This feature is available with Kyno 1.9


Description

You can optimize browsing performance for different use-cases by choosing "Settings..." from the context of a device in the Devices section of the navigator on the left hand side.



See below for how the behavior is changed depending on the settings and what they mean exactly.


Options

Cache storage

This option controls where cache data is stored. Cache data includes extracted technical metadata (framerate, size etc. stored in an XML file) and thumbnails (poster frame and content keyframes stored as JPEGs). Extracting that metadata is a relatively expensive operation (in terms of the time it takes), as each media file needs to be read and processed, so changing this option can make a big difference for your team.

  • Local: Stores the cache data in the application storage folder of the user's machine (Mac: <user-home>/Library/Caches/Kyno; Windows: <user-home>\AppData\Local\Kyno\). Access times to read the cache data is very fast as it's typically stored on an internal SSD, but every client needs to extract the metadata individually when working on shared storage for example.
    We recommend this for your internal drives, camera cards and generally if you're working as an individual rather than in a team.
  • In media folder: Stores the cache data in a hidden folder located in the same directory as the media file they belong to (.LP_Store/cache/). Once the cache data is extracted by any client it's shared with the rest of the team, speeding up initial drilldown time for others significantly. Access time for cache data will be as fast as the storage of the media and the (typically very small) cache takes up space on your device.
    We recommend this for shared storage (NAS/SAN), cloud drives (such as Dropbox, LucidLink), external drives with archived material or drives shared with others.


Index policy

This option controls when Kyno is scanning for changes to the file system so it can keep the file index up to date. The index basically contains everything you see in folder tress and file listings and it's the thing that gives Kyno its incredible speed even when browsing tens of thousands of files.

  • Keep indexed: While Kyno is running it'll keep the folder and file listings up-to-date even if you're not currently looking at that part of the file system. This improves the user experience for central drives and shares that you frequently access because Kyno doesn't need to scan for new or deleted files once you access that drive. When restarting Kyno after a while it'll scan for changes in the background the first time you access a drive that is configured this way. This can cause some load on your system for changes caused by the system or other users.
    We recommend this for shared storage (NAS/SAN), cloud drives (such as Dropbox, LucidLink) or external drives that you frequently connect
  • Index on demand: Kyno will only scan for folders and files when they're accessed by you. This "lazy indexing" allows you to browse a large file system that you don't need fully indexed very quickly.
    We recommend this for internal drives and external drives that you don't frequently access.


File system events

Kyno can't reliably detect whether a drive or network share supplies the operating system with file events (i.e. notifies applications when files are created or deleted). Setting this options tells Kyno that it can rely on file system events for a certain drive so it can optimize its indexing behavior accordingly.


How the volume settings are stored and shared

Especially in a team environment the settings you make for a device need to be shared along with that device, so that when another team member connects a drive, cloud drive or network share for the first time they can benefit from pregenerated cache data for example.

This is why Kyno stores the settings in a hidden file on that drive in /.LP_Store/volume-settings.xml. Please make sure the root folder for a device is writable when changing the settings and readable for the whole team.


Troubleshooting

If your file listings seem wrong in any way - e.g. not all files are displayed or you see "ghost files" that used to exist - try hitting the refresh button with the circular arrow icon in the bottom right corner of the application window. Hold SHIFT while pressing the button to do a "hard refresh" that'll clear and regenerate the index for the part of the file system you're currently looking at. 



You can also clear and regenerate the cache data by checking the "Clear media cache" option, if the thumbnails or technical metadata seem wrong. Keep in mind that this will take more time to regenerate and may affect other members of your team when the cache is stored in the media folder of a shared drive.