Address correction can be very slow if the directories are not cached in memory. For many DeskTop Mailer and Business Edition users I have worked with, to keep up with volume, loading directories to memory can be a necessity.
With each new directory release increasing in size, as well as the addition of the SuiteLink directory, there may not always be enough contiguous chunks of system memory to cache directories.
When directories are not loaded to memory, address correction uses the directories directly where they are stored on the hard drive. Hard drives, by its nature, are fast when accessing data sequentially and slow when accessing data randomly. Address correction accesses directory data randomly - that is why address correction can be slow when directories are not cached in memory!
There is a little known way to speed up address correction if the directories cannot be loaded to memory. Directories can be stored on and used from a USB flash drive. Why flash drives?
Flash drives are much faster than hard drives when accessing data randomly.
Flash drive with sufficient capacity can be purchased for less than $10 from most department stores (like Walmart!).
Requires little technical know-how to install - just plug it in to a free USB port.
On my next blog post, I will give step by step instructions on how to use directories from a flash drive. In the mean time, you can refer to this knowledge base article.
