Maximizing Ultra Recall performance

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Ultra Recall is designed to handle large databases very efficiently (for instance, when populating the tree, only nodes that are expanded will actually be loaded from the database, the details for an item are only loaded when that item is selected, use of indexed searches, etc.).

But with items containing thousands of immediate child items or very large databases (hundreds of megabytes or multiple gigabytes in size), especially on older, slower computers, some operations in Ultra Recall can be slow.


Use a Local Drive

For best performance, store the .urd file on a local hard drive, not a network share or USB stick.


Items with Many Children

It is best to avoid expanding a node in the Data Explorer pane containing thousands of immediate child items, since loading many items into the tree can be slow and cannot be cancelled. Selecting the parent item is ok, because loading the Child Items pane can be cancelled. It's not very useful to expand that many items in the tree anyway. Instead, use a search to locate items of interest and select the item in the Search Results pane to use it. If you do expand a node with many children and UR becomes non-responsive, you can safely end the UltraRecall.exe process (using Task Manager) and restart UR without corrupting or losing any data.


Large Import Operations

When importing thousands of items or documents into a database (for instance, for archival purposes), rather than importing to Imported Items and moving all the items somewhere else later, import to the final location, since moving thousands of items in a large database can be slow.

Alternatively, cancel loading of the Child Items pane after a few hundred or thousand items are loaded (watch the Children: count in the status bar and press Esc to cancel loading), then select all (Ctrl+A) and move (Alt+L) those, and repeat until all items have been moved.


Updates in Large Databases

When performing update operations (importing, moving, deleting, etc.) on a large database, there are a couple of settings which can increase performance.

A) Adjust the SQLite synchronous level

Ultra Recall uses the SQLite database engine to store data in .urd files, which provides robust data management to ensure that your data is safe. Better performance (up to 50x faster for some operations) can be achieved by disabling the synchronous flag, but be aware that if Windows crashes or the computer loses power while UR is running, the database could become corrupted. Always perform regular backups of your database.

To use the fast SQLite synchronous level, extract and double-click UseFastSynchronousLevel.reg in the attached ZIP file, and restart UR. To restore the safe synchronous level, double-click UseSafeSynchronousLevel.reg and restart UR.

B) Disable Undo/Redo

Some update operations can be much faster if Ultra Recall's undo/redo feature is disabled. Undo/redo can be useful during normal use, so you may want to disable it only when performing large import or update operations.

To disable undo/redo in Ultra Recall, extract and double-click DisableUndoRedo.reg in the attached ZIP file, and restart UR. To enable undo/redo, double-click EnableUndoRedo.reg and restart UR.

Note: Use of these options requires Ultra Recall v3.2 or later.