Repeated building of smart previews

5.2RC has a bug whereby if you select all photographs and tell it to build smart previews, instead of scanning existing smart previews and then building any missing ones, it just starts building all smart previews again. But it obviously isn't since it goes through them very fast. It's just like the old bug in L44 that kept rebuilding standard previews if they were below a certain size. That bug got cured in LR5, but now we've got a new version of it!
Bob frost

Hi Adrian
I think you may be confusing ordinary previews with smart previews. I always select standard for all imports because it’s quicker and I like to filter my images first by selecting picks and rejects. When I’m ready to go start editing in the Develop module I generate 1:1 previews for the keepers especially if I’m going to be doing any work under the Detail tab, such as noise reduction.
Smart previews are a standard size being a maximum of 2540 pixels on the long edge. They are designed for working off-line e.g. you may have your main catalog on a laptop with all your images on an external hard drive. Smart previews let you disconnect the ehd and continue working when you are on the road with just your laptop. All the adjustments you make in Develop automatically sync with the originals next time you re-connect your ehd. It’s also possible to export to Facebook or other published services and to use smart previews for emailing as those kind of options typically require an image no larger than 2540 px.
See this video for further information:

Similar Messages

Feature request: selective per-file Smart Previews in LR5

I would like to be able to selectively enable Smart Previews on a per-file basis, rather on entire directories.
It would be great if I could do this after importing files, too.
I am using:
Lightroom 5.0 64-bit
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

You can BUILD smart previews on a per-file basis by clicking the original photo button in the lower left corner of the histogram. In grid view of the Library module, it will build smart previews for all the photos you have selected. In Develop module, it will build a smart preview for the most-selected photo. Not sure if this is what you want.

Is it possible to use smart previews without my external hard drive?

I get it. I know I need to tell Lightroom that it's "this" specific catalog that I want to be working on while being away from my external hard drive.
But, just so I understand the logic: I have to opne Lightroom with the external hard drive connected and then, ejected it so I could smart previews that I've previsoulsy build. There's no way for me just to turn on my computer, away from my external hard drive, and work on smart previews?
So, I guess that this my real questions: If I make a copy of the catalog from my external hard drive onto my desktop, and I tell my computer to work with this catalog while away from external hard drive, will this clash everything up?
Let me know if I've missed a previous thread about this.
Thanks !
Patrice

It may help if you can understand how smart previews actually work, under the hood.
When you build a smart preview, what you are actually creating is a smaller version of the original master, which gets stored as a lossy-compressed DNG in the same folder as the catalog file. So, when editing, Lr looks for the original, and if online, uses it, and if offline, uses the smart preview instead (if it's there), as the source for image data.
It's really that simple. So if the original photo is not in the location expected by the catalog and the smart preview which corresponds to it is not in the expected location in the catalog folder, then you won't be able to edit the photo.
So to answer your question more specifically, you can edit a copy of the catalog which had smart previews (you must copy the whole catalog folder to get the smart previews, or do an export instead of a copy, regular previews are optional), then copy the catalog back when done (no need to re-copy smart previews, since they don't change, and no need to re-copy regular previews, since they can be re-created) - no harm, no foul... Or, if you exported the working copy of your catalog, you can import it after work done instead.
PS - there have been lots of threads about this.
Rob

Building smart previews much slower in Lightroom 6 than in Lightroom 5

Building smart previews is much slower in Lightroom 6 than in Lightroom 5.
Creating a smart preview from a DNG (Fuji X-E1 raw file) takes about 12 seconds.
Enabling/disabling GPU accelaration does not really make a difference.
When monitoring the Lightroom process with Process Explorer the GPU usage is always 0.
Below is my system specification.
Anyone got some idea why this might be?
Wilhelm
Version von Lightroom: CC 2015 [1014445]
Lizenz: Abgelaufene Testversion
Betriebssystem: Windows 8.1 Business Edition
Version: 6.3 [9600]
Anwendungsarchitektur: x64
Systemarchitektur: x64
Anzahl logischer Prozessoren: 4
Prozessorgeschwindigkeit: 2,3 GHz
Integrierter Speicher: 8071,2 MB
Für Lightroom verfügbarer phys. Speicher: 8071,2 MB
Von Lightroom verwendeter phys. Speicher: 655,5 MB (8,1%)
Von Lightroom verwendeter virtueller Speicher: 692,1 MB
Cache-Speichergröße: 0,0 MB
Maximale Anzahl Threads, die Camera Raw verwendet: 2
Camera Raw SIMD-Optimierung: SSE2,AVX,AVX2
DPI-Einstellung des Systems: 144 DPI (High-DPI-Modus)
Desktop-Komposition aktiviert: Ja
Monitore/Anzeigegeräte: 1) 2560x1440
Eingabetypen: Multitouch: Ja, integrierte Toucheingabe: Ja, integrierter Stift: Nein, externe Toucheingabe: Nein, externer Stift: Nein, Tastatur: Nein
Informationen zum Grafikprozessor:
Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500
Check OpenGL support: Passed
Vendor: Intel
Version: 3.3.0 - Build 10.18.14.4029
Renderer: Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500
LanguageVersion: 3.30 - Build 10.18.14.4029
Anwendungsordner: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom
Bibliothekspfad: C:\Users\wmedetz\Lightroom\Lightroom Catalog.lrcat
Einstellungen-Ordner: C:\Users\wmedetz\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom
Installierte Zusatzmodule:
1) Behance
2) Facebook
3) Flickr
Config.lua-Flags: None
Adapter Nr. 1: Anbieter : 8086
Gerät : 1616
Subsystem : 222717aa
Version : 9
Grafikspeicher : 0
Adapter Nr. 2: Anbieter : 1414
Gerät : 8c
Subsystem : 0
Version : 0
Grafikspeicher : 0
AudioDeviceIOBlockSize: 1024
AudioDeviceName: Lautsprecher/Kopfhörer (Realtek High Definition Audio)
AudioDeviceNumberOfChannels: 2
AudioDeviceSampleRate: 44100
Build: Uninitialized
Direct2DEnabled: false
GPUDevice: not available
OGLEnabled: true

I know that is the official line but copying speed is fine in Windows 8 under Parallels. I have the latest Windows 8 Broadcam driver installed for the network adapter in Boot Camp and everything else works fine.
I can download a file from the Internet 10x faster than I can from my Airport disk in the next room in Boot Camp!

How do you access 'finder' when building Smart Previews in Lr5.

How do you access 'finder' when building Smart Previews in Lr5

C,
What type of backup was it? I'm hoping you were using Time Machine or creating a Bootable Clone using Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner. If that is the case then I'd recommend starting over so you can restore all your data, applications, settings etc... You missed your first chance when you turned on the new system and it asked if you had another Mac you wanted to migrate from. You can get a second chance to do this and migrate. Please carefully look over Pondini's Lion Setup Assistant tips beginning where he talks about Second Chance....and make sure you have the proper cable before starting. If your backup EHD has a USB connection that will be fine if it has a FireWIre 400 connection you will a cable like this one from Amazon.
You can find these at your local computer store, Walmart, Radio Shack etc..

Selecting photos by smart preview status, changed metadata, etc

I want to be able to select photos inside Lightroom based upon criteria which the program tracks but does not let you select on, for instance pictures without smart previews, pictures that have had their metadata changed externally, etc. The system knows which pictures these are but doesn't let you view them as a set or act upon them as a set ( building smart previews, as far as I know requires manual selection in an updated catalog or universal operation, you can't select just those without smart previews). Since the system keeps track of the status, it would be nice if you could select that status to view or act upon them as a set. If anyone knows how to do this, I would appreciate it.
David

You need to look at Smart Collections. Both of those examples are available in the smart collection criteria.

Imported images have stretched smart previews

I see these stretched smart previews after importing some photos, about 3000 photo's.
And they arent rotated. After waiting for about 10 seconds the previews onm my screen change to normal.
I first imported them with build smart previews off and also on.
How can I force LR to update them or someting like that?
Thanks,
Ludo

I get about 1 G SP per K of photos. In other words, 1000 Photos (which consumes about 10GB on disk) have 1GB of smart previews. Most are raw but some jpeg. So here's one data point: ~10%.
So from my limited experience 16% seems high, but 5% may be an exageration by people trying to "sell" the smart preview enhancement - dunno.
Number of raw vs. jpeg files will be a significant factor, but I haven't done the math so...
One thing to try is experiment: make one-photo catalogs with different images, so you can see exactly how many bytes are the smart preview corresponding to each photo - maybe you'll find a pattern...
Also worth noting what type of raws you have. Such will be a factor, but again: I haven't done the math..
R

Can I delete previews, now that I have 'Smart Previews'?

Lightroom 5 spent hours creating 'smart previews' for all of my photos, but there are still 29,786 previews in 28,436 folders(???) on my computer.
How can I safely delete them to save space?
Can anyone explain why there are so many folders? None of them, that I've examined, contain more than 5 files.
thanks in advance
Steve

SteveF1948 wrote:
Trawling through 28k folders must surely adversely affect performance of the whole machine.
I think it does not, because a) LR will normally fetch only a few previews per second from the cache at most (if you browse very fast) - or at least for a limited time (page up/down in grid mode), and b) the folder hierarchy is very flat (two levels inside the preview folder, e.g. "xy Previews.lrdata\8\8A80"). This is a commonly used pattern to build a "quasi indexing system" to find files very fast, relieving the file system from a possibly lengthy search operation on a flat folder. It should not have a negative impact on the performance IMHO - on the contrary.

Lightroom Mobile - Does It Need To Create Smart Previews Again?

Light

Hi Guido,
Since my other thread doesn't seem to be getting any responses, I'm pasting what I've found here. Please keep in mind I am not a beginner with Lightroom and consider myself very familiar with Lightroom's features excluding the new mobile sync.
1st message:
I'm on Lr 5.5 and using the 30 day trial of Adobe CC to try syncing one collection of slight more than 1000 images. Despite already having generated the Smart Previews, I can see my CPU crunching through image after image (the rolling hills pattern in the task manager) while doing the sync. I was assuming, since I already created the Smart Previews, that the sync of this collection would begin immediately and be done by simply uploading all of the existing Smart Previews. The Smart Previews folder of the catalog is 871MB and has stayed the same despite the CPU obviously doing *something*. As it is now, the sync progress is incredibly slow, almost at a pace like it's actually exporting full-res JPGs from the RAW images (as a comparison only, I know this should not be what it's actually doing).
Another side effect of this is that I'm basically unable to use my computer for other tasks due to the high CPU utilization.
Win 7 x64 / Lightroom 5.5
Intel i5 2500k OC'd 4.5GHz
16GB RAM
SSD for OS, separate SSD for working catalog and files
2nd message:
As a follow up, now Lightroom thinks all 1026 photos are synced (as shown in "All Sync Photographs" portion of the Catalog though all images after the 832nd image show the sync icon per image stuck at "Building Previews for Lightroom Mobile" and the status at the top left corner has been stuck at "Syncing 194 photos" for over 12 hours. Is there no option to force another sync via Lightroom Desktop and also force the iOS app to manually refresh (perhaps by pulling down on the collections view, like refreshing via the Mail app)?
3rd message:
One more update, I went into Preferences and deleted all mobile data, which automatically signed me out of Adobe CC and then I signed back in. Please keep in mind the Smart Previews were long generated before even starting the trial, and I also manually generated them again (it ran through quickly since it found they were already generated) many times. Now that I'm re-syncing my collection of 1026 images, I can clearly see Lightroom using the CPU to regenerate the Smart Previews which already exist. I have no idea why it's doing this except that it's making the process of uploading the Smart Previews extremely slow. I hope this time around it will at least sync all 1026 images to the cloud.
4th message:
All 1026 images synced just fine and I could run through my culling workflow on the iPad/iPhone perfectly. Now I'm on a new catalog (my current workflow unfortunately uses one catalog per event) and I see the same problem: Smart Previews already generated but when syncing, Lightroom seems to re-generate them again anyway (or take up a lot of CPU simply to upload the existing Smart Previews). Can anyone else chime in on what their CPU utilization is like during the sync process when Smart Previews are already created?
New information:
Now I'm editing a catalog of images that is synced to Lightroom Mobile and notice that my workflow has gotten even slower between photos (relative to what it was before, this is not a discussion about how fast/slow LR should perform). Obviously Lightroom is syncing the edited settings to the cloud, but I can see my CPU running intensively (all 4 cores) on every images I edit and the CPU utilization graph looks different than before I started using LR mobile sync. It still feels like every change isn't simply syncing an SQLite database change but re-generating a Smart Preview to go with it (I'm not saying this is definitely what's happening, but something is intensively using the CPU that wasn't prior to using LR Mobile).
For example: I only update the tint +5 on an image. I see the CPU spike up to around 30-40%, then falls back down, then back up to 100%, then back down to another smaller spike while Lightroom says "Syncing 1 photo". I've attached a screenshot of my CPU graph when doing this edit on just one image. During this entire time, if I try to move onto edit another image, the program is noticeably slower to respond than it was prior to using LR mobile, due to the fact that there appear to be much more CPU intensive tasks running to sync the previous edit.
I'd be happy to test/try anything you have in mind, because it's my understanding that re-syncing photos that are edited that are already in the cloud should be simply updating the database file rather than require regenerating any Smart Previews or other image data. If this continues, I will probably not choose to proceed with a subscription despite the fact that i think LR mobile adds a lot of value and boosts my workflow significantly if it wasn't causing the program to lag so badly in the process.
I know this message was incredibly long and probably tedious to read through so I thank anyone in advance who gets through it
-Jeff

Can not remove ? from external hard drive folder in LR5 & can't link smart preview & original pic

I have LR5 and a MacBook Pro OSX 10.8.5 I have an external hard drive that when I imported photos from my cameras memory card I selected the hard drive as the source to move the pictures to. I forgot if I clicked ADD, MOVE, or COPY.
In the library mode in LR5 the external hard drive shows up under folders, but has a question mark on every folder on the external hard drive. I control clicked on the question mark for the first folder (the parent folder?) and choose “Find missing folder”. I then navigated to the external hard drive and clicked on that same folder, then clicked choose. Nothing happened. I tried this same method with individual folders and the same, I control click on the folder with a question mark, navigate to the same folder on the hard drive, click on it (I tried both just clicking on the folder so it was highlighted and actually opening the folder), and select choose, the question marks remain.
1. How do I link the two to remove the question mark?
Second question, possibly related. I have a collection in the library mode that has only previews, the originals were added to the same external hard drive as above. When I navigate to the hard drive via my finder (not in LR5), the originals are there. When I am in the library mode in LR5, in this collection, and click on the preview square in the top right corner of an individual picture in that collection, it says “image can be edited using its smart preview but the original file can not be found. Would you like to locate it".
The original location of it shows below this statement and is correct; it shows the path to the external hard drive and the folder where the original is contained that I mentioned previously. I navigate to that picture on the external hard drive and select it. I get another notice box pop up that says “the file is associated with another photo in the catalog. Each file can only be associated with one photo.” I select show in library and it brings me right back to the image that is a smart preview only. I am stuck in this loop and cant figure out how to associate the original on the external hard drive with the smart preview in LR5.
1. I have the originals still on my camera memory card, do I import again? I am afraid I will loose all my edits.
I hope I gave you the right info. Every link I find to answer this question is related but not quite the same, any link you know of is apreciated. Thanks!
Ashley

Have you ever re-named files using duplicate file names e.g. names that have been used previously?
See if this link helps to locate missing files and near posibilities:
http://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/locate-missing-photos.html

Using smart previews on iMac to control two sets of identical original files on two external drives --- render previews setting when using smart previews

I’m just getting started with Lightroom and if someone can help me I’ll be very appreciative.
I’m using an iMac with a 1TB drive and two external 2.5 TB drives for backup. My active files are on all three drives and I’m running out of room on the iMac drive.
With the smart previews capability of Lightroom 5, I’m hoping to remove all the active files from the iMac drive. I hope to import existing images into the LR catalog from two identical drives with identical folders and have both sets of images reflect the changes I make using smart previews on my iMac.
I just created two identical test folders of junk images on the external drives and was following a beginners tutorial on importing. However, I see nothing about using smart previews on my iMac that, when connected, will update more than one external drive at the same time.
I’m also wondering if, when using smart previews, it matters how I set the render previews during the import process.
Many thanks for any help,
Karl Hentz

I don't see any way to use smart previews to update both external drives at the same time. The smart previews are linked to a specific set of images. But it seems to me that if both drives are in fact identical, once the catalog is updated when one of those drives is connected those changes should also apply to the files on the other drive. It's actually the catalog that gets updated, not the images. Smart previews and regular import previews are completely unrelated. How you have your import previews configured will have no effect on your smart previews.
Incidentally, in order for my suggestion to work it would be necessary to only have one of those external drives connected. And when the other EHD is connected it would have to have the same drive letter or name. In other words it would have to appear to the iMac that it is precisely the same drive.

How can I edit lightroom 5 smart previews on mac book pro (mbp) when the lightroom 5 master image files are on my external hard drive is disconnected from the mbp

How can I edit lightroom 5 smart previews on mac book pro (mbp) when the lightroom 5 master image files are on my external hard drive is disconnected from the mbp? So far when I try to disconnect the external HD from the mbp, I get the following pop up window: The disk "external hard drive A" couldn't be ejected because "Lightroom" is using it. Quit that application and try to eject this disk again. When I do that and restart Lightroom 5, the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Select Catalog screen pops up but doesn't list my external hard drive A as a choice.
I've reviewed Adobe's Lightroom Help | Smart Previews Lightroom 5 web page and still haven't been able to figure what I'm doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Your internal HDD. by default, is named 'Macintosh HD'. From what information you supplied, it looks like there is already a Lightroom catalog installed on you local (internal) HDD using the standard naming convention Adobe uses as well as a Lightroom catalog on your external drive which you created. To be sure of which catalog Lightroom is loading when it starts up, To do this, start Lightroom as you normally would. After it starts, select the Lightroom menu item, then select the Catalog Preferences item and finally, navigate to the General tab. The Location information will tell you exactly what catalog Lightroom is opening by default. This will likely be the Photography Mac Book Pro Versions catalog on your external HDD. Once that is confirmed, you are ready to proceed. As an additional test/verification, you can shut down Lightroom and, this time, start Lightroom while holding down the ALT/OPTION key. This will cause Lightroom to pause and display a screen which will allow you to chose a different catalog to open. Navigate to the /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom folder and select the Lightroom 5 Catalog.lrcat file. When Lightroom comes up, there should be no previews or folders as this catalog should be empty. Now you can be certain which catalog is being used and which catalog has all your data and you are ready to migrate your current catalog. Shut down Lightroom.
To migrate your current catalog, use Finder to locate your Photography Mac Book Pro Versions folder on your external drive. Select the folder and select COPY from the context menu. Next, use Finder to navigate to the /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom folder on you internal HDD. You can start at the Macintosh HD level and work your way down by opening each level (Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures). Select the /Pictures folder and then select PASTE... from the context menu. When the COPY/PASTE is complete, you should see the following files on the Macintosh HD:
Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom/ and
Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions
The Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom folder will contain the empty default catalog the Adobe created when Lightroom was installed and Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions will contain a copy of the catalog you created on your external HDD.
You are almost done now. Make sure your external drive is still attached for this step. Restart Lightroom using the ALT/OPTION key again. When the Select Catalog screen appears, select the Choose a Different Catalog button (lower left side). When you do, a Finder window will open to allow you to navigate to a catalog of your choosing. Navigate to Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions and select the file Photography Mac Book Pro Version.lrcat. This is the copy you just created. Select the Open button and Lightroom should start. You should see all of your previews and settings just as before. Also, in the left hand panel, all of your folder should show up and none of them should be dimmed and none of your previews should display a small exclamation point badge. Either a dimmed folder name or an exclamation point badge indicates that Lightroom can't find the associated image file. If everything looks good, go to the Lightroom menu, select Preferences and then select the General tab. Under Default Catalog, select an option to either load the LAST catalog opened or select the Users/[user name]/Pictures/Photography Mac Book Pro Versions catalog from the drop down. Shut down Lightroom and then restart it normally. This time, when Lightroom starts, you should be viewing the new copy of your catalog. You can confirm this by looking at the General tab on the Catalog Preferences screen (Lightroom/Catalog Preferences menu items). Shut down Lightroom once again and this time, eject your external drive before restarting. This time, your folders in the left hand panel will be dimmed but you should be able to work with your smart previews. If Lightroom should display a Select Catalog screen with the external drive detached, double check your settings as it indicates Lightroom is still looking at the copy of the catalog on the external drive rather than the new copy you made.
Finally, if you are seeing dimmed folders and/or exclamation point badges with the external drive attached, this indicates a problem. You can select any folder and select Update Folder Location from the context menu. This will allow you to navigate to the copy on the external drive and select it. Lightroom will then update the catalog (select to synchronize the content). This will not only clear the dimmed folder problem but also remove the exclamation point badges for all photos in that missing folder. However, it may indicate that not all went well with the copy of the catalog so make sure to verify all went well. You can use the Get Info option on the two folders. You should see the same number of files/folders for both the copy on the internal drive as well as on the external drive but you can't rely on the byte count because of the possibility of differences between the geometry of the two drives. Hope this all helps!

Lightroom 5 - Smart Previews | What's New in Lightroom 5 | Adobe TV

Learn how to create lightweight, efficient Smart Previews to work with offline images in Lightroom.
http://adobe.ly/11rZI6q

Hello Julieanne,
I'm using Lightroom 5 and I'm interested in the smart preview feature; one question: is it possible a workflow like this one: work with a desktop with all the photos in one hard disk and no smart preview; then export one catalog with smart preview and open it in my laptop so that I can work with the files and modify. Then export it back to the desktop version once I'm back home.
Thanks and regards,
Marco

Is there any benefit for me to use smart previews if my Lightroom 5 catalog, previews and media are all on the same external USB HD?

I keep everything on 1 External USB3 HD so that I can pug it into my Mac at home or my PC at work and just keep working without syncing anything to the local machine. So is there any benefit with Smart Previews in this case? I heard somewhere that it might make the Develop module a little quicker, but is this only when using the Smart Preview and not the full res image?

Lr uses smart previews instead of ACR cache for initial develop-module view when photos are online - amount of benefit is, in my experience, very minor (not noticeable without using a stop-watch..).
But if photos are offline, you may experience more substantial savings.
Note: smart previews are reduced resolution - smart previews of raw files are 2560 x (say) 1920, so if your original raws were say 5120 x 3840, then you/Lr are dealing with 1/4 the number of pixels when editing via smart previews.
Anyway, if you are willing to give up zoom for one edit pass, you can resize the smart previews so 1:1 fits in your allotted display space (e.g. 1280 x 960, which would be 1/8 number of pixels..), e.g. using the PreviewExporter plugin - then things may be significantly faster in develop module. PreviewExporter also has a feature to take originals offline, and put them back online.
To be clear: the amount of savings may or may not be dramatic - how much there is depends on your system, size of raw vs. smart preview image, number and type of edits applied, etc..
Why don't you try it and tell us what you think?!
Cheers,
Rob

I have been using LR5 on a Mac mini. The LR was installed on an external drive. Now I would like to use Smart Previews on my Internal drive to take advantage of the speed. When I make previews they go to originals. How can I put them on the internal drive

when started with LR 5 on my Mac I used advise from Adobe's LR5 book, I installed it on an external drive, processing originals was a little slow so I decided to make smart previews on my internal drive to get faster processing. However the smart previews hook up with the originals and so there is no advantage just a bigger file. Is there anyway when I make the previews stay on the internal drive or am I locked in with the current setup. I can find no LR5 folders on the internal drive.
Thanks,
John Sr.

Are you doing a lot of spot removal or brushing?
This doesn't sound like a disk drive issue at all. Once Lightroom reads the file from the disk, and you are editing, the disk plays no further role. Using a faster disk drive here will not make the slightest difference.
So, I would check your graphics drivers to see if they are up to date. I would also temporarily disable your virus checker and firewall.
How much memory does your computer have? What CPU do you have?
How big (in megapixels, not megabytes) are the photos you are editing?

Repeated building of smart previews

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