TortoiseSVN uses a lot of system resources attempting to make sure that the SVN cache on your system is up to date. By default TortoiseSVN will attempt to keep all “Fixed Drives” up to date which will in most cases use a lot of unnecessary system resources such as CPU cycles and RAM. Below are two options to either cut down on the amount of resources used or to turn of the TortoiseSVN Status Cache all together.
First lets look at what process runs on your Windows computer that updates the status cache and then will provide icon overlays on folders to let you know the status. The process is named TSVNCache.exe as shown below in the Windows Task Manager image while using 5MB of RAM. I have seen other estimates where it is said to use anywhere from 10MB to 50MB of RAM at all time. I did also notice that it was using CPU processing power from time to time.
The first option will be to limit the TSVNCache.exe process to only provide status updates for your SVN projects. This will cut down on the amount of system resources used by only checking your project directories instead of every directory on all of your fixed drives.
As shown above open the TortoiseSVN Settings and then click on the Icon Overlays left menu item. In the “Exclude paths:” box enter each of your fixed drives such as “C:\*” to exclude everything on the C drive. If you have more than one drive do the same for each drive letter on a separate line. Next add each project path to the “Include paths:” window. In the example picture above notice the path for the included project is “C:\svn-project\”. Make sure to add a “*” after the folder name to let TortoiseSVN know to update each folder underneath the root directory of the project. Make sure to click apply followed by OK at the bottom of the settings window to save the new settings.
To completely turn off the Icon Overlay Status Cache open TortoiseSVN Settings and then click on the Icon Overlays left menu item. Now click the radial button next to “None” under the “Status Cache” sub setting. Click the “Apply” button at the bottom of the settings window to save the settings. Below is an example image of what the TortoiseSVN Icon Overlays settings window should look like if the Status Cache is turned off.
Unless the status icons are extremely important to you then it would be suggested to leave the status cache off so you can free up system resources.
Excellent! I was running SVN on my server, and from time to time it would slow to a crawl. Task Mangler indicated TSVCCache.exe was the culprit, Google found your page for me, and after adding the one root folder (out of thousands on my server) that actually has SVN repository data in it to the “Include” list, it’s much betterer now, thanks.
Glad to hear it. Thanks for the comment.
Very minor nit: it’s a ‘radio button’, not a ‘radial button’…
This is a very good tip!
You knew what I meant! I will try to use radio instead of radial in the future though. :) Thanks for the feedback!~
RADIO button you dumba$$ he had it right
Hello Polska,
Wow, settle.
Thanks.
alex
Thanks for this tip Alex… SVNcache was driving me up the wall
Hello GW,
I totally understand! SVNCache can be a resource hog! Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
I think I love you.
Hello NightQuest,
Ummm.. thanks. :)
Thanks.
alex
Good One. Mine was taking 50% of CPU and more than 50M of RAM. I didn’t know it was all for those stupid overlays. I use Total Commander and don’t even use Windows Explorer. So I never need those overlays. Turned it completely off. Thanks!
Hello Ram,
No problem at all. Glad you found he article helpful and appreciate you taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
My TSVNCache is at 150m all day long!
Hello jl,
OK. Thanks for sharing. :)
Thanks.
alex
Hi,
It was taking more than 50% of CPU time. After changing the settings to exclude all the other drives, the performance of my laptop has increased like anything,
I really appreciate.
Thanks,
Swetha
Hello Swetha,
Great to hear! No problem at all… we appreciate you taking the time to leave feedback!
Thanks.
alex
Thanks for sharing.
Hello Viswanathan,
No problem. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex