Photoshop Elements Painfully Slow Saving Files

[eristic]

The new Elements 5 is painfully slow saving edited files. I don't know what has gone wrong with the program, but it is intollerably slow--roughly 1 min per JPEG at full resolution.

I was a very happy Elements 4 user. Saving files took only a few seconds on my 4 year old Dell dimension running XP with 1 GB of RAM.

The new program moves like molasses when switching between Organizer and Editor. This sluggish behavior holds true even when no other programs are open.

While I don't particularly mind the slow transition between programs, the infinite amount of time it takes to save an edited photo is unacceptable. The program literely takes 45-60 seconds of access to the Hard Drive per picture. Access to the Elements program "hangs" until it is done doing whatever file maintenance it is doing. You can work with your browser and other programs, no problem while you wait for the Elements program to stop spinning its wheels; but Elements program itself will not work until saving has concluded.

If you take dozens of photos during a photo shoot, as I do, you will be up for hours saving the files. It is not worth the time to wait.

I would write to Adobe to find out what has gone wrong, but they charge for "support". There is no way to get word to their support staff to get an answer why Elements is terminally defective. Their FAQ/Help Questions web pages have no information about this issue.

If anyone else is encountering this problem, please post to let me know that I'm not the only one suffering. If anyone else has a solution, please let me know what your workaround is.

For now I am forced to go back to my beloved Elements 4. Be warned. I love Elements 4. I hate Elements 5.

[Carbone]

Before running on the war path against Adobe, does your computer meets the system requirements for PSE5 ?

Ray

[eristic]

I stated at the outset that I love Elements 4, so I am not out to burn a good product. I am only pointing out real deficiency in the upgrade in order to get an answer/solution.

I also stated that Elements 4 worked smoothly and swiftly on my XP with 1 MG of RAM and MG and Intel Pentium 4 chip (Dell Dimension). I also have 350 MG of internal Hard Drive space. These system requirements exceed the posted minimums for Elements 5 by Amazon, which is where I purchased the program.

"Element 5 requirements:
* Intel Pentium 4 or Intel Celeron (or compatible) 1.3GHz processor (dual-core processors and those with Hyper-Threading Technology supported)
* Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Home Edition, or Media Center Edition with Service Pack 2
* 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
* 1.5GB of available hard-disk space
* Color monitor with 16-bit color video card
* 1,024 x 768 monitor resolution at 96dpi or less
* Microsoft DirectX 9 compatible display driver
* CD-ROM drive"

So...I am up to snuff with how the program is supposed to work (at least in the Element 4 world). At present the current performance in 5 is unacceptable even though my computer's memory/chip/HD space should be more than ample for the program.

[troush]

Did you disable your antivirus software while installing? Also, your antivirus software may be scanning your files as you try to save them, and that could interfere.

-Trish

[Carbone]

I stated at the outset that I love Elements 4, so I am not out to burn a good product. I am only pointing out real deficiency in the upgrade in order to get an answer/solution.

I also stated that Elements 4 worked smoothly and swiftly on my XP with 1 MG of RAM and MG and Intel Pentium 4 chip (Dell Dimension). I also have 350 MG of internal Hard Drive space. These system requirements exceed the posted minimums for Elements 5 by Amazon, which is where I purchased the program.

"Element 5 requirements:
* Intel Pentium 4 or Intel Celeron (or compatible) 1.3GHz processor (dual-core processors and those with Hyper-Threading Technology supported)
* Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Home Edition, or Media Center Edition with Service Pack 2
* 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
* 1.5GB of available hard-disk space
* Color monitor with 16-bit color video card
* 1,024 x 768 monitor resolution at 96dpi or less
* Microsoft DirectX 9 compatible display driver
* CD-ROM drive"

So...I am up to snuff with how the program is supposed to work (at least in the Element 4 world). At present the current performance in 5 is unacceptable even though my computer's memory/chip/HD space should be more than ample for the program.

I am not sure that I understand your computer specs (MG for memory and ram, I would assume it's 1 Gigabytes or 1GB RAM and 1Ghz for the processor).

And, if it's so, than your computer does not exceed the requirements, it doesn't reach them. It says 1.3 Ghz, you're lacking .3 Ghz or 300 Mhz, which not that much, but enough to show a slowdown, considering PSE5 is themed and uses, accordingly, more resources.

Ray

[eristic]

No antiviral program is currently running.

I uninstalled ZoneAlarm Antivirus/Antispy/Firewall to ensure that there was no conflict.

Also, coincidentally, I actually did a clean reinstall of XP 1 month ago (before Elements 5 was released) to clear up system detritus. Currently my system is stripped down with only Office 2002/Firefox/Thunderbird and now Elements 5.

[eristic]

Mr Ray. Thanks for your prompt responses in the middle of the night--10 PM central.

When I look at General System propertys tab it reads:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80Ghz, 1.79 Ghz, 768 MG of RAM.

Now, I can't explain why it the system doesn't register 1 MG of RAM--as that's what I boosted the RAM too some time ago. Regardless, the computer system has 768 RAM available.

As for chip speed--the system has 1.80 Ghz or 1.79 Ghz available. Although I frankly dunno which processing speed Elements 5 is looking for, my system exceeds the 1.3 Ghz requirement.

[Carbone]

Much better!!! Indeed, your computer far exceeds the minimum requirements.

I have PSE5 on a Macbook (it's a Core Duo 2.0Ghz, with 1GB of RAM, running Windows XP home edition). Starting PSE is really fast. Calling the Organizer or the Editor from the other application takes some time. I wouldn't call this painfully long but I would have time to go get a glass of water (like refilling my glass, not getting a new one .. hehe!)

I have 1200 (or a little more) pictures in the Organizer and it's really fast.

Could you do something like restart your computer, and measure how much time it takes to start the application, then calling the Editor from the organizer? We'll have a better idea of what is "long".

Ray

[Carbone]

I forgot to add... I will be signing off for the night in a couple of minutes. If you do the test, I'll post my own results tomorrow morning.

Ray

[eristic]

Mea culpa. Elements 5 is now fixed and works well.

I isolated my problems to changes I had recently made to Virtual Memory. This was the only performance/system change I had recently made, and it apparently really botched Elements 5.

I had distributed Page files from Drive C amongs several internal hard drives.
None of my other programs was affected, but Elements--which requires extensive memory and HD space--obviously was. When I eliminated all page drives except to C, and left it to the computer/system to mange page file sizes--Elements 5 performance dramatically improved.

Large JPEG files now save after 15-17 seconds: perhaps a tad slower than 4.0, but definitely acceptable. Also I can now swiftly alternating between Organizer and Editor.

I have not yet had an opportunity to try out the new features to see if there is any dramatic jump in innovation between 4-->5. I will post at that time. However 5 now feels just like 4 and I am able to open/edit/save a batch of photos quickly and without difficultly.

Thanks for everyone's help.

[Carbone]

Aha!! Sounds much better! :)

Ray

[troush]

Great! And thanks for letting us know. It could help some other poor soul in the future.

-Trish

[jedimasterk]

The new Elements 5 is painfully slow saving edited files. I don't know what has gone wrong with the program, but it is intollerably slow--roughly 1 min per JPEG at full resolution.

I was a very happy Elements 4 user. Saving files took only a few seconds on my 4 year old Dell dimension running XP with 1 GB of RAM.

The new program moves like molasses when switching between Organizer and Editor. This sluggish behavior holds true even when no other programs are open.

While I don't particularly mind the slow transition between programs, the infinite amount of time it takes to save an edited photo is unacceptable. The program literely takes 45-60 seconds of access to the Hard Drive per picture. Access to the Elements program "hangs" until it is done doing whatever file maintenance it is doing. You can work with your browser and other programs, no problem while you wait for the Elements program to stop spinning its wheels; but Elements program itself will not work until saving has concluded.

If you take dozens of photos during a photo shoot, as I do, you will be up for hours saving the files. It is not worth the time to wait.

I would write to Adobe to find out what has gone wrong, but they charge for "support". There is no way to get word to their support staff to get an answer why Elements is terminally defective. Their FAQ/Help Questions web pages have no information about this issue.

If anyone else is encountering this problem, please post to let me know that I'm not the only one suffering. If anyone else has a solution, please let me know what your workaround is.

For now I am forced to go back to my beloved Elements 4. Be warned. I love Elements 4. I hate Elements 5.

Maybe we will see the trial comeout when Elements 5 is updated to 5.01.:D Why I have been a little hesitent to buy version 5, especially after it firsts comes out. You never know what the Adobe execs are thinking. Alot of companies have rushed their product out to make the extra buck. Is it stable and what is the performance like!!.

[MarieBoyer]

I am a huge fan. There is a little time to wait between editor and organizer, and it is slower to open then version 3, but slight speed deficit is not enough to outweigh hugely positive upgrade in terms of features. My .02.

[TonyW]

Thought I'd update a comparison I made a while back between startup times. Here's what I got with Win XP, 3.4 GHz P4, 2 GB RAM and PSE3, PSE4 and PSE5 all opening initially in Editor. My conclusion - not a lot of difference between any of them.

PSE3 Editor First Launch 23 secs
PSE3 Editor Subsequent Launches 12 secs
PSE3 Organizer First launch from Editor 16 secs (~3000 images)
PSE3 Organizer Subsequent launches 6 secs

PSE4 Editor First Launch 16 secs
PSE4 Editor Subsequent Launches 6 secs
PSE4 Organizer First launch from Editor 21 secs (~2500 images)
PSE4 Organizer Subsequent launches 9 secs

PSE5 Editor First Launch 25 secs
PSE5 Editor Subsequent Launches 9 secs
PSE5 Organizer First launch from Editor 14 secs (~500 images)
PSE5 Organizer Subsequent launches 6 secs

CS2 First Launch 15 secs
CS2 Subsequent Launches 9 secs

Tony

[Tommybj]

Mayby a little late but i had the same problem with saving files.

I fixed it with a recover of the database.

I had the fault with saving files in versions, it didnt save in version and was long time saving files, but the recover did the trick.

[johnfranklin]

When I look at General System propertys tab it reads:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80Ghz, 1.79 Ghz, 768 MG of RAM.

Now, I can't explain why it the system doesn't register 1 MG of RAM--as that's what I boosted the RAM too some time ago. Regardless, the computer system has 768 RAM available.

As for chip speed--the system has 1.80 Ghz or 1.79 Ghz available. Although I frankly dunno which processing speed Elements 5 is looking for, my system exceeds the 1.3 Ghz requirement.[/QUOTE]

The (most likely) explanation for the missing RAM is that your computer probably has integrated graphics. 1 gigabyte equals 1024 Megabytes. 1024 megabytes minus 256 megabytes equals 768 Megabytes with the 256 Megabytes being alloted to the display. The next most likely explanation is a bad 256 Megabyte module of RAM . However, if the computer is equipped with "Dual Channel RAM" and the system was upgraded from 512Mbytes, it would be shipped with 2- 256Mbyte sticks (1 in each channel), and then upgraded with 2 more 256Mbyte modules (again 1 for each channel), in this case the likelyhood of a bad module goes up quite a bit.:eek: So, if the computer has a separate graphics card, a bad RAM module becomes most likely. If the computer does in fact have Dual Channel RAM, a bad module would slow it down considerably, because the channel imbalance (256 in 1 channel & 512 in the other) would force the machine to run in a single channel memory mode. Actually Adobe support will answer the phone for free. Sometimes a dramatic slowdown indicates a piece of spyware or such could have been picked up. I sort of agree with everybody else in that PSE5 may be a tad slower but nothing noteworthy. How much have the system requirements actually increased between PSE4 & PSE5? I only have PSE 2, 3, & 5 so, dunno. Sorry, I hated 4 and refused to buy it, but that's probably a personal problem.

[johnfranklin]

Everything I said in my previous post is still valid. However, when I started placing layered PSD files in the organizer they wouldn't focus in. I brought up the Windows task Manager (CNTRL, ALT, DELETE) clicked on the "Processes" tab and the amout of RAM PSE5 was using was truly "impressive". My system has 1.5 Gigabytes of RAM and PSE5 is allotted the default 50% of system memory. With the editor open ,no files open in it, and the organizer running I was reading PSE5 using 745 Megabytes of RAM or the entire 50%,(Editor 500 Megabytes, Organizer 250 Megabytes). This in addition to 98% of the processor. I normally save Jpeg files so this was a huge surprise to me! The Jpegs still popped right into focus when I scrolled past them but, when I hit the PSD file the system wouldn't bring it into focus! The file in question was only about 9 Megabytes, so needless to say this came as a big shock!:( I still don't seem to have the slow save that you were complaining about. But, the processor is a Intel P4 running @ 3.06 Ghz and it usually dispatches such tasks in a big hurry.
I suspect that the high RAM usage in the Editor with no files open is due to the session history not being properly purged by PSE5. All in all though, my "favorite bug" is when you're cruising along in the full screen mode and PSE5 just shuts down! Within a instant you're staring at the desktop wondering what the heck happened!