I loaded RMG 11 and have begun using it ever since, but I have noticed a consistent issue, in that it is slow in transitioning between one individual and another, in saving a note (or a source, or a media file), in adding and saving a source.
In RMG 10 and earlier, such transitions were nearly instantaneous (usually less than one second); in RMG 11, they take anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds.
Is anyone else having this experience?
My experience is that RM10 and RM11 run at roughly the same speed.
I’m running Windows 10 Professional and RM 11.0.1.0 32-bit.
What is your operating system? If you are on Windows, are you running the 32-bit RM or the 64-bit RM?
I have not measure time based on doing same tasks – but I have not noticed a diff between RM10 &11 – however that said if windows was doing updates in background or security software could slow things down. Without know your OS/ Memory/ SSD etc specs (as Jerry also mentioned) — too many things to speculate on
I am using WIN 11. I have also been noticing one other disturbing thing. I have RMG11 loaded to the “Programs” folder of my C: drive, but I keep my data on an external drive; this has been the practice since first having an external, going back several iterations of RMG.
The problem is that at some interval that I have not yet gauged, RMG11 loses contact with the data on the D: drive, and I have to close it via Task Manager. This occasionally happened with earlier versions, but ONLY if the drive were physically disconnected from the PC while RMG was open; it is happening much too frequently for me to suddenly be disconnecting my drive. This does not happen with RMG10.
How can I tell? I accepted whatever the default settings were, and cannot see anything that tells me whether it is 32- or 64-bit.
one way would be to tell about current running program is via task manager
by chance to you have both 32 & 64 versions of RM 11 on your computer and running them at diff times?
Are you using a USB external drive?
Is the drive going to sleep (To save power etc) and has to reconnect when needed?
I have seen this on my USB drives, does not cause a problem for me as my RM Database is on a internal SSD.
Google “Windows 11 usb drives going to sleep” for further information and how to stop it.
Upper right corner of RM11 has a 3-dot menu icon, clicking that offers menu items.
Choose About RootsMagic
It is a 1GB USB drive, SSD.
I have changed its settings to let it sleep after 1200 minutes; the battery may hibernate before the drive does now.
I wonder why is this a condition with 11 and not 10? 10 never lost connection this way. 10 only lost connection when there was a physical disconnection with the drive.
And it still does not explain the software’s slowness. I was accustomed to 10 “observing a moment of silence” when I shut down, and waiting to ask whether I wanted to back it up; 11 will go a time with no problem, and then frustratingly sit there when I switch from one individual to another, when I switch from People List to Source List, sometimes when I switch between events on one individual.
No, I only have 32-bit running. I apparently did not load 64-bit.
then it might be that the SSD or the connection it is passing through (cable or port) is not fast enough.
(such as blue vs non blue port for example or lower quality cable)
those are only thoughts – generally it is best to use via internal hard drive connection.
I keep all my data on an external drive, using another as a backup, both for the C: and D: drives. The C: drive is ONLY used for system files, software, and temp data.
And one thing I feel I must mention is that I do not know what a “blue vs non blue port” means. Too many times, I feel that people use terminology with which others (less computer-savvy) are less familiar or unfamiliar. I still don’t know what the difference is between the 32-bit software and the 64-bit.
Is there a pinned topic that gives a primer for these terms? If not, can we occasionally explain what we mean by our terms? I worked as a PC database programmer (Visual Fox and SQL Server), but others had expertise for hardware.
For the record, my main external drive used a USB-C connection, both ways.
it is literally blue – if its not blue (aka black) it is a slower port which is why I asked.
if it is black it is slower bottom line – most computers built in last 5 or so years have at least one blue port – if available you should normally use that if the cable you are using is also fast
As noted before, the cable I use for my D: drive is USB-C, both ends. My PC has two USB 3.0 and two USB-C ports.
well one suggestion would be to move a copy of db to your local hard drive – if he results are the same then it would point to RM and/or db. If the speed is only slower when using external drive that would point to hardware “issue” (cant access any faster so you notice a slight pause). Of course a resource issue due to memory usage etc could be another contributing cause
In everyday terms, the number of bits is like the number of digits in a number. If you are restricted to two digit numbers, there are only 100 possible values, 0 through 99. If you are restricted to three digit numbers, then there are only 1000 possible values, 0 to 999. Etc. And a computer nerd might write the ranges as 00 to 99 for two digit numbers and 000 to 999 for three digit numbers. This would be like the way numbers looked on the odometer on your car when the odometers were still mechanical instead of electronic. There would always be leading zeroes, and we usually do not use leading zeroes in every day life.
The number of bits affects computing in two different ways, and software developers usually have to be aware of these differences. One way is that it affects the maximum and minimum size of numbers and the precision of numbers when the numbers are fractions. The other way is that it affects the amount of memory that a program can use.
The more bits there are, the larger can be the numbers and the larger can be the amount of memory a program can use. For example, with 8 bits the numbers can go from 0 to 255 if they do not have signs and from -128 to +127 if they do have signs. And 8 bits can be used to access up to 256 bytes of memory. With 16 bits, the numbers can go from 0 to 65,535 if they do not have signs and from -32,768 to +32,767 if they do have signs. And 16 bits can be used to access up to 65,536 bytes of memory.
These numbers get so weird looking that we usually speak of K for Kilo, M for Mega, and G for Giga. Unlike in the real world where a K would be a thousand, an M would be a million, and a G would be a billion, with computers a K is 1024, an M is 1024 x 1024, and a G is 1024 x 1024 x 1024. So a K is a little bigger than a thousand, an M is a little bigger than a million, and a G is a little bigger than a billion.
The count of bits for numbers may not be the same as the number of bits for addressing memory. The first computer I ever worked on back in the 1960’s had up to 36 bits for numbers but only 15 bits for addressing memory. So numbers could go up to 64G (a little more than 64 billion) but memory could only go up to 32K (a little more than 32 thousand). That is truly tiny memory compared to modern computers.
Even on modern computers, the number of bits for numbers and the number of bits for memory doesn’t always match. For a while, modern computers had 32 bits for numbers and 32 bits for memory. So the bits for memory and the bits for numbers matched. That meant that that largest numbers and the largest memory was 4G - a little more than 4 billion. We would say that a computer with this much memory had 4 gigabytes of memory. And curiously, even though a 32 bit computer could have up to 4GB of memory, the 32 bit version of Windows would only allow programs to be up to 2.5GB of memory in size. Weird, I know.
But as modern computers became larger, they typically supported more bits for numbers than they did for memory. It was common until fairly recently that computers would support up to 64 bits for numbers and only 32 bits for memory. This is where we get into things like 32 bit Windows vs. 64 bit Windows and 32 bit RM vs. 64 bit RM. A 64 bit program can use much more memory than can a 32 bit program. And sometimes it is not easy just to magically convert a 32 bit program into a 64 bit program. It has to do with memory and if the program is using pointers to access memory. That’s because pointers can be 32 bits long or 64 bits long.
At the present time, all programs on a Mac have to be 64 bit. A modern Mac simply will not run 32 bit programs anymore. So all software for a Mac has had to be converted to be 64 bit. But Windows will still run both 32 bit software and 64 bit software. So some software for Windows is still 32 bit. In particular, RM itself was still 32 bit until fairly recently. It now comes in both a 32 bit version and a 64 bit version.
In theory, there shouldn’t be any difference in using the 32 bit version of RM vs. the 64 bit version of RM. In practice, the 64 bit version does not support direct import from Legacy Family Tree. That’s because Legacy Family Tree itself is still a 32 bit program and has not yet been converted to 64 bit. But in theory, everything else about the 32 bit RM should be identical to the 64 bit RM. For example, the 32 bit RM seems to be able to handle databases that are just as large as can be handled by the 64 bit RM. But users occasionally notice little foibles or quirks in one version that are not in the other. That’s why it’s always a good idea to post which version you are using when you post a question or a problem.
It’s not very easy to tell which version you are running. The easiest way I have found is to look at my active program list in Windows Task Manager. If it says 32 bit, it is 32 bit. If it doesn’t say anything about bits, it’s 64 bit. Another way to tell is to right click a shortcut for starting RM and click on Properties. If it is installed in Program Files, it is 64 bit. If it is installed in Program Files (x86), it is 32 bit. And if you simply “download RM”, you may not know which version you are getting and you are probably getting the 32-bit version.
I very much agree with the suggestion to make a copy of your RM database on your main hard drive to see if your performance problem goes away. This would only be a test, and I doubt that this will solve your performance problem. But it’s a test that has to be performed in order to determine if the performance problem has anything to do with your external drive or not.
It’s not very easy to tell which version you are running.
Opening screen, top right - 3 dots - About Roots Magic
Yes, of course. That’s been mentioned before, and I should have caught that.
