[chasg]

Hi All. I'm a professional photographer, and I'm having an Adobe Bridge problem.

I use Bridge to work with large groups of raw photographic files (from weddings, corporate events etc) and I noticed that my friend's install of Bridge on his MBP loads large numbers of files _much_ faster than my install of the same program (on either my identical MBP, or even my tricked out Mac Pro).

Mine always looks like its generating previews from scratch every time (even with folders that have already once been loaded into Bridge), and it shouldn't, because I've set Bridge to export its cache to the local folder (so it should use that cache again, and not have to rebuild all the previews from scratch).

This is an issue with both new groups of photos (all raws, btw) being loaded, or groups that have already been loaded. It happens even when I use an external drive to hold the folder (so if I load it into Bridge on my Mac Pro, and then take that drive and connect it to my laptop, the cache that is supposed to be in that folder should mean that the folder loads very quickly on the laptop, but they once again rebuild from scratch).

This is really driving me crazy, and it's quite a waste of time (it can take up to 10 minutes each time to be ready for working, meaning that I can't use Bridge as a presentation tool, or get to work quickly).

btw: I also use Aperture for certain things, so I'm very familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of each. I'm also au fait with Lightroom. I've evaluated all three tools, and I much prefer the Bridge/ACR/Photoshop work flow, so swapping programs isn't an option (just anticipating the suggestion :-)

I'm sure that I've got some setting incorrect, can anybody guide me?

Thanks in advance for any assistance,

Chas

[Maxxumless]

#1 Bridge uses (default) Camera RAW and a cache (1GB by default in CS3). If you move your files from computer to computer this cache may need to be rebuilt every time you move the drive. Not sure, but that sounds logical. A good way to test this theory is to leave it on one computer, let it regenerate all the thumbnails (this could take a while if you have a lot of photos). Then restart the program and see what the speed may be.

#2 What sort of external drive are you using? USB is super slow and should never be used to access live (active) data. FW400 isn't much better - it just can sustain better speeds than USB. FW800 is much better, but still not great. eSATA would be the optimal choice of course via Express Card.

#3 There are some tweaks that will help Bridge run faster, but it would mean turning off nice functions.

Hope that helps.