It sounds like item metadata (FC geoprocessing history) can significantly slow down geoprocessing and other operations in ArcGIS Pro.
@NathanShaub in Geoprocessing History in Metadata
We have several Python scripts that perform daily geoprocessing tasks. Since geoprocessing history is automatically logged, the GDB_ITEMS table in our geodatabases bloats considerably and affects performance significantly. I discovered the effect on performance by first taking the workaround code suggested by ESRI and modifying it so that I could run it at the geodatabase level to affect all objects in the geodatabase (the original workaround would take a VERY long time to actually perform if I had to go to each feature class individually). Once I had cleaned up over two years of geoprocessing history from the GDB_ITEMS table of all of my geodatabases, I found that:
1) The reserved disk space for all of the SDE databases on my SQL Server dropped by nearly 11 Gb.
2) My automation scripts run MUCH faster. For instance, one job that performs a DB compression and updates statistics went from taking 4 hours and 13 minutes to taking 8 minutes! Another script that deletes several point feature classes and recreates them using X/Y coordinates downloaded from a business database went from taking 2 hours and 25 minutes to taking 15 minutes.
There are also security concerns with sharing metadata with file paths externally.
In Pro 3.3.0, we can disable item metadata tracking going forward and also delete metadata using the UI, one item at a time, or with custom Python code.
This idea is to have an OOTB GP tool that will delete the item metadata from all items in a geodatabase. Or a list of checkboxes for each item; unselect the items where we want to keep the metadata.
