# Re-Reading large databases on startup takes a lot of time
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [June 4, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178 "2023-06-04T01:03:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnk860](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Johnk860)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/1 "2023-06-04T01:03:16Z")
I have a large database of music files, 107586 at last count. When I open Mp3Tag, it reads tag data for a long, long time. I would suggest changing from re-reading the entire database to identifying changes made since the last "save" and updating only those files. There should be a way to establish a change log that identifies changes made in Mp3tag and updates only those on startup, rather than reading the entire database as a completely new file that replaces the existing one. Even having a "refresh" setting initiating a full review on demand or on a periodicity would help.
Love the program, but the time it took me to write this (not a typist), "reading Directory" is less than 1/2 done.
Thanks for your work. Hope this helps.
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2023, 1:54am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/2 "2023-06-04T01:54:53Z")
Enable the library option, mp3tag will load much faster.
See here for a similar request.
> [@Reading directory faster](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reading-directory-faster/49165):
>
> hi, i have a large collection in a folder, it take a good while for mp3tag to open it. i like to know if there is a way to speed up this process. we are talking like over 14000 files and growing. Thank You
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### Author:  [@Johnk860](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Johnk860)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2023, 2:09am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/3 "2023-06-04T02:09:31Z")
Did. Not noticeable effect on a file of this size, which I also have. He has 14000, I have 107K, and I can have dinner while it comes up to operable.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2023, 5:17am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/4 "2023-06-04T05:17:26Z")
See here for some numbers and times:
> [@Sluggish performance](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/sluggish-performance/60293/15):
>
> Couldn't you supply some real benchmarks? Like: how long does it (really) take to read the file? I just tried to read some 200.000 files from an external USB3.0 HDD and it took 10 minutes, 55 seconds if MP3tag resides on the same external drive 8 minutes, 59 seonds if MP3tag resides on the internal SSD. It becomes 6 minutes 43 seconds if MP3tag resides on an internal SSD and the data also on an internal HDD. It looks to me like you can expect to read some 20.000 files/minute.
Filling the library initially takes as long as reading all the files without the library. From then onwards, reading a lot of known files should be much quicker with the library in use. New files have to be read in full - which is the slowest.
So I think that this function ...
> [@Johnk860](#):
>
> There should be a way to establish a change log that identifies changes made in Mp3tag and updates only those on startup, rather than reading the entire database as a completely new file that replaces the existing one
is already implemented.
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2023, 5:41am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/5 "2023-06-04T05:41:24Z")
> [@Windows Defender - Speed of loading files in MP3Tag](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/windows-defender-speed-of-loading-files-in-mp3tag/47784):
>
> 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…
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2023, 8:08am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/6 "2023-06-04T08:08:34Z")
> [@MotleyG](#):
>
> Enable the library option, mp3tag will load much faster.
> [@Johnk860](#):
>
> Did. Not noticeable effect on a file of this size, which I also have.
There were only a few minutes between these two posts, so I doubt that the benefit of the library could have been observed, as this only happens on _subsequent_ reads (the library has to be created first, after enabling the option — more on that here: [Library – Mp3tag Documentation](https://docs.mp3tag.de/customization/options/library/)).
Please also notice the remark regarding Windows Defender.
On a side note @Johnk860: I've received an abuse report from your email provider Comcast, indicating that the initial notification email from @MotleyG was reported as spam. While I understand not everyone likes to get notified via email, this forum software provides means to disable this via the profile preferences (which I've now done for you).
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2023, 11:33am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/7 "2023-06-04T11:33:14Z")
The library needs to be created on the first run, after enabling the feature. This will take some time, especially on larger libraries. But the time saved in the future is well worth the effort.
My library of just over 25k files (a mix of mp3 and lossless hi-res) opens in under 12s every time. Granted your library of over 100k files take longer than this, but nothing unreasonable I would think.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2023, 11:33am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/re-reading-large-databases-on-startup-takes-a-lot-of-time/61178/8 "2023-07-04T11:33:55Z")
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