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How long to complete Photos Face Scan?

C

curtisl.k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 24, 2016
6
1
I let the photos App idle for a complete whole day and just finish scanning 9,000 photos, while I have 100,000 photos in my library. Still have 90% of my photo to go. That means I have to wait 10 more days to complete this new face scan.

Is it really take such long time for face scan?

Meanwhile, the Time Machine keep "Preparing Backup" forever.....

Any one has idea on this? Thanks.
 
P

Puonti

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2011
1,567
1,187
I can't provide you with a time estimate, but something to keep in mind is that it's not just locating faces, it's also trying to figure out if there are trees, mountains, horses, boats, cars, casserole (seriously), etc, in those photos. So yes, that's going to take a lot of time, especially if you have a lot of photos (which you do). I have about 13,000 photos and it took somewhere between 7 and 15 hours to go through those (it was at 7 hours by the time I went to bed, and had completed when I woke up).

You don't have to keep Photos open to get the job done, though. I never once opened Photos after installing Sierra and I could see photoanalysisd using up a lot of CPU time in Activity Monitor.
 
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C

curtisl.k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 24, 2016
6
1
I used to my current situation, and stay clam to wait until all 100K photos done.

Even without opening the Photo Apps, my major concerns is "Time Machine getting stuck", it keep always "Preparing backup" for a whole day. I don't know whether it is related to Photos Facd scan or not
 
tgara

tgara

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2012
1,154
2,898
Connecticut, USA
curtisl.k said:
I used to my current situation, and stay clam to wait until all 100K photos done.

Even without opening the Photo Apps, my major concerns is "Time Machine getting stuck", it keep always "Preparing backup" for a whole day. I don't know whether it is related to Photos Facd scan or not
Click to expand...

My experience was the same as Puonti's. You might want to turn off your Time Machine backups temporarily until the photo scan is complete. That's what I'd do.
 
T

thekayman

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2014
303
53
It took two full days for my library of 35k photos, during which time processor and fans ran full speed.
 
C

curtisl.k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 24, 2016
6
1
thekayman said:
It took two full days for my library of 35k photos, during which time processor and fans ran full speed.
Click to expand...

Will my photo library size substantially increase a lot after this scan?

Between, is your Time Machine backup process okay during the scan? Mine is keep "Preparing Backup" for more than 24 hours. Thanks.
 
Gav2k

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
Time machine won't backup till the process for face scanning finishes. It's unfortunate and a feature that apple fell short on.

For existing users it's slow to start but I think this is more for new users adding photos as once the scan is complete additional photos scan without you even noticing.
 
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Puonti

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2011
1,567
1,187
On my Mac Time Machine was actually backing up while photoanalysisd was running (the TM dropdown menu was indicating something like 20 of 40 GB done when I happened to take a look). Not sure which one completed first since I was asleep, but both were done by morning.
 
C

curtisl.k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 24, 2016
6
1
Weaselboy said:
There is your problem. You need to quit the Photos app for the scan to occur. I have about 7,000 photos and it took a few hours.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I quit the photos app for another couple of hours, it scanned few thousands photos more. Finger crossed.
 
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h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
70k photo, 3.46GHz CPU, roughly 2 threads full occupied during scan, it cost >72hours (non stop) to finish the whole process.
 
S

stooovie

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2010
836
314
I've updated on launch day and it still hasn't finished the scan on 36k photos (Retina imac 2015, left running nonstop since then).
 
A

ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2009
1,109
854
Gav2k said:
Time machine won't backup till the process for face scanning finishes. It's unfortunate and a feature that apple fell short on.

For existing users it's slow to start but I think this is more for new users adding photos as once the scan is complete additional photos scan without you even noticing.
Click to expand...
That is not correct. My first TM backup after upgrading took a long, but it finished much before the face scan, which took several days.
 
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