[Python] Installing Python Libraries to Google Drive in Colab is extremely slow or...

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colab link - https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1c6BiIoabW6tMSsTI_9jDrdNlnAAgf1Wf?usp=sharing

its been 25 minutes it is installing the lib

I'm trying to optimize my Google Colab workflow by installing Python libraries directly to my Google Drive using the --target flag. My goal is to avoid re-installing libraries every time the session ends.

I've mounted my Drive and am running the following code to install multiple libraries:

from google.colab import drive drive.mount('/content/drive')

import sys sys.path.append('/content/drive/MyDrive/colablibs')

then installtion starts

The installation is taking an extremely long time (over 20 minutes), even though the libraries should already be in the target folder from a previous run. I'm seeing multiple warnings like WARNING: Target directory ... already exists. Specify --upgrade to force replacement.

Based on my understanding, these warnings are normal and indicate that the installation should be skipped. However, the process is not skipping and seems to be re-downloading and re-installing everything.

What could be causing this? Is my approach incorrect, or is there an issue with my Colab session or Drive connection? How can I ensure pip correctly recognizes the existing libraries and skips the installation?

What I tried: I ran !pip install with the --target flag in Google Colab to install Python libraries into a specific folder in my mounted Google Drive. I did this in an attempt to save time on subsequent runs by avoiding re-downloading and re-installing the libraries.

What I expected: I expected pip to check the target folder (/content/drive/MyDrive/colablibs), see that the libraries were already there, and skip the installation process entirely, completing the cell execution almost instantly.

What actually resulted: Instead of being quick, the installation took over 20 minutes. pip gave warnings like WARNING: Target directory ... already exists. Specify --upgrade to force replacement but then proceeded to re-download and re-install every single library, negating the purpose of installing to the Drive

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