Monday, September 19, 2011

Cache problem on Bridge CS4

As digital photo librarian one of my tasks is to keep Bridge on my four machines constantly indexed and updated: three have admin level and one a simple user level. I call these my benchmark machines since they are the ones by which I measure all the other users' machines in the department. Typically, they the most accurate and up-to-date for searching; they include two PCs and two Macs.

Back in July of this year, Bridge on one of my two benchmark Macs displayed the feared "purge the central cache" message:


There is no workaround and no alternative but to purge the central cache and completely reindex the machine from scratch.

Last Friday the same thing happened to my other benchmark Mac, a laptop.

And no, we don't know why this happens: the cache size remains at normal levels:44 gbs with 380k+ items (July) and 40 gbs with 306k+ items (September). No unusual activity at the server end and so far no one else in the department has experienced this problem. Of course, that last observation leads me to suspect that it does have something to do with cache size but this remains far from clear. and anyway, I've had a cache as large as 55 gbs on my laptop with no problems.

Oh and one other thing I've learned recently: Apple's Time Machine does not back up Bridge's caching system -- in fact it doesn't back up the User library's cache folder at all. Curious, eh?
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 5, 2011 at 1:54 PM

    Steve,

    I've read up on this to try using a shared cache in our office and came across your blog. have you had any luck with the shared cache since purging it?

    I have about 5 PCs and 6 macs using a shared cache on a networked drive, we have our bridge settings set to "automatically export cache to folders when possible" and it seems to be ok so far.

    -Chris

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  2. Steve SoperOctober 5, 2011 at 4:42 PM

    Hi Chris,

    I'd be very careful here -- have you tested this out using a benchmark machine? I ran a series of tests using a shared cache back in the summer of 2009 and it did not work; in fact it caused all sorts of indexing/searching problems. And that was just among Macs.

    Also, think about this: if anybody could create a large image library using a shared cache among multiple machines that could then easily access and search that same library, and do this easily and quickly what would be the point of digital asset management systems?

    Remember the old warning about things that are too good to be true.

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