparent involvement of the WD HD.
Which is what I would *always* expect.

Why does the WD drive get into the equation at all? As you've reminded
some other posters (who seem to have missed that crucial point), the
JPGs are not on this drive.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
  #9  
Old September 8th 15, 08:39 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

In article , Terry Pinnell
wrote:

I'm almost sure it's something to do with its firmware putting it to
sleep. (Or software. I recall I could not avoid it installing some
unwanted stuff. This was a few years ago so I'm vague.)


your observation is correct. it's spinning down when idle.

Why does the WD drive get into the equation at all? As you've reminded
some other posters (who seem to have missed that crucial point), the
JPGs are not on this drive.


where the jpeg is makes no difference.

the app could be enumerating all drives because it doesn't know which
photos you will be viewing or working with. it may also be a limitation
of windows where any drive access causes all drives to spin up.
  #10  
Old September 9th 15, 08:44 AM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Terry Pinnell[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default IrfanView: sometimes very slow loading

nospam wrote:

In article , Terry Pinnell
wrote:

I'm almost sure it's something to do with its firmware putting it to
sleep. (Or software. I recall I could not avoid it installing some
unwanted stuff. This was a few years ago so I'm vague.)


your observation is correct. it's spinning down when idle.

Why does the WD drive get into the equation at all? As you've reminded
some other posters (who seem to have missed that crucial point), the
JPGs are not on this drive.


where the jpeg is makes no difference.

the app could be enumerating all drives because it doesn't know which
photos you will be viewing or working with. it may also be a limitation
of windows where any drive access causes all drives to spin up.


Are you an actual user of the latest version of IrfanView (the 'app'
under discussion)? I don't believe it "...doesn't know which
photos you will be viewing...". It's the one I've d-clicked. As for
"...or working with" I'm not sure what you mean? Like any program,
IrfanView certainly can't predict what I'm going to do next.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 




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