Bulk actions making PC unusable

[Valik]

Hi All

Apologies if this has been brought up before but couldn't find anything.

I have an action that updates some tags and renames the folder the files are in.

When running this, the Writing tag data window keeps flashing and taking focus as well as the File Explorer moving window popping up throughout the process as well. On large batches of files it makes it impossible to do anything else on the PC until it completes. And there is also the possibility of accidentally aborting the operation mid way through.

In the example above I ran in a virtual machine so I wouldn't be inconvenienced. The action took 2 hours to complete which was quicker than I was expecting. I will accept running this on a handful of files it is a non issue.

My suggestion would be to have these operations run in the background but abort function still available without taking focus.

Please and thank you

[ohrenkino]

@Valik

The action took 2 hours to complete

That is rather slow, I think.
So you have to tell us a little more about the setup of your environment.
Frequent bottlenecks are: storage connected via USB or network, NAS software being slow/interfering, anti-virus programs like Windows defender get nosy

Windows Defender - Speed of loading files in MP3Tag

In the past I already noticed that the antivirus-software of windows-defender slows down the loading speed of files in MP3Tag dramatically: At this time my third-party antivirus-software (Avast) had been gotten accidently deactivated and windows-defender activated. This time I wanted to give windows-defender a second chance, deinstalled Avast and activated the defender. The same happened as before: Mp3Tag became very slow in loading files in spite of the activated library-function. I tes…

Also, you have to check whether other programs access the files at the same time as they notice a change so that MP3tag access is blocked for some time.
The file type like large FLAC or video files slow down the process.
These would be the buttons and knobs that you can twiddle and tweak.

[Valik]

Hi ohrenkino

Thanks for your reply. The first time I ran a large batch like this, it was about 2100 albums with the same conditions as below but it wasn't within a virtual machine. While I can't recall how long it took I was unable to use the PC until it completed. I had the idea of running it from a VM which didn't appear to be a bottleneck as the CPU & RAM didn't go anywhere near critical levels.

As far as the slowness goes these factors were contributing:

1. All the files are stored on a Synology NAS with HDDs in SHR2 configuration connected via 1GB network.
2. I had not added mp3tag to be excluded from Windows Defender. Will try that in future. I'm not running any other AV.
3. I normally copy the files I need updating to a local SSD but with the volume of data was easier to let it run from the NAS.
4. The files I was updating were all those with the whole album in the one flac file so each of them were somewhere between 300 to 500mb in size.
5. I run Everything & Plex which monitors the filesystem for changes.
6. During the operation I did get a message saying access was blocked and if I wanted MP3Tag to take ownership of all future files which I accepted.
7. There were a small amount of video files but they were not directly modified by MP3Tag, only moved to the new folder as part of the rename with the rest of the files.

Seems there are quite a few contributing factors to why it took as long as it did but my main concern is not being able to use the PC until it completes. Even if it only took an unrealistic 5 minutes, I still can't do anything else on the computer during this time.

[ohrenkino]

@Valik

I still can't do anything else on the computer during this time.

I think that the Windows task management remains untouched by MP3tag's actions. So, I doubt that you cannot do anything else with your computer. I agree if you say that you cannot do anything else with MP3tag.
But running a background task in MP3tag and allow MP3tag to manipulate files that should be treated first by actions or actions rely on data that you modify with the foreground task, I think that would lead to unwanted results in the end.

I think that your NAS is the bottleneck. 1Gbps is a 1/6th of the 6Gbps that your internal SSD would allow.
Also, you reach the 1 Gbps only under optimum conditions which WIndows hardly ever gets. Every file access requires the file to be fetched from the NAS and then rewritten to the NAS.
A better approach would be to transfer the files once to the local SSD, treat them there and move them back to the NAS when editting has finished.

[MotleyG]

@Valik

5.I run Everything & Plex which monitors the filesystem for changes.

I would also suggest that when making a massive change, that you close Plex and any other file manager or player that shares access to the library. (Music, MisicBee, iTunes, WMP, etc.)

You may find that as mp3tag is making the changes, these other programs are chasing behind it and making updates to their libraries as well. I have found that closing these makes a significant difference when making batch edits to the metadata.