Extraneous "Reading Directories" of the other panel

[louwin]

There is a bug that probably doesn't show to many people so probably not important

Scenario - I have a folder with 80,000 books in the left panel and a folder with 900 books in the right panel

Every time I do ANYTHING with the files in the right panel TC flashes up "Reading Directories" and disappears for a few seconds....

NOTHING has been done to the files in the left panel so why has it's directory been re-scanned? Even just clicking on a file in the right panel does this....

Editing the file in the right panel does it. Opening an "epub" file in the right panel does it.... Left click a file in the right panel does it...

I can see that transferring a file from the right panel to the left panel should do it but why accessing a file in the right panel should cause rereading the directory in the left panel?

Anyway, just reporting a bug that effects a minute percentage of your users

[white]

Does it only happen for that folder?
Does it only happen in the right panel? What if you swap folders?
Is the folder on an external drive?
Does it also happen when using a clean wincmd.ini file?
What TC version are you using?
What OS are you using?

[sqa_wizard]

And one more:
Do both panels show different folders, but on the SAME drive?

[ghisler(Author)]

"Reading Directories" appears when opening a directory takes more than a few seconds. It's shown so a user can abort opening a huge directory.

[petermad]

2louwin
Does it also happen if you deselect "Options" -> "Refresh" -> "Refresh when files are created, deleted and renamed" ?

If it stops when you disable this feature, then that indicates that a program or the system is writing to that folder in the background.

[louwin]

Sorry, offline for a bit....

Well this morning things appear to be radically different.

Two different folders on the same internal HDD. Running Windows 10 (fully updated). 18TB drive. I tried switching panels - same. "Reading Directories" no longer flashes on the screen. No settings have been changed....

Scenario....

Same setup - 80K books on left (132,217,817 k) - 900 books on the right (853,167 k). (same results swapped around). Basically on the left I have books with correct filenames. On the right - (incorrect) generic filenames. I have another folder with 100K books that I played around with a while ago and I don't remember having this problem. My system is OLD so maybe that's the problem????

I double click on an "epub" in the right panel. About 20 seconds later the book opens. I note the author's name and the book title and close the App. I rename the file in the right panel. I "move" the now correctly named book from the right panel to the left panel. I timed it - it took 35 seconds to do the "move". Today I get NO "Reading Directories" flashes? Sorry, I'm too afraid to play around with my "ini" file

I suppose, since no messages "flash" things are different. Should it take 35 seconds to move a file from the right panel to the left panel?

Okay - did it again....

Opened the book - took 33 seconds. Renamed the book and saved the name - instantaneous. "move" file - 26 seconds

Thanks in anticipation

[Dalai]

If moving files between two different directories of the same drive takes more than a second there's something wrong. Here's what comes to mind:

• Errors in the filesystem
• Anti-virus software
• Errors on the drive

The first can be found and fixed with chkdsk. To see if the second is the issue (temporarily) disable your scanner; this includes Windows Defender. The last one is difficult to check; start by using CrystalDiskInfo and see if Windows Event Log contains any errors related to the drive.

[louwin]

Sorry, I checked ALL my HDDs and the OS said they were okay and didn't need checking????

Any other ideas?

[ghisler(Author)]

This is awfully slow. How many files/folders are present in the directories on the left and on the right? I only get such behavior when there are several 10'000 or files/subfolders in a single folder.

[Dalai]

2louwin
Please check the other things I listed above.

BTW, if opening such a file by double-clicking on it takes 20 seconds I doubt that it has something to do with TC.

[ghisler(Author)]

It looks like the folder with the 80k books gets re-read. To fix it, go to menu Configuration - Options - Refresh. Then add the drive letter of the disk with the books to "No refresh for these drives". Also activate these options on the same page:
- Refresh when files are created, deleted and renamed
- Also when size, date, or attributes change
- Update footer
- Update header

[louwin]

"....Configuration - Options - Refresh. Then add the drive letter of the disk with the books to "No refresh for these drives". Also activate these options on the same page:
- Refresh when files are created, deleted and renamed
- Also when size, date, or attributes change
- Update footer
- Update header"

Did ALL above....

Still - right panel folder with 81,036 epub books, left panel 865 epub books.

Renaming on the right panel happens in a couple of seconds. Opening a book in the right panel still takes a while - so much so that "Not responding" appears on the top left. "Moving" 6 books from left to right panels takes about 20 seconds.

I suspect I'll have to live with this as it IS A VERY old system. I am resisting updating as I can't find a system to my very large requirements.... I have 12 internal HDDs, 2 SSDs and a Bluray burner. 3 of my drives are RAID mirrored and 3 are manually synchronized. The drive (I:) concerned is RAID mirrored.

Thanks to all responders

[ghisler(Author)]

"Moving" 6 books from left to right panels takes about 20 seconds.

Modifying something in the directory with the many files always causes a refresh of that directory.
However, just launching something from there shouldn't take that long. Does it depend on what program you open?

[louwin]

I copied a "pdf" into the RHS panel 132K.... Opening that took 7 seconds. Opening a similar sized "epub" 130K to 39 seconds.

I copied the same "epub" onto my C: drive, an SSD, and it took the same 39 seconds to open. So it looks like it isn't the folder with lots of files causing the "slow" opening of the "epub" but the application itself.

The moves to and from the C: drive from the small folder (800 files) were instantaneous

The moves to and from the I: drive took a LONG time. Even highlighting the 6 files in the LARGE directory took about 10 seconds per file for the highlight to appear. It took about 20 seconds for the files to appear on the C: drive then 29 seconds to disappear from the I: drive then the directory was reread and redisplayed.

MY conclusions are that anything involving the the LARGE directory took a LONG time. The "epub" App is extremely slow regardless. If the LARGE directory was on display things would take a LONG time.

Are you in a position to test this on a more recent system? And/or a very old system too?

Thanks for all your efforts

[Dalai]

By "highlighting" you mean selecting them (via Ins key or right mouse button for example)? If so, that must be instantaneous, even in thumnail view. This leads me to believe you have some background software running (anti-virus, sandbox or similar) that heavily interferes with other programs. I suggest to boot Windows into Safe Mode and repeat the same TC actions there. If it's fast in Safe Mode, my assumption is correct.