External drives cause program slow downs

To my early 2009 iMac, I have few external drives connected through USB and Firewire. During light disk use the hard drives spin down after awhile and go into saving enregy mode (sleep).
When doing normal functions like printing a Word doc or printing from TextEdit or working on some other programs, I get the spin wheel and programs pause until the sleepy drives wake up and pick up speed again.
The document(s) that I am working on are on the computer hard drive.
The external drives are contibuting nothing to the job on hand, why do they need to be awaken during this kind of processing and why do the programs need to wait for them?
Though I have Lion installed now, this used to happen with Snow Lepoard as well.
Thanks

Thanks for that info on your Mini's specs.
You have plenty of RAM reported, so I think we can rule out a bank of RAM disappearing and the Virtual Memory system being over-taxed to compensate.
You say "Now everything is slow again, when I turn the computer, it takes minutes to come up, and then I get the spinning ball whenever I try to do anything."
The spinning ball generally indicates that operating system is waiting for a "resource" to become available. Depending on how your Mini is/was setup vis-a-vis the external drives, some of your programs may be looking for stuff on external drives that are no longer available, or that are misfunctioning.
The "resource" that is being waited for, could also be a network resource, like an iDisk (if you have MobileMe) or a NAS (Network Attached Storage).
The wait for a "resource" could also be due to a hard drive starting to go bad, and the operating system needing repeated attempts to get data from it.
Apropos NAS, it has been reported iTunes 10 doesn't play well with data stored on non-Apple NASes.
Since you have an Intel Mini, it might also be useful to perform an SMC reset (DON'T do a PMU reset):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US
+Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve+
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Unplug the computer's power cord.+
+3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.+
+4. Release the power button.+
+5. Attach the computers power cable.+
+6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.+
Be sure to perform steps 4 and 5 in the correct order.

Similar Messages

Extended photoshop CS6 use causes program slow down.

Hello,
Currently when I use photoshop for any kind for photo editing, after about ten minutes of use the program response slows to a crawl and it will take a minute or two for me to even toggle layer visibility on or off. I reset photoshop to it's factory default settings and I am still getting this problem. Since I use Photoshop extensively for work and school I can say the problem did not begin until yesterday when I was finishing up some assignments for class. None of the files I am editing are very large (maybe 45 MB?) but the problem persists. No other programs are running at the same time as Photoshop. I have a 2013 Macbook Pro Retina with OSX mavericks. Any suggestions or help?
Regards, Eleanor

Hello,
I've actually gone through the Photoshop troubleshooting tips and optimization twice. Here is a snapshot of my performance preferences.
and here is my Mac's hardware specs
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:    MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:    MacBookPro11,3
Processor Name:    Intel Core i7
Processor Speed:    2.3 GHz
Number of Processors:    1
Total Number of Cores:    4
L2 Cache (per Core):    256 KB
L3 Cache:    6 MB
Memory:    16 GB
Boot ROM Version:    MBP112.0138.B02
SMC Version (system):    2.19f3
Thanks in advance.

How do i not have my photoshop linked to my macintosh hard drive because it slows down the program by using my hard drive space

how do i not have my photoshop linked to my macintosh hard drive because it slows down the program by using my hard drive space

Which version of mac os x and photoshop are you using?
How much free space is on your hard drive?
How much ram do you have?
Photoshop needs to use your hard drive for scratch space.
If you have more than one hard drive (not partition), you can assign photoshop's scratch disk to another hard drive.
Optimize performance | Photoshop CS4, CS5, CS6, CC

I made eight radio buttons exclusive by each other.But It made the orignal program slow down.

I made eight radio buttons exclusive by each other. But It made the
original program slow down. I insert them parallel to the original
program, ie, they are excuted at the same time, I think. But I found
that the speed before I insert it is faster than after. I think If I
use the exclusive radio buttons made by ni , the program will execute
faster. but there aren't eight radio buttons I can choose. How can I
do ? Or How can I make some changes to the slide that I will get the
result like NI does?

You'll have to give the processor some time. In the parallel loop, put a
'Wait (ms)' from the Time & Diaglog pallete. Wire e.g. 10 to it, and the
computer has some time to do other processes (like the other loop, and
updating the user interface).
When you have something like this, you can open the task manager (win nt,
win 2000). If it it this problem, the processor uses 100% processor time.
Regards,
Wiebe.
"Rosa" wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> I made eight radio buttons exclusive by each other. But It made the
> original program slow down. I insert them parallel to the original
> program, ie, they are excuted at the same time, I think. But I found
> that the speed before I insert it is fa
ster than after. I think If I
> use the exclusive radio buttons made by ni , the program will execute
> faster. but there aren't eight radio buttons I can choose. How can I
> do ? Or How can I make some changes to the slide that I will get the
> result like NI does?

Program slow down / problem of memory optimization

hi all,
Here is my problem. I am using Labview 2011 and a NI acquisition board. In attachment are simplified VI codes I implemented to acquire analog signal and process the data. The main_VI.vi starts the RUN VI that performs data acquisition and data processing. In the RUN VI, I implemented a state machine because there are many sequential steps. The acquisition is done many times (see max iteration value) and for each acquisition, there is a processing. I used a queue structure to send data for processing in parallel. I also use a in-place element structure to manage the array.
For real data acquisition (from NI board), the program slows down after hundreds of iteration and when I exit the program, it seems the VI has to free memory because it takes few minutes to close the VI.
My questions are:
-       Is the state machine structure properly implemented?
-       Is the queue strategy optimal to do parallel processing?
-       Is the use of in-place element structure properly implemented in my case, and is it needed for 1D array with a size of 4000 to 20000 points?
Thank you for your help/suggestions.
Cedric
Attachments:
Main_VI.vi ‏25 KB
RUN.vi ‏88 KB
acquisitions_data.vi ‏28 KB

Hello Cedric,
I noticed that in your "RUN.vi" you are calling the "acquisitions_data.vi" iteratively in a For Loop. Everytime that For Loop iterates, you are creating the Task, running the acquisition, then closing the Task. You don't need to create and clear the Task over and over again like that. Instead, create and configure the Task outside of the for loop. This way when you get inside the for loop, use the "DAQmx Start Task.vi" to start the task, perform the read using the "DAQmx Read.vi", then use the "DAQmx Stop Task.vi" to stop it. Outside the for loop you can place the "DAQmx Clear task.vi" to clear the references.
Perhaps this will help with your performance.
Mason M
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

PROGRAM SLOWS DOWN WHEN IT ENTERS A CASE STRUCTURE

OK so here is the problem i am making this pid controller the output range is 0-100 in this program i am just trying to get it to work so i did a compair function whereby when the controller output is 0 and the constant is 0 i start a case loop which will turn the output on for one second and off for one second . when i enter the case structure the rest of my program slows down
i have no idea why , i have tried to make a while loop and a case structure outside my main loop but i cannot get my signal from my compair statement to enter the second loop where i get my output to cycle in 1second intervals
below is the VI please help
i am still learning how to use labview by the way
thank you
gary
GR
Solved!
Go to Solution.
Attachments:
TMP36working!vi.vi ‏225 KB

gary,
The next thing you need to learn about LabVIEW is dataflow. This is the fundamental paradigm of LV and will explain your slow down issues.
The basic dataflow concept is that any node (node = function, subVI, structure) can begin to execute when data is present on all its inputs and that no data will be present at its outputs until the node comopletes execution.
How does this affect your VI? The true case has a 1000 ms Wait (actually two, one in each case of the inner case structure = redundant code). The case structure will not complete execution until the wait completes. And, the while loop does not complete its iteration until the case structure completes. The result: When the PID.vi output = 0, the loop will run at 1 second per iteration.
What is the fix? Continue running the loop at 100 ms intervals. Keep a count in the case structure (true case) and another shift register of how many 100 ms intervals have passed. When the count reaches ten, toggle the output line. Do not use the 1000 ms Wait.
All the code in your inner case structure is unnecessary. Wire the Remainder output directly to the Arduino Digital Write VI.
Be careful with the comparison to zero with floating point data. If the calculation which produces the data has round off errors you might get a value like 0.573E-15, but that is not equal to zero. It is better to compare to a small range of values above and below zero.
Right to left wiring is much easier to follow when trying to understand what a program does. Using the Clean Up tool occasionally will help (although it will eventually frustrate you also).
Lynn
Attachments:
TMP36working.2.vi ‏214 KB

Help! Flashvars causing browser slow down

Hi All,
I have a very simple .swf file that is causing some kind of
slow down or memory leak. It is effecting the browser its self as
moving the mouse cursor around or selecting text becomes sluggish.
Within the .swf, the stage is only 1px by 1px. It is meant to
fit the size of the html element its embedded in. Once the .swf
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rectangle movie clip to fit the new size.
Once the rectangle is drawn the .swf then draws 50 circles of
varying size to animate as a snow effect. I wasn't having any slow
down until I added this snow effect in. However let me explain in
the next paragraph that the snow is not the real culprit.
The rectangles fill, stroke, and corner radius. Can all be
set by variables sent to the swf. by the Flashvars attribute of
object, and embed. Once they are retrieved by the .swf they are
processed by a conditional statement I wrote. If one of the
attributes isn't set they are set to a default. The code is
attached below.
Heres how I know the snow effect isn't the culprit. If I
don't pass the .swf any Flashvars attribute and just let it use the
defaults for styleObj in the .swf. The effect runs fine. If I do
try to pass it Flashvars the slow down occurs. Is there an issue
with my conditional statements?
I have tried embedding using the SwfObject.js Class and using
standard HTML tags. Both display the same issue if Flashvars are
passed there's a slowdown if not its fine.
If anyone could help with this, or shoot me some links with
info I would be eternally grateful. I can also provide the source
files if you want to take a look at it.
I have uploaded a test page so you can see the problem in
http://www.callmekev.com/client/test/

Hey kglad,
Thanks for all your help. I had the issue posted on 2 other
forums and you are the only response I have got. I was unaware of
the data-type functions you had listed. After some further testing
I found that they had the same effect as using the - operator like
I had been doing.
I did find a solution however. I took the variables as they
were coming in from the Flashvars attribute and saved them in new
flash only variables as numbers. Then I assigned the Flashvars
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its on set to look at.
You can check the new
test its a lot smoother.

My external hard drives seem to slow down my iMac

Hello,
I've encountered an odd situation in that the external hard drives I use to hold all of my files seem to slow down the performance of my iMac. I have two Lacie 1 tb externals plugged into my 2006 2.0 Ghz iMac with 2 gig of ram. I've had these two externals for about two months and for the same amount of time, any other item (ipod, card reader, thumb drive) I'd plug in would take several min to mount onto my computer. From there, the data transfer from my external or internal hard drive is slightly delayed and slower as well.
I unmounted these externals today and plugged in a thumb drive to test and it immediately mounted to my computer! I never thought an external could effect the mounting of other, smaller, externals!
I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do to fix this problem? My itunes music files are stored on my externals and I'm a photographer, so I'd need regular access to my externals to get to my pictures.
Thanks for all your help. I can usually find the answer to my problem by browsing around in discussions, but I find this situation to be a bit of a unique one!

kromedomio wrote:
Sorry, It's connected to my iMac via Firewire 400. I have the externals connected to each other via Firewire 800.
In regards to types of files, I have my itunes library, photo (Raw Canon 50d files), Adobe (photoshop, indesign, illustrator) and Word files all on the external. I basically moved everything off my internal and store it all on my external now, so I'm accessing it a lot through the day.
I'm wondering just why you did that. Surely you know that F/W 400 is much slower than your internal HD?
I'd be inclined to move things that involve heavy I/O during editing (photos and videos, especially) back to the internal. I suspect you'll see a large improvement.

What external drive will idle power down. TM and mini use.

Hello, can someone tell me what external drive will power down after x minutes.
I want two drives to do this.
One for my airport extreme as a time machine location and then another for my mac mini.
Can anyone recomend a few. I have tried two so far with no luck they all dont power down when idle.
thanks

A virus is not something you need to lose much sleep over. See my Mac Malware Guide:
http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg
As for the question, there's always a danger that something could happen to your backup, whether you leave it connected or not. You need to be sure to maintain multiple backups... Two completely separate backups, made with two different backup programs, is the bare minimum to ensure data integrity in my eyes.

High CPU usage and program slowing down

Hi. I have helped write a program in AS3 that uses classes. We have 2 frames in our movieclip that consists of an ant moving. We have a class of ants and can create 15 instances of them and the program runs fine with the ants walking around looking for food and going back to a corner that is their nest and going back out again. The ants also respond to mouse movement if the mouse pointer is near an ant.
If we create more than 15 ants, then the program starts to slow down. If we have 30 ants on the screen, then there is noticable stuttering of the ant movement. The CPU usage on a P4 2.5Ghz Pentium is around 50%.
Is this normal? or is something wrong?
I would have thought we would be able to scale up the number of ants easily.
Thanks
Trev.

Hi kglad.
Thanks for the reply.
I assume enabling cacheAsBitmap is set in the ant class Constructor, as we have tried that and it has helped, see below. We can now create 30 ants with very slight stuttering.
We have an ant class as below.
public class TAnt extends MovieClip { // lots of code here }
ant Constructor as below.
public function TAnt(newX: Number, newY: Number, sW: Number, sH: Number, rCyc: Number) {
            this.cacheAsBitmap = true;
           // more code here }
// We have implemented a Finite State Machine for the ant behaviour.
regarding the ants using a loop and using a controller class, I am not sure what you mean.
We are creating instances of the ants in the Ants.fla file which is in the Action file and add each new ant to an array. See below.
for (var a = 0; a < nAnts; a++) {
    var newAntX = Math.random() * screenWidth;        // randomly generate ant location
    var newAntY = Math.random() * screenHeight;
    var rCyc = Math.random() * 800;
    var ant = new TAnt(newAntX, newAntY, screenWidth, screenHeight, rCyc);            // create ant
    addChild(ant);                                                   // add ant so visible on screen
    ants.push(ant);                                                 // add ant to array
So we use an array for looping through the ants in the Ants.fla Action file.
Is this the way you mean?
Thanks
Trev.

CSA 5.1 causes significal slow down on windows 2000 server

We have recently installed CSA 5.1 and agents on a bunch of windows servers. All the shims and enabled and only the default policy agents for windows is enabled.
Applications which does FTP and moves files from one folder to another etc are taking significal slow down.
Processes that used to complete 3 minutes are now taking more than 30 minutes to complete. All the polcies and rules are in test mode.
Should we fine tune the rules first on disable couple of shims first to see what is the cause of this slow down. If we turn off CSA, processes run as normal.

One thing you can try is removing the host from all groups. It will still be a member of the group.
If that doesn't fix performance, remove all policies from the group (and attach them to another group to keep the rules in effect for other hosts) and see if that helps.
This should tell you if it's the agent and\or shim causing the problem, or if a rule is doing it.
Don't forget to move the policies back to the group when you are done.
Tom

Copying to and from external drive causes Finder Freeze

I recently purchased a Shintaro USB HD dock to archive my many Gigs of Video footage.
I plug it all in and powered up without problems. Plugged a SATA disk into the dock it showed up (it was previously formated in an FW drive)
The drive showed up on the desktop and the files on it were there as well. When I try to either copy files to or from the dock the copy window comes up works for about 40% of whatever file I'm copying and then Freezes.
I've tried several disks and all do the same.
I cannot relaunch the finder, I cannot stop the process in Activity monitor, all I can do is power down, restart and try again.
I have tried using both a USB hub and hooked direct to the USB card in my PowerMac but the same thing happens everytime.
When I look at the external drive it has all the icons there but all the files are Zero Bytes.
Anybody got any ideas ?

Hi Brett,
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Tiger Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
Use Disk Utility to Repair the external drives.
While still in Safe Mode, move these files to the Desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
Reboot & test.

Using Disk Warrior on external drive causes MacBook crash

I work on MacBook System 10.6.7, I back up to LaCie external drive, which I partitioned so that one partition is only for backup, the other is bootable. On this partition I have a clone of Disk Warrior (4.1), to use on the MacBook .
Today I ran DW from the MacBook on the external drive for the first time, because lately it happens that the backup partition does not always appear in the finder (still performs back up though). I applied it first to the boot-partition, and it told me there were some problems. When it got to replacing the directory, the computer crashed mid way.
I performed Disk Verify on that partition through Disk Utility, and it said that it needed repair, and then that it did repair it. Checked other partition, no problem.
Tried again to rebuild directory for the external drive, and both partitions caused the MacBook to crash. I then booted from the external drive to see if it works, and ran DW on the MacBook, and had no problem there.
Anybody can tell me if it is the MacBook that caused the crash, or if the problem is with the external, and if there is anything else I can try to sort it out?
thanks,

I work on MacBook System 10.6.7, I back up to LaCie external drive, which I partitioned so that one partition is only for backup, the other is bootable. On this partition I have a clone of Disk Warrior (4.1), to use on the MacBook .
Today I ran DW from the MacBook on the external drive for the first time, because lately it happens that the backup partition does not always appear in the finder (still performs back up though). I applied it first to the boot-partition, and it told me there were some problems. When it got to replacing the directory, the computer crashed mid way.
I performed Disk Verify on that partition through Disk Utility, and it said that it needed repair, and then that it did repair it. Checked other partition, no problem.
Tried again to rebuild directory for the external drive, and both partitions caused the MacBook to crash. I then booted from the external drive to see if it works, and ran DW on the MacBook, and had no problem there.
Anybody can tell me if it is the MacBook that caused the crash, or if the problem is with the external, and if there is anything else I can try to sort it out?
thanks,

Large Photoshop file has caused system slow down.

I have Dual 2.0Ghz G5 which has worked very well since I got it last Spring. Just recently however I've had some slow downs. There are a number of things that I've noticed such as more frequent spinning beachball and font redraw issues.
These issued started since I was working one a massive Photoshop file. I was doing work on a Trade Show booth which eventually resulted in a 10Gb Photoshop file! I realized I probably should have taken steps to reduce the size of the file but that's neither here nor there. Despite the size of the file I was still quite impressed with the performance of my machine. That said, I've found the general performance of the machine since working on this file to be diminished.
I've done all of the typical maintenace items such as repairing disk and permissions via Disk Utility, clearing caches and running Maintenance scripts using Cache Out X, MacJanitor and Tiger Cache Cleaner, but still the performance of my machine has taken a hit.
It's only since this has happened that I've started launching Activity Monitor to try and determine if there is something obvious going on which is hogging resources or not. This for me has raised questions of what is "Normal" for some common tasks. Presently kernal_task is using under 5% of my CPU with 50 threads running which seems like a reasonable number. But it is also using almost 110Mb of RAM and 1.35Gb of Virtual Memory. Both of those numbers seem quite high to me, but I admit that I never looked at them before so I have no gage as to whether these numbers can be considered normal or not.
By all measures the machine still performs pretty good, but as I use this machine every day I know that it's not the same as it was prior to working on that large file. Is there something else related to Photoshop, temporary files, application caches or anything like that, that I should take a look at?
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Dual 2.0Ghz G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi Troy,
First I would try using a separate HD for the scratch disk.As PS tries to read and write,it has to compete with the OS as it tries to hit its swop files. If Version Cue is on, turn it off.Get rid of any virus checking apps.Check your Ram.If you haven't allowed Tiger to run its cron scripts on a regular basis,and only do periodic maintenance, I would take the time to do an Archive and Install, or even wipe the HD,zero it and install tiger again. This I realize is a drastic measure,time
consuming, and a pain.But if your whole system is slowing down?? Or if you get a new drive set it up to be your primary drive first and test your system on it before moving any of your PS files over from the old HD.Use the old HD as scratch disk
Have you included the use of other utilies to check your HD? Drive Genius, Disk Warrior, TechTool Pro.No Norton utilities allowed.Hope this helps as there are a lot of places to look for the problem.

Should I eject external drives when I shut down my Mac?

Hello to all,
This might be a very elementary question to some, but I trust I will be given the proper answer. I have been using my Mac for nearly a year and I have not been ejecting my external drive/s once a day's work is over. I use the drop down menu to either put the Mac to sleep or shut it down. I allow the power to be on for the multi-socket spike from which my Mac and my drives get their power. Is this right or wrong? Any guidance in this matter will be appreciated.

baltwo wrote:
FWIW, I never sleep desktop machines or their HDs, only their displays, and run 24/7, but do power down ext HDs and printers, since they're seldom used.
Hello and thanks baltwo. Sorry for this apparent delay in responding to your reply, reason being I did not have much time to sit on my Mac on account of the Festival of Peace being conducted here in Hyderabad where I stay. Am having a blessed time here attending the meetings.
Your reply has been worded precisley and I trust you are saying this:
You do not shut down or put your Mac to sleep, but put the display to sleep; and that you switch of the power to your ext drives and printers. Am I right?
I have with me a Buffalo thunderbolt [1 TB], a 2 TB, LaCie [2 TB] and 2 Seagate [2 TB] external drives. I was in the habit of having these drives mounted even though when I had no need of all of them. The Apple technician who had come to remove the RAM [see above] informed me that it was not a good thing to have all the drives connected at the same time. Since then I am trying to keep only those drives for which I had need mounted.
The thunderbolt has no external power supply and hence, if I have no need of its services, I have to eject it and then unplug it from the back of the Mac. The LaCie has a power switch conveniently located on the drive itself and ejecting it and unpowering it should be easy. For the Seagate drives, after ejecting them, I need to remove the power adapters from the power spike. At the end of the day, when one is tired, all these different processes may be cumbersome to me, but I would not mind adopting it if I could be instructed as to how this method of yours scores over the other method in which one shuts down the computer. My next thanks is awaiting you!
Cheers and have agreat day.

External drives cause program slow downs

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