Computer freezes when transferring files

Aside from a whole host of other problems I am having with Lion (on a new drive with a complete clean install--twice!!) I seem to be having a very serious one where whenever I try and transfer a file (USB drive, external drive, mounted web drive) the computer become inoperable during the transfer. While the computer doesn't completely freeze up, it is impossible to do any work as clicking on a window may take 4 - 7 minutes for it to respond to that click.
I sort of feel that this problem is probably what is causing all my others. The computer becomes totally unresponsive and I often have to wait 30 - 50 seconds for it to catch up on what I'm doing. It is as if it cannot manage multiple tasks. Thinking that this was due to my User Account, I logged into a guest account and pretty much had the exact same experience, especially when transferring files.
Doe anyone have an idea as to what I can do to fix this?

They are usually video files, ranging from 700mb to the very rare 2GB. Sometimes it's 4-5 of them at a time.
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,3
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP53.00AC.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.48f2
Serial Number (system): xxx
Hardware UUID: xxx
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Similar Messages

MS-7519 freezes when transferring files

Hi,
can anyone help me with this problem ???
Whenever i try to transfer or copy files within the same drive or partition or from USB drive, the computer freezes randomly and I need to do a hard restart.
I have a clean install of windows and this happens in safe mode too, especially if the files are larger.
Sometimes the transfer is almost done and the PC freezes almost at the end of the transfer, but sometimes it freezes in the beginning.
And after it freezes when I restart and try transferring again, it freezes quicker ( in the first 3-4% of the transfer )
I have done tests for CPU, RAM, HDD, GRAPHIC CARD, PSU, and all of them are passed.
I have also taken out the HDD and tried to copy files on another PC and there it goes OK.
Is something adjusted wrong in the BIOS or maybe I need to update the BIOS ???
Have somebody had the same problem or if you have any suggestions ???
Thanks in advance.

>>Posting Guide<<

MDD freezes when transferring files to new Hard Drive.

I am using a G4 MDD Dual Processor Tower with 1 GB DDR SDRAM, Dual 1 GHz and an 80 GB hard Drive on an ATA/100 controller, using a cable select cable (OEM). I just installed an additional PATA Western Digital WES-WD3200JB 320 GB hard drive. Both drives are on the ATA/100 and on Cable Select mode. The 80GB hard drive (which has the system installed on it) was originally installed in the slave position (and still is). I zeroed the drive and did a PRAM reset before I partitioned and formatted the drive.
I have had freeze up troubles when I try to transfer files from the old 80GB Hard Drive to this new 320 GB one. I have tried transferring files from a DVD to this new Hard Drive without a problem. I have tried transferring that same load of files from the new Hard Drive to the old one without a problem. The only time it seems to freeze up is when I try to transfer a large number of files from the old Hard Drive to the new one. The problem doesn’t occur with large files, just with a large number of files. For example, I have transferred a single 917MB file without a problem, but when I try to transfer a folder that has 158 items totaling 38.6 MB, that is when my computer freezes up. However, I have frequently transferred folders containing a few (under 20) files that are under 5 MB without a problem.
I have considered putting the new drive on the ATA-66 controller instead of the ATA-100 (as several Apple forum posts recommend), but I would rather figure out why the freeze up occurs in only this specific set of circumstances.
Any theories on what is causing this freeze up, or suggestions on how to fix it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

ATA doesn't share a bus very nicely, you can always put the WD 320 over to ATA/100 or do that now, but yes, isolate them.
You may have directory problem or bad sectors, so eliminating that would be another step.
Some people even recommend zeroing a new drive right off the bat.
PATA should not have the problems of SATA, but you might want to look into whether this drive has come up in other problems. OWC includes it in one of the FW cases also.
And you could move your OEM to FW case, can't imagine continuing to use the OEM drive at this point (they were slow and had only 2MB cache then, I use mine for an emergency FW backup system).

Time Capsule freezes when transferring files

My time capsule freezes when data is transferring from my Macbook Pro during its initial update. I tried to connect it through WiFi or ethernet cable. It just freezes like when 800 Mb - 5 Gb were transferred (I have left it overnight). What can I do?
How about doing it by USB cable?

This is from Time Machine Buddy widget
Starting standard backup
Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Data
Disk image already attached: /Volumes/Data/Samuel Ng’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
Disk image /Volumes/Data/Samuel Ng’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Backup content size: 232.4 GB excluded items size: 10.4 GB for volume Macintosh HD
266.50 GB required (including padding), 2.73 TB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Then my Macbook Pro freezed when 5.16Gb was transferred...

Computer freezes when moving files from USB, or to another partitioned HD

Hello, i've been moving files from two USB's to my Macintosh HD, and when I do that, the computer kinda freezes up, i can move the cursor, but not kinda click anywhere, and then a minute after or something, it gets normal again, but the transfer is going horribly slow. this happens when i move from Macintosh HD, to Macintosh HD 2 (a partitioned one). the files are 2 gb each USB. which means im transferring 4 gb at the time.

Neurot wrote:
I have 6 folders on my hard drive. These folders were created by downloading a bunch of rar files, then extracting them each to their own folder. I have not touched the permissions, so they should be the default of me having read/write and everyone else having read (correct me if i'm wrong).
Using two Finder windows, I drag and drop the six folders from one hard drive to another, and hold down the Apple key so that it moves instead of copies. I let go and it starts copying the files (since there is no "move", but rather a "copy and then delete").
I would recommend you don't use this method to move a lot of files between drives. it's much safer first to copy and if the copy is successful to delete the original afterward. there was a data loss bug in OS X a while back that wold sometimes lead to total loss on both the source and the target when doing this.
this bug is supposed to be long fixed but still...
How is the hard drive you are moving the files to formatted? what yo describe sometimes happens when moving a lot of stuff to or from FAT formatted drives. also, repair both drives in disk utility. repair disk, not permissions.
Message was edited by: V.K.

Mac Mini Mid 2011 General system slowdown when transferring files?

Hi i have a stock mac mini mid 2011, 2.5ghz i5, 4gb ram, 500gb HDD os 10.7.1 and i've noticed a general system slowdown when transferring files on 10.7 and the last 10.7.1 update ( from usb to hdd, another computer on my local network to the mini, external dvd to the mini, etc).
I could describe the slowdown as mouse pointer movement suffers, its "laggy", application take longer to start, even menus in them from appearing, writting something on the keyboard i have to wait like 5 - 10 seconds so the words start appearing in the app (i.e. textedit).
I wanted to know if any other new mac mini owner has had this issue and if there is any solution to this(that would not involve buying a SSD for example)?
Im not really sure if this is a hardware or system issue but it really is getting on my nerves(i know i could just wait for the files to transfer which is what i do now but i dont think that should be), since i also have a old macbook from 2007 2.0ghz c2d, 2gb ram, 250gb HDD os 10.6.8 and have never had this problem before.
Thanks in advanced.
Let me know if i need to give more info on this subject.
Edit: I forgot to mention, the funny thing is doing a time machine backup to my external HDD or transferring files from my HDD to a usb doesnt give me any kind of slowdown.

Hi Rick, I'd see if it's reated to this, which has many symptoms...
Try this: "sudo pmset autopoweroff 0" and "sudo pmset standby 0"
http://xlr8yourmac.com/archives/sep13/091313.html#10.8.5SleepEjectTip

Sound Buzz when transferring file from Trash to desktop

I get the occasional Sound Buzz when transferring file from Trash to desktop
Its a Short "grounding" buzz similar to slowly plugging an electric guitar when the amp is on, but its loud !
I am just using the internal sound,

Brett - thanks for that input, but as stated in my original post this happens whether I do the copy within Finder, or from inside Bridge.
Your note did inspire me to try one thing though: I UN-checked my Bridge preference to export caches to folders when possible, then I went to the folder I was trying to move (on the NAS) and did Tools > Cache > Purge Cache. I found that if the folder contained only files and no other folders, then I could move the folder to my desktop. However, if the folder in question had nested folders, then I still run into the same conflict.
Question: since this conflict does not happen when moving a folder from one computer to another computer (but only from the NAS to a computer), I'm not sure how your logic holds when you say "Bridge is trying to cache the files you are moving and creates a ".BridgeCacheT" file before the remote version is copied"
To answer your other question, we use AFP or at least is says "afp://server.local" when we connect. My apologies for not being an expert on this. The icon of the NAS on the desktop looks like the icons for the other computers.
Thanks, I'm still trying to solve this. It's really become a major problem for us as we now have to drag files individually (rather than by folder) when we want to do something with them. -- Jim

I purchased a new MacBook Pro and when transferring files iphoto did not transfer. I have a question mark in the place of the icon. My pictures are in library but can't properly access iphoto. Thank you

I purchased a new MacBook Pro and when transferring files iphoto did not transfer. I have a question mark in the place of the icon. My pictures are in library but can't properly access iphoto. Thank you

Sure-glad to help you. You will not lose any data by changing synching to MacBook Pro from imac. You have set up Time Machine, right? that's how you'd do your backup, so I was told, and how I do my backup on my mac. You should be able to set a password for it. Save it. Your stuff should be saved there. So if you want to make your MacBook Pro your primary computer, I suppose, back up your stuff with Time machine, turn off Time machine on the iMac, turn it on on the new MacBook Pro, select the hard drive in your Time Capsule, enter your password, and do a backup from there. It might work, and it might take a while, but it should go. As for clogging the hard drive, I can't say. Depends how much stuff you have, and the hard drive's capacity. As for moving syncing from your iMac to your macbook pro, should be the same. Your phone uses iTunes to sync and so that data should be in the cloud. You can move your iTunes Library to your new Macbook pro
you should be able to sync your phone on your new MacBook Pro. Don't know if you can move the older backups yet-maybe try someone else, anyways,
This handy article from Apple explains how
How to move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Support''
don't forget to de-authorize your iMac if you don't want to play purchased stuff there
and re-authorize your new macBook Pro
time machine is an application, and should be found in the Applications folder. it is built in to OS X, so there is nothing else to buy. double click on it, get it going, choose the Hard drive in your Time capsule/Airport as your backup Time Machine and go for it. You should see a circle with an arrow on the top right hand of your screen (the Desktop), next to the bluetooth icon, and just after the wifi and eject key (looks sorta like a clock face). This will do automatic backups of your stuff.

ITunes and Computer freezes when ipod is connected

When I connect my video ipod to my computer (dell desktop) the system freezes, as in it will not respond to mouse clicks and keyboard (but can still get to task manager). When I unplug the ipod it comes back to life. Programs always freeze, but sometimes I am able to navigate within windows without it freezing, but as soon as a program is brought up, my computer falls to its knees.
I have the latest version of iTunes, and updater v. 1.1, (but I have not been able to update the firmware yet from v 1.0).
The odd thing is last night I was able to download several gigs worth of music to it without incident. I then tried to load movies (they were in the wrong format, but I didn't know it at the time), and so in an effort to correct that I uninstalled itunes, the ipod drivers, and the ipod updater programs several times.
I cannot update the ipod firmware because the computer freezes when the ipod is plugged in, so the program freezes as well. Kind of a catch 22 situation.
I have been over the forums and help archives for about an hour and a half now and I have come up dry.
Windows XP does recognize the ipod when the cable is connected, and the ipod flashes, "Do not disconnect", which it is supposed to do.
I suspect this is drivers/software, but I have no idea where to go from here.
Help?

Hey!
That EXACT thing happened to me! 2 nights ago I'm downloading like crazy, all is well. I got on LimeWire and downloaded some videos and tried to put them on my iPod. Imported them into iTunes then tried to put em on my iPod and it completely wiped out all my songs! So I get back on, put the songs back in, and about half way through the update the thing freezes. I've re-installed everything, and have reset my iPod. Did you figure out what to do? Maybe your fix will fix my problem, too.
Thank you!

Is there a way to turn off using ram as intermediary when transfering files between 2 internal hdds? (write cache is off on all drives)

right forum? first time here. none of the options seem perfect. so i guess this applies to 'setup.' i tried to describe what's happening verbosely from the start of a file transfer to completion of writing file to 2nd hard drive.
win 7 64bit home - i2600k 3.4ghz - 8gb of ram - 2hdd 1 ssd
I have this problem when transferring files between 2 internal hard drives. one is unhealthy (slow write speeds but not looking for advice to replace it because it serves its unimportant purpose). so, the unhealthy drive drops into PIO mode - that's acceptable.
however, a little over 1gb of any file transfer is cached in RAM during the file transfer. after the file transfer window closes, indicating the transfer is "complete" (HA!), it still has 1gb to write from RAM which takes about 30minutes. This would
not be a problem if it did not also earmark an additional 5gb of ram (never in use), leaving 1gb or less 'free' for programs. this needlessly causes my pc to be sluggish - moreso than a typical file transfer file between 2 healthy drives. i have windows write
caching turned off on all drives. so this is a different setting i can't figure out nor find after 2 hours of google searches.
info from taskmanager and resource monitor.
idle estimates: total 8175, cached 532, available 7218, free 6771 and the graph in taskman shows about 1gb memory in use.
at the start of a file transfer: 8175, 2661, 6070, 4511free and ~2gb of ram used in graph. No problems, yet.
however, as the transfer goes on, the free ram value drops to less than 1gb (1gb normal +1gb temporary transfer cache +5gb of unused earmarked space = ~7gb), cached value increases, but the amount of used ram remains relatively unchanged (2gb
during transfer and slowly drops to idle values as remaining bits are written to the 2nd hard drive). the free value is even slower to return to idle norms after the transfer completes writing data to 2nd hard drive from RAM. so, it's earmarking an addition
5gb of ram that are completely unused during this process. *****This is my problem*****
Is there any way to turn this function off or limit its maximum size. in addition to sluggishness, it poses risk to data integrity from system errors/power loss, and it's difficult to discern the actual time of transfer completion, which makes it difficult
to know when it's safe to shutdown my pc (any data left in ram is lost, and the file transfer is ruined - as of now i have to use resmon and look through what's writing to disk2 -> sometimes easy to forget about it when the transfer window closed 20-30minutes
ago and the file is still in the process of writing to the 2nd disk).
Any solution would be nice, and a little extra info like whether it can be applied to only 1 hard drive would be excellent.

Thanks for the reply.
(Although i have an undergrad degeee in computers, it's been 15years and my vocab is terrible. so, i will try my best. keep an open mind. it's not my occupation, so i rarely have to communicate ideas regarding PCs)
It operates the same way regardless of the write-cache option being enabled. It's not using the 5gb for read/write buffer - it's merely bloating standby memory during the transfer process at a rate similar to the write speed of destination (for my situation).
at this point i don't expect a solution. i've tried to look through lists of known memory leaks but i dont have the vocabulary to be 100% certain this problem is not documented. as of now it can't affect many people - NAS's with low bandwidth networks, usb
attached storage etc. do bugs get forwarded from these forums? below i can outline the consistent and repeatable nature not only on my pc but on others' pcs as well (2012 forum post i found).
I've been testing and paying a little more attention and i can describe it better:
Just the Facts
Resmon Memory Info: "In Use" stays consistent ~1gb (idle amount and roughly the same when nothing else is running during file transfer)
"Modified" contains file transfer
data (meta data?) which remains consistent at little over 1gb (minor fluctuations due to working as a buffer). After the file transfer window closes "Modified" slowly diminishes as it finishes lazy writing (i believe that's the term). I forget idle
pc amount, but after transfer this is ony 58mb)
"Standby" as the transfer starts it immediately rises to ~2gb. I'm sure this initial jump is normal. However, it will bloat well over 5gb over time with a large enough transfer increasing at a consistent rate during the entire transfer
process. the crux of the matter.
"Free" will drop as far as 35-50megabytes over time.
as the transfer starts, the "Standby" increases by an immediate chunk then at a slow rate throughout entire transfer process(~1mb/s). once writing metadata to RAM no longer occurs, the "Modified" ram slowly (@500kb/s matching resmon disk
activity for that file write) diminishes as it finishes lazy writing, After file is 100% written to destination drive, "Standby" remains a bloated figure long after.
a 1.4gb transfer filled 3677MB of "Standby" by the time writing finished and modified ram cleared. after 20minutes, it's still bloated at 3696MB. after 30-40mins it's down to 2300mb - this is about what it jumps immediately to when transfer starts
- it now remains at this level until i reboot.
I notice the "standby" is available to programs. but they do not operate well. e.g. a 480p trailer on IMDB.com will stop-and-go every 2-3seconds (stream buffers fine/fast) - this would be during the worst case scenario of 35-50mb "Free"
ram. my pc isn't and never was the latest and greatest, but choppy video never happens even with 1 or 2 resource hogs running (video processing/encoding, games, etc).
Conjecture Below
i think it's a problem when one device is significantly slower at writing than the source device - this is the factor that i share with others having this problem. when data is written to modified ram then sent to destination, standby memory is expanded
until it completely or nearly fills all available RAM - If the transfer size is large enough relative to how slow the write speed of destination device is. otherwise it fills it up as much as the file size/write speed issue allows. the term "memory leak"
is used below but may not technically be one, but it's an apt description in layman's terms.
i saw a similar post in these forums (link at end). My problem is repeatable and consistent with others' reports. I wasn't sure if i should revive it with a reply. some of these online message boards (maybe not this one) are extremely picky
and sensitive, lol.the world will end if an old thread revives - even if for a good reason.
i can answer some of the ancillary issues. one person (Friday, September 21, 2012 8:33 PM) mentions not being able to shutdown, i asume he means stuck on the shutdown screen - this is because lazy writing has not completed - his nas write speed is significantly
slower than reading from source - the last bits of data left in ram still needs to be writen to the destination. shutdown will stall for as long as needed until the data finishes writing to destination to prevent data loss.
another person (Monday, September 24, 2012 6:31 PM) mentions the rate of the leak, but the rate is more likely a function of read speed from source relative to write speed of destination. which explains why my standby expands closer to a 1:1 ratio compared
to his 1:100 (he said 10mb per 1000mb)
we all have the same exact results/behaviour, but slightly different rates of bloating/leaking. as the file is written from from the ram to the destination, standby increases during this time - not a problem if read and write speeds are roughly equal (unless
your transfering a terabytes then i bet the problem could rear its head). when writing lags, it gives the opportunity for standby ram to bloat with no maximum except the amount of installed ram. slower the write speed, the worse the problem.
The reply on Wednesday, September 26, 2012 3:04 AM has before and after pictures of exactly what i described in
"Just the Facts". Specifically the resmon image showing the Memory Tab.
The kb2647452 hotfix seems to do some weird things relative to this problem. in the posts that mention they've applied it: after file completes it looks like the "standby" bloat is now "in use" bloat. as per info from Tuesday, October
09, 2012 10:36 PM - bobmtl in an earlier post applies the patch. compare images from earlier posts to his post on this date. seems like a worse problem. Also, his process list indicates it's very unlikely they add up to ~4gb as listed in the color coded bar.
wheres the extra gb's coming from? likely the same culprit of what filled up "standby" memory for me and others. it looks like this patch relative to this problem merely recategorizes the bloat - just changes the title it falls under.
Link:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/955b600f-976d-4c09-86dc-2ff19e726baf/memory-leak-in-windows-7-64bit-when-writing-to-a-network-shared-disk?forum=w7itpronetworking

Why does my computer freeze when updateing if i have enough disk space and no disk repairs are needed?

I have problems updating my softwarebecause my computer freezes when it restarts to install. I have enough disk space and I checked for disk repairs and everthing is ok. Still can't update and not my cumputer is taking longer to turn on. There is an earth blinking then i get the apple logo blinking before it turns on and this takes close to 5 minutes.

When you say, "disk repairs" are you referiring to permissions or verifying the disk because clearly there's a problem.
Boot from your install disc, run Disk Utilty to "verify" and if necessary repair the startup disk. (Not Verify Disk Permissions).
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks

What can i do my computer freezes when i use safari and word document?

My computer freezes when I am using Safari and word document. Can some help me??

The same thing just happened to my new ipod today while i was trying to use an app. A lot of people say that it is caused by an ios update, but I let the battery on my ipod drain until it turned off. Once i charged it, it turned on and is working normally again

My computer freezes when using Facebook.

My computer freezes when I am on Facebook. I am unable to click on anything and have to force shut down. I have to restart it altogether. What may be the issue?

Always, or only sometimes? Only Facebook?

InDesign CC freezes when packaging files.

InDesign CC freezes when packaging files. Just spinning beachball. Need to Force Quit. Tried resetting Prefs at startup (holding down keys), but no change. Looking for path to Default and Data files, but not finding them in Library. (D'oh!) Downloaded most recent CC versionlast night. Any ideas or should I try CC (2014)

Hi Pam,
I would certainly give CC2014 a try.
Other than that, make sure there’s no illegal characters like slashes in the file or folder names and that the path is not too long.

Screen sometimes freezes when transferring to/from external hard drive

I have a brand-new macbook pro 15" (standard settings). Ever since I've taken it out of the box it's been having this intermittent problem where the screen freezes. The first time it happened was when I was migrating my files from my time machine backup. I didn't make much of it then but it has kept happening for the last 3 weeks or so since I got the computer.
When it happens I can still move the cursor around the screen but nothing responds. I can't close or quit anything, or even force quit. The only thing that works is to restart the computer using the power button. This has led to me losing work on more than one occasion (VERY frustrating). I've tried leaving it for a while to see if it eventually 'wakes up'. It doesn't. I've checked the hard drive and other hardware and haven't found any errors. I've installed all software updates.
All I've figured out is that this seems to happen when I'm transferring large amounts of data to or from an external hard drive. It happens with several different drives, which work fine on other computers, so it's not just the case of one malfunctioning external hard drive. It doesn't happen consistently either - sometimes transferring the same info later on works fine.
Has anyone had similar problems and/or (even better) found a solution? I'm planning to ring apple support once they're open and will update this if I find out anything else.

Tia,
Songs transfer to the iPod form iTunes. iTunes can obtain the song files from any location: main HD, secondary HD, ExHD.
You need to get the song files on the ExHD recognized by iTunes. Then you just need to sync the iPod to iTunes.
This is the high-level explanation. If you need more info, read the links below and/or post back.
iPod Tutorial
iTunes Tutorial

Computer freezes when transferring files

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for