Performance Tips

Keep Rando fast even with massive photo libraries (100K+ photos).

Scan Performance Settings

Optimizing folder scanning for your system.

Understanding the Setting

What the scan performance slider controls:

• Number: How many files checked between UI updates
• Range: 50 (Responsive) to 500 (Fast)
• Default: 150 (Balanced)

How it works:

Lower number (50) = Frequent UI updates, slower overall
Higher number (500) = Fewer UI updates, faster overall

Trade-off:

• Responsive: See progress more often, but takes longer
• Fast: Complete faster, but less frequent updates

Recommended Settings by Storage

Adjusting for Your Needs

When to use Responsive (50):

• Slow external drives
• Network storage (NAS)
• Want frequent progress updates
• First time scanning unfamiliar folders
• Very large folders (100K+ files)

When to use Balanced (150):

• Most situations
• Mixed storage types
• Unsure of drive speed
• Default recommendation

When to use Fast (500):

• Fast internal SSDs
• Time-sensitive work
• Familiar folder structures
• Moderate size folders (< 50K files)

Testing Your Optimal Setting

Quick test procedure:

1. Select test folder (10K-20K photos)
2. Set to Responsive (50)
3. Scan and note time
4. Clear and reset app
5. Set to Fast (500)
6. Scan same folder, note time
7. Compare times and UI responsiveness

Evaluation:

• If Fast feels responsive: Use 500
• If Fast feels laggy: Use 150
• If 150 still laggy: Use 50

Working with Large Libraries

Strategies for 50K+ photo collections.

Progressive Scanning

Don't scan everything at once:

Instead of:

Select: ~/Pictures/ (100,000 photos)
Wait: 10-15 minutes scanning
Result: Overwhelmed

Try:

1. Select: ~/Pictures/2024/ (5,000 photos)
   Scan: 30 seconds
   Use: Browse while scanning continues

2. Add: ~/Pictures/2023/ (8,000 photos)
   Scan: 1 minute
   Use: Now have 2 years

3. Add more as needed

Benefits:

• Start using Rando immediately
• Add folders progressively
• Cancel if you have enough
• Less overwhelming

Thumbnail Size Optimization

Smaller thumbnails = better performance:

Memory impact:

Library: 50,000 photos

At 150px: ~750MB thumbnail cache
At 300px: ~2.5GB thumbnail cache

Recommendation for large libraries:

• Start at 100-150px
• Increase only if needed for detail
• Decrease if experiencing lag

Selective Folder Organization

Organize large libraries into manageable chunks:

Instead of flat structure:

Photos/ (100,000 files in one folder)
├── IMG_0001.jpg
├── IMG_0002.jpg
├── ...
└── IMG_100000.jpg

Use hierarchical structure:

Photos/
├── 2020/ (12,000 files)
├── 2021/ (18,000 files)
├── 2022/ (22,000 files)
├── 2023/ (25,000 files)
└── 2024/ (15,000 files)

Benefits:

• Faster individual folder scans
• Select only relevant years
• Easier to manage
• Better file system performance

Cancellation Strategy

Don't wait for full scans:

Scenario: Scanning folder with 80,000 photos

Strategy:

1. Start scan
2. Watch count increase
3. When count reaches 5,000-10,000:
   • Have enough variety for random selection
   • Click Cancel Scan
4. Use immediately with partial library

When this works:

• Random browsing (don't need everything)
• Quick review sessions
• Testing folders
• Time-sensitive work

When to complete scan:

• Tagging entire library
• Creating comprehensive slideshows
• Need accurate total count
• Archival work

External Drive Optimization

Maximizing performance with external storage.

USB Connection Types

Performance by connection:

Real-world impact:

Scanning 10,000 photos:

Thunderbolt 3: 30 seconds
USB 3.0: 1-2 minutes
USB 2.0: 8-10 minutes

External Drive Best Practices

Hardware:

1. Use USB 3.0+ drives minimum
2. Connect to blue USB ports (USB 3.0) on computer
3. Avoid USB hubs if possible (direct connection faster)
4. Use quality cables (cheap cables limit speed)
5. Keep drives cool (heat throttles performance)

Software:

1. Set scan performance to Balanced or Responsive
2. Close other apps accessing the drive
3. Don't run virus scans simultaneously
4. Eject properly to avoid corruption

Network Drive Optimization

Making NAS and network shares faster:

Connection:

1. Use wired Ethernet over WiFi (10x+ faster)
2. Gigabit Ethernet minimum (1000 Mbps)
3. Direct connection to router/switch
4. Avoid PowerLine adapters (inconsistent)

Settings:

1. Scan performance: Responsive (50)
2. Reduce thumbnail size: 100-150px
3. Disable real-time backup during scanning
4. Map network drives (Z:) instead of UNC paths

SMB Protocol (macOS):

1. Finder → Go → Connect to Server
2. Use smb://server/share format
3. Mount permanently for faster reconnection
4. Check network speed with Activity Monitor

Windows Network Drives:

1. Map network drive to letter (Z:)
2. "Reconnect at sign-in" enabled
3. Properties → Optimize for: Documents
4. Disable offline files if not needed

SSD vs HDD Optimization

Solid State Drives (SSD):

• Scan setting: Fast (500)
• Thumbnail size: Any (150-300px)
• Parallel operations: OK
• Characteristics: Consistent fast performance

Hard Disk Drives (HDD):

• Scan setting: Balanced (150) or Responsive (50)
• Thumbnail size: Smaller (100-150px)
• Parallel operations: Avoid (mechanical seeks slow)
• Characteristics: Slower with many small files

Mixed setups:

• Photos on SSD: Optimize for speed
• Archive on HDD: Optimize for reliability
• Adjust settings when switching drives

Memory Management

Understanding and optimizing memory usage.

How Rando Uses Memory

Memory breakdown:

1. Base app: 30-50MB
2. Thumbnail cache: Varies by library size
3. Current images: Active image data
4. System overhead: macOS/Windows frameworks

Typical memory usage:

Memory is dynamic:

• Increases during scanning
• Decreases when idle
• OS manages automatically
• Not all thumbnails loaded at once

Monitoring Memory Usage

macOS:

1. Open Activity Monitor
2. Find "Rando" in process list
3. Check "Memory" column
4. Watch over time

Indicators of issues:

• Red memory pressure in Activity Monitor
• Swap used increasing rapidly
• App feels sluggish
• System slow overall

Windows:

1. Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
2. Find "Rando.exe" in Processes
3. Check "Memory" column
4. Watch over time

Indicators of issues:

• Memory usage > 2GB
• System memory > 90% used
• Disk usage high (paging)
• App feels sluggish

Reducing Memory Usage

If experiencing memory pressure:

1. Reduce thumbnail size:

   • 300px → 150px = ~75% less memory
   • 150px → 100px = ~50% less memory

2. Scan fewer folders:

   • Remove folders from multi-folder selection
   • Focus on most relevant folders

3. Close other apps:

   • Free up system memory
   • Reduce competition for resources

4. Restart Rando:

   • Clears accumulated cache
   • Starts fresh

5. Upgrade RAM:

   • 8GB → 16GB makes huge difference
   • Especially for 50K+ photo libraries

Automatic Memory Management

Rando handles memory automatically:

Lazy loading:

• Thumbnails generated on demand
• Not all thumbnails loaded at once
• Only visible items in memory

Cache limits:

• Thumbnail cache has size limits
• Old thumbnails purged automatically
• Most-used thumbnails kept

Memory pressure response:

• Reduces cache size when system low on RAM
• Defers thumbnail generation
• Prioritizes responsiveness

You don't usually need to do anything - Rando manages memory well.

Performance Benchmarks

Expected performance on different hardware:

Scanning Performance

10,000 photo folder:

Thumbnail Generation

Speed depends on:

• CPU power (resizing images)
• Storage speed (reading files)
• Image size (larger = slower)
• File format (JPG faster than PNG)

Typical: 100-500 thumbnails per second on modern hardware

Slideshow Performance

Expected frame rates:

• Modern hardware: 60 FPS (smooth)
• Older hardware: 30 FPS (acceptable)
• Very old hardware: 15-30 FPS (usable)

GIF animation:

• Performance depends on GIF size and frame count
• Most GIFs: Smooth playback
• Large GIFs (>10MB): May stutter on older hardware

Troubleshooting Performance Issues

Common problems and solutions:

Slow Scanning

Problem: Folder scan taking very long

Solutions:

1. Adjust scan performance to Responsive (50)
2. Check drive connection (USB 3.0? Wired Ethernet?)
3. Close other apps using same drive
4. Cancel scan if you have enough photos
5. Organize folder structure (avoid 100K+ files in one folder)

Sluggish UI

Problem: App feels slow, unresponsive

Solutions:

1. Reduce thumbnail size (300px → 150px or 100px)
2. Remove some folders from multi-folder selection
3. Close other memory-intensive apps
4. Restart Rando
5. Check system memory usage (upgrade RAM if consistently maxed)

High Memory Usage

Problem: Rando using >1GB RAM

Solutions:

1. Reduce thumbnail size significantly
2. Scan fewer folders
3. Restart app to clear cache
4. Check for memory leaks (update to latest version)

Stuttering Slideshow

Problem: Slideshow not smooth

Solutions:

1. Reduce image size (use smaller originals)
2. Close other apps
3. Check if drive going to sleep (keep-awake utility)
4. Update graphics drivers (Windows)
5. Reduce slideshow transition duration

Next Steps

• Organize photos efficiently: Organizing Photos
• Optimize workflows: Workflow Optimization
• Platform-specific tips: macOS Guide or Windows Guide
• Troubleshooting: Performance Issues