# Import incredibly slow in lightroom



## cateinafrica (Oct 20, 2018)

I am running Lightroom Classic on my Mac Pro.  My catalog and Library are on a 20tb lacie external drive.  Import is painfully slow.  Think hours for a CF card.  What am I doing wrong here?


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## Zenon (Oct 20, 2018)

Are you new to LR8 or had this with previous versions? How many files are you importing on average? Are you building Standard or 1:1 previews? Try Embedded & Sidecar.


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## cateinafrica (Oct 20, 2018)

I have been using LR since version 2.. In this latest import, I am just importing 250 images.  The previews do not seem to be the issue (normally building 1.1 previews) It does not seem to get that far.  When importing on my MBP, I do not have this issue.  I recently cut my library and catalog in half as I was worried it was a size issue with 400,000 images but that has not solved anything.  I tried to import it just now to a folder on my hard drive instead.  No difference.  My next logical step in my mind would be to move the catalog to the hard drive and keep the library on the external drive.  I don't like separating catalogs from libraries in principal though..   I have toggled back and forth using the graphics card under performance with no change.   Any suggestions you might have I would appreciate.


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## Zenon (Oct 20, 2018)

My catalogue is on the HD and files are on an ED. Not sure how much difference that will make for you. I haven't done a big import since LR8.


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## Zenon (Oct 20, 2018)

I just tried 16x30 MP files at 1:1 and it tool 2:35 minutes. 250 would be around  37 minutes according to my abacus. I imported to my HD, which I always do.


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## LouieSherwin (Oct 20, 2018)

There are any number of places that could cause problems and it would help to know exactly how you are setup. Would you please describe your import setup and process on both systems.

tks, louie


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## Zenon (Oct 20, 2018)

Something I believe I have noticed with LR8. I am getting a bit of delay after pressing import where it says importing photos and videos. I don't remember that being so long before.


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## cateinafrica (Oct 20, 2018)

My setup is as follows.. I have my lightroom catalog and library on the external 20TB LaCie drive, I import from the card reader into my library on the LaCie drive.  My current library contains about 100,000 images  The import just seems to stall on this computer (mac pro 2013).  I can walk away and come back in the morning and it normally seems to have imported.


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## Zenon (Oct 20, 2018)

I'm not sure what difference having a two libraries would make. The files are being imported into one master folder or the other. I'm assuming you have two masters (one for each catalogue) with subfolders in each. Many keep the catalogue in the HD. I have never imported directly from the card to the ED. Is the card reader or ED plugged into a hub?


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## LouieSherwin (Oct 20, 2018)

Ok. when you import to your MBP are you using exactly the same card, card reader, cable and LaCie drive? 

As a starting point I would suggest that you try to simply copy these 250 images from the card to a folder on an internal hard drive using finder. That should be fairly quick. If not that could point to a problem with the card, reader, cable or USB port on the the computer. 

-louie


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## cateinafrica (Oct 20, 2018)

Thank you, I will change card readers.. usb ports and also try copying the images to my hard drive first..  I will let you know..


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## cateinafrica (Oct 20, 2018)

@LouisSherwin, I am using different cards, but the same card reader, cable and LaCie drive .  As mentioned, I do not have the same issue on my MBP.  This is just on the Mac Pro


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## Zenon (Oct 20, 2018)

cateinafrica said:


> Thank you, I will change card readers.. usb ports and also try copying the images to my hard drive first..  I will let you know..



I had issues with a non powered hub a few years ago. Just in case you were using one. Not enough ports on my iMac.   

I have always worked from the desktop because I pre-cull my files using Canon's DPP - right off the card. I then import to the desktop using Image Capture which is really fast. I rename the folder, import to Desktop and later when I'm not using it drag it into the ED.


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## kikapoo (Oct 20, 2018)

I am also experiencing a huge slow down in the import process. This happened right after I upgraded my MacBook Pro (purchased new in 2018) to Mojave. I've also experienced the 'Spinning Beach Ball of Death' and have had to force quit the import process. I have not upgraded to LR8 and am still running LR7.3.1. Until I upgraded to Mohave from High Sierra, I could import 300 to 400 images in about 1/2 hour. Now it can take an hour to import 50 or so.


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## cateinafrica (Oct 20, 2018)

@kikapoo, sorry you are having this problem also.. I have to confess that it makes me feel slightly better that someone else is experiencing problems also and that I am not an anomaly.  I am still going to troubleshoot it as much as I can to try to find a solution.  If everyone was experiencing this problem, no-one would use lightroom so there must be a solution!


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## kikapoo (Oct 20, 2018)

I was surprised not to have  seen any other users having problems with import after switching to Mojave, so I was pleased (not that you are having problems!) to see that I was not alone! I'll keep watching this thread and see if anyone has found a cause / solution to the problem. Thanks, cateinafrica.


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## cateinafrica (Oct 20, 2018)

@LouieSherwin Coping the cf card to my hd and importing from there definitely sped things up.. I am going to swap out the cord on my card reader and possibly swap the card reader out also to see if that would help the problem.  Thank you for your help!


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## Kirby Krieger (Oct 21, 2018)

A small fwiw:  I have this happen regularly.  Rebooting the computer has always restored regular import speed.

I now reboot at least one per day.


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## Gisele (Oct 21, 2018)

I'm experiencing huge slowdowns since the LR Classic CC upgrade to 8.0 last week. I am on a MacBookPro, running High Sierra, with 16GB of RAM. Import is slow, and when LR is open, my whole computer slows down. I even get "calculating" when going into Develop mode - something I have never seen before.


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## Zenon (Oct 21, 2018)

I had an issue with an anti-virus app that slowed everything down even before the latest updates. I had to re-installed it.  When my computer slows down I have a maintenance routine. It mostly involves Safari but cleans up the user library caches. It wakes mine up. Not sure if you are interested.


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## Gisele (Oct 22, 2018)

Zenon said:


> I had an issue with an anti-virus app that slowed everything down even before the latest updates. I had to re-installed it.  When my computer slows down I have a maintenance routine. It mostly involves Safari but cleans up the user library caches. It wakes mine up. Not sure if you are interested.


Thanks for the tips. I am on a mac, and do clean up regularly. I spent an hour on chat + remote support with Adobe. They basically ended up saying "we know there are problems with this release. Wait for an update or roll back"


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## PhilBurton (Oct 23, 2018)

Amazing.  Don't they do any testing?


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## Zenon (Oct 23, 2018)

Thanks for taking the time investigate.


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## kikapoo (Oct 23, 2018)

Today I imported a small number of images from my CF card, but I switched to a different port on my Mac laptop (I had a problem with one of the ports previously, so I'm going to quit using it). My import went smoothly and at the normal speed. This isn't absolute proof that my import snail pace was due to a defective port, but it could be be the culprit.


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## PhilBurton (Oct 23, 2018)

Amazing.  Don't they do any testing?


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