I've just read a comment on this thread about firefox portable's pathetic performance when trying to start up (30 - 75 seconds).
I'm guessing this relates to the size of the software ("9MB download / 27-77MB installed"), and it trying to drag all this data into memory to start up.
Is there something that can be done to fix this problem? Adding a much more streamlined brower to portableapps.com perhaps?
Certainly if it's going to typically take that kind of time to long to load up - the firefox portable page BADLY needs a BIG WARNING to let people know that there's a problem with using it "portably"
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One person is reporting slow use times, I'd hardly call that typical.
27-77MB really isn't all that much, OpenOffice.org Portable is much larger.
I've had no issues at all with my Firefox Portable 3.5 versions, i think the longest startup time i've seen was 10-15 seconds, it's usually been about 5 seconds though.
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Have you tried using a different USB? You'll see there has been a number of discussions regarding wear of USB's and its effects on app perofrmance
PortableApps.com Advocate
This performance is with a Sandisk 8Gb micro Cruiser. And it is quite frustrating. Not only the long load time... but often there is a lag between clicking on something in the browser and an action... usually about 5 seconds. This is usable, but just barely if a certain amount for frustration can be tolerated. Maybe, fortunately for me, I have spent much of my life on the trailing edge of computer technology and have necessarily learned patience.
I have a 4Gb micro Cruiser so I may revisit that to see what the Firefox performance looks like. I know the 4Gb is faster than the 8Gb as one would expect. But 4Gb is a little small for my use, 8Gb is the sweet spot for me.
I am tempted by the OCZ Rally2 Turbo or the Corsair Voyager GT Turbo but am put off by the current prices.
"often there is a lag between clicking on something in the browser and an action... usually about 5 seconds."
I felt FF was a bit slow running off my USB stick, but nowhere near like what you are seeing. I had 10-20 second load times. If there is a lag for most browser actions, I would start looking at your extensions and checking if you have session restore enabled or not. If any of your extensions are making frequent access to the storage device, that will slow everything down and dramatically shorten your USB keys lifetime, as well. I would not advise using session restore unless you are running FF off a drive-based device and not memory-based.
As always your mileage will vary, but here are just some of the things that will affect load up:
-Host PC memory, CPU, memory load, CPU load etc.
-EXTENSIONS!- A large number of extensions will cause FFP to load slow. Also large extensions will cause a slow load.
-Restore session will slow load times.
-USB controller- 1.0 vs 2.0 vs 3.0
-USB/Flash/HD Read/Write speed is also a factor.
As you can see there are so many factors that affect load up. Believe me FF is 99% of the time not the problem with a load problem. If by chance it is, then I would download a clean version and start over.
Life is about the journey not the destination!
The Kazoo Spartan
I'm in the same boat. I have a Sony Microvault 8Gb and FFP simply doesnt load. I've tried loading it both from the Portableapps app, and directly from the .exe and both give the splash image, then nothing but a flashing light on my drive but never a window. Does anyone know if this is simply a bad drive to be using? I've never had speed problems with it before, but -IT JUST LOADED about 5 minutes after I last clicked on the .exe.
Host:
4 year old laptop, P4 Mobile (note even Core2)
2Gb RAM
Windows 7 RC
Flashdrive
Cheap rebranded "EasyDisk" 32GB drive
Load times, averaged over 5 starts.
Firefox Portable (from flash) : 6 seconds
Firefox Portable (from HDD) : 4 seconds
That is with 18 addons, and session store enabled.
For comparison, my local Firefox install, with a little over 30 addons, takes around 15 seconds to load, but then that one also has many months of history in its places database.
For those of you trying FFP and finding it slow... try loading it from the local harddrive. If that makes a big difference, you need a faster flashdrive. If it doesn't, you need a faster PC or fewer addons.
I upgraded to this drive from a Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 8GB. This one is about 50% faster on both reads and writes across the board. Not all big drives are slow, these days.
This is a really good idea. If you can trust the host PC, it shouldn't be an issue to copy the FirefoxPortable folder to the hard drive and run it from there. You can even delete it when you're done, shouldn't be a problem, unless you made a bookmark you wanted to keep, but even that's a non-issue if you do social bookmarking. (I guess. I never got into all that but I guess that's what it's for.)
Speed is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue with flash drives and portable apps. So I got an idea: Search the following on Google:
portableapps site:webretailer.comwhere webretailer.com is where you buy flash drives. I use Newegg.com. First thing I found was a Patriot Xporter XT 8GB some guy said ran Firefox and Thunderbird really well (and plugged PortableApps.com in a big way). Problem is, the comment was deleted, so you gotta get the cached page from Google. And they'll highlight portableapps, too. Can't see paying $25 for 8GB though; my next PortableApps.com drive will be a portable hard drive, I think.