Extremely Slow Disk Access from External Drives (USB & Firewire)

Following the upgrade to 10.6.2 (from 10.6.1), my computer is communicating extremely slowly with all external drives (both Firewire 400 and USB). File transfers which used to take less than a minute now take 5-10 minutes (less than 1 GB). Peering into the Console, I see messages for each aspect of a file reading: Nov 13 12:30:12 Nautilus /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder[152]: Possible unresolved transaction race -105/filename
(Nautilus is the name of the computer)
By "each aspect", I mean that for Pages files, it provides a message for Quicklook,(null) , Contents,(null) , and filename,(null).
All disks are in good health, formatted as FAT32 for ease of use with all OS types, and are SATA.
Again, this occurred immediately following the installation of 10.6.2 (both Software Update and Combo). I've seen similar errors online with iTunes libraries on network drives, but this is on directly connected drives.
I normally wouldn't ask this, but, is there a way to reinstall 10.6.1 over .2? At this point, Time Machine would likely cause me to lose other data as well in a full revert, since it has been more than a few days.

I have various personal files backed up on these drives (not system data): music, pictures, documents, etc.
FAT32 should not be an issue, as I have used these drives for over 2 years with Tiger, Leopard, and then Snow Leopard with nay an issue, until now. Additionally, while the Time Machine backup may be an archive, it is the sole occupier of an HFS-formatted partition which is not exhibiting the issue. I only included that information since it is physically on the same drive as a partition (FAT32) which is being troublesome to rule out driver/hardware problems.
Bottom line: All of my drives worked perfectly on 10.6.1 (and continue to do so on my other Macs (10.5.8), but do not on 10.6.2. I was only looking for a potential solution to my computer's specific issue, not a statement that my "compromise" is the cause of my problems.
Actually, since Apple fully supports read/write access on FAT32 partitions, I should, indeed, be able to "have all things all ways...", no offense intended.

Similar Messages

After SN install can't launch Disk Utility from external drive

I recently upgraded 10.5.9 to SN on my white Macbook. First I used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the old drive onto the replacement drive in an external enclosure. Then I swapped drives so that the new drive is now the internal drive and the old drive is in the enclosure. I then upgraded the OS on the internal drive via SN installer on DVD.
Now when I start from the external drive in OS X 10.5.9 and try to launch Disk Utility from this drive I get a weird error message that "Disk Utility can't be launched because it's incompatible with this architecture." The only things I can think of is that Snow Leopard installs something that globally effects all perhipherals (like new disk drivers?), or that there is something in the enclosure's USB bridge which is causing this, or that installing Snow Leopard breaks the PRAM for older versions of OS X. Tech support for the enclosure vendor tells me there is nothing in the enclosure's USB that would cause this. Any insights into what's happening appreciated.

Thanks for response. Ah, that's it. I was trying to launch it from the applications folder I had dragged to the dock, which was done while running Snow Leopard. That's why (duh!) all the application icons were slashed out. : |

Extremely slow wireless xfer from Macbook to USB drive on Airport Extreme

I have tried to set up my external 1TB seagate USB drive to my AE for wireless network storage (only 1 computer on network, but I also have an AppleTV). If the drive is connected directly to my MB the transfer speeds are fine, but when I try to go wireless the speeds are extremely slow - to the point of unusable. I am sure these issues have been discussed previously, but I cant find an obvious solution. Is there anyway to run network diagnostics to see what my MB->AE transfer speeds are and what my AE-WWW speeds are? I dont recall the cable bandwidth that I get from Time Warner - but it is one of the faster options.......

mfirst wrote:
I have tried to set up my external 1TB seagate USB drive to my AE for wireless network storage (only 1 computer on network, but I also have an AppleTV). If the drive is connected directly to my MB the transfer speeds are fine, but when I try to go wireless the speeds are extremely slow
There are at least two explanations for this: (1) Your wireless connection is like to be slower than a direct USB connection. (2) Apple base stations are quite when serving connected disk drives. One reference cites 10-30% of the speed of a directly-connected USB drive.
I dont recall the cable bandwidth that I get from Time Warner - but it is one of the faster options.
I wouldn't expect that to be a factor in the performance you're seeing.

Slow read times from external drive (10KB/s)

Hi all,
I have a nice external setup that includes two WD 500GB drives linked up with firewire. I usually copy stuff I want to keep into drive A and then use rsync to sync between the two disks (A and B). Today I've copied some new files into drive A and then used rsync to sync into drive B. Some of the files were copied at normal rate, but to my surprise most of the files were copied extremely slow - about 10KB/s!!! (all the files are at the same size). I did managed to read all the files, but very slowly.
So to take rsync out of the equation I've tried to copy the files manually via finder, and it was also extremely slow.
I've also verified the following:
* Reading same files from drive B - fast as normal.
* connecting drive A by USB - still slow
* disk utility repair and verify - all are OK
The disk is not clicking or making funny noises.
I am not sure what could be the problem, maybe it has to do with the file system? Any idea what could it be?
Thanks!

Try using Disk Utility to repair the disk. Note that I am not referring to the repair disk permissions button on the left. I am referring to the repair disk button on the right of the Disk Utility window.

Tiger install from external drive (USB)

iMac G4, 900mHz., 640mg. ram, CD rom.
Is it possible to install Tiger from an external dvd drive (USB)? I'm not sure how to start up and bypass the installed os. Would it be easier to use my iBooks' dvd drive to install the os on another machine, using target disk mode. If so, how is that possible?
Thanks-Tom

I believe OS 9 supported USB booting - hence why it could be done on a Clamshell, OS X does not support USB booting- although the rumours are that the Intel Macs can boot from USB drives. The Target Mode is the best option. Switch off the iBook with the Tiger DVD in, then boot holding T to get you to target mode. Then you should be able to boot the iMac and hold 'alt' aka 'option' to see a full list of boot options.
mrtotes
P.S. There's no such thing as a 900MHz iMac.

Extremely slow disk access iMac5.1

Hello, my daughter is having problems with her computer. She has a Mac5.1 ( intel ) running 10.4.11.
In the process of trying to determine the problem, I installed Xbench on her computer. The numbers for the disk access category are dismal, all others (although low) appear normal.
This disk values are:
Sequential                         0.03
    Uncached Write            0.01        0.01 MB/sec [4K blocks]
    Uncached Write            0.17        0.10 MB/sec [256K blocks]
    Uncached Read            60.40        17.68 MB/sec[4K blocks]
    Uncached Read            86.73        43.59 MN/sec[256K blocks]
Random                            1.35
    Uncached Write           15.89        0.01 MB/sec [4K blocks]
    Uncached Write            0.35        0.10 MB/sec [256K blocks]
    Uncached Read            63.58        17.68 MB/sec[4K blocks]
    Uncached Read            99.67        43.59 MN/sec[256K blocks
Aparently sequential access is much worse that random access however Apple utilities as well as Onyx claims that the disk is fine. However the computer is nearly unusable.   What else can I try? I ran an fsck on the disk, I also caused the write permissions to be corrected. I am running out of ideas.
BTW her disk is a WDC WD160JS-40TGB0. Out of 148 Gig, 110 are used and about 40 are free.
Any Ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated.

How much RAM does the iMac have and how many Applications are running concurrently or set to open at login?
40GB should be ample free space for V-RAM, but it could definitely get bogged down if there is to little RAM for the users needs.
Sometimes one will inadvertently set a bunch of stuff to automatically open at login. Go to: Apple > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items and remove any unnecessary Application automatically set to open at login-in and then restart the computer.
Then again it could be that the HD is just suffering from age, if it has been thrashed because of continual page outs due to the lack of system memory. Because my Earlier 2006 Mac4,1 with 2GB of RAM that I upgraded (for space reasons) to a WD 320GB Hard Drive in 2009 is getting:
Disk Test
55.08
Sequential
47.67
Uncached Write
177.90
109.23 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write
175.61
99.36 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read
14.73
4.31 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read
211.81
106.45 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random
65.23
Uncached Write
25.42
2.69 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write
182.78
58.51 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read
93.31
0.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read
172.38
31.99 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Dennis

Can't boot PB 17" from external drive using Firewire

Title says it all. I've got a WD My Book 500MHz external drive with Tiger loaded on it. The startup drive panel shows it as a bootable drive, but when I select it and restart, the PB briefly displays the question mark folder and then defaults to the internal HD running Leopard.
I repaired disk permissions on both drives, but still no success. Any ideas?
John

Thanks. According to Western Digital, some versions of this drive are bootable, though the Studio Edition I have is not. See the WD My Book page for a list of what they say are bootable versions.
That page at the bottom also gives a procedure using Disk Utility to make any My Book bootable. I tried it twice, however, and no go. The issue you raised must be the catch.
John

Disk Utility from external drive?

Our mac mini has a corrupted disk and needs Disk Repair, but the DVD drive is also broken. Can I boot from an external DVD drive?

Have you tried booting to the recovery partition, by holding the command and r keys down while booting (or the alt/option key)? That should bring up a short menu, allowing you to run Disk Utility to do the repair.

Can Disk Utility get SMART status from external drives?

I recently updated my backup plan with a NewerTech quad-interface dock and a WD Caviar Green hd. I'm using the FW800 interface to connect to my iMac (10.6.7) Everything works perfectly, as expected. I noticed, though, that Disk Utility cannot report the SMART status on the new WD drive. DU simply says "Not Supported" under SMART Status.
Is Disk Utility telling me that it doesn't read SMART status from external drives? Or is it telling me that the new drive doesn't support SMART (which I would find highly unusual)? And, if it's Disk Utility that can't read the status, are there any third-party apps that can report the SMART status on an external drive?
Thanks,
JimC

Unfortunately I cannot speak to the NewerTech enclosure, but in principle it appears to be possible to have SMART information displayed even for external drives if the enclosure's bridge controller chip allows it.
My experience:
I've used two MacPower Pleiades FW800/400/USB/eSATA enclosures for several years and I've now supplemented them with two additional inXtron enclosures. They all work as expected daisy-chained to the iMac.
The interesting thing is that the inXtron enclosures came with a CD with some software on it ("Smart AP") which is not available for download, notably a Dashboard Widget for displaying actual and maximum temperatures, total hours of operation, start/stop cycles, drive model and serial number.
This widget is complete garbage, though – it is a nauseating nightmare of extreme over-design at the expense of even basic usability:
http://www.inxtron.com/information-center/smart-ap-for-external-hard-drives
To make matters even worse, it can only display the above information for the first external drive connected.
BUT: This Widget internally calls a command line utility which does the actual parameter retrieval, and that one can be called from the terminal as well.
So after installing the software from CD and effectively discarding the Widget, I checked out the command line utility in the Terminal and found that this utility actually reported data about ALL my enclosures, both the inXtron and the MacPower ones (there seems to be firmware compatibility across these):
(The '$' is supposed to be Terminal's bash prompt – type in only the rest of the respective line.)
$ /Applications/MacpowerAP/GetSMART 1
29 50 13 8
53 67 645 15829
52 53 90 7105
51 52 18 13
Each line reports the following for one connected enclosure:
[temp] [maxtemp] [cycles] [hours]
The drives are reported first USB, then FireWire drives, each in the order of first connection / mounting.
$ /Applications/MacpowerAP/GetSMART 2
WD-WCA**************
WDC WD30EZRX-00MMMB0
5TE09***************
ST31000333AS-00MMMB0
5TE09***************
ST31000333AS-00MMMB0
WD-WMA**************
WDC WD30EZRS-00J99B0
Each drive gets two lines reported, first the drive's serial number ("***" blocking out my exact ones), then the drive model.
$ /Applications/MacpowerAP/GetSMART 3
29 50 13 8
WD-WCA**************
WDC WD30EZRX-00MMMB0
53 67 645 15829
5TE09***************
ST31000333AS-00MMMB0
52 53 90 7105
5TE09***************
ST31000333AS-00MMMB0
51 52 18 13
WD-WMA**************
WDC WD30EZRS-00J99B0
This combines both of the above.
$ /Applications/MacpowerAP/GetSMART 5
disk4
disk1
disk2
disk3
This reports the mounted disk names (referring not to the volume names but to the internal Unix names as in /dev/[drive]); Numbering is in connection / mounting order, the actual sequence is as always USB drives, then FireWire drives.
$ /Applications/MacpowerAP/GetSMART 6
USB
1394
1394
1394
This reports the connection interface for each drive in the same sequence as all other commands.
$ /Applications/MacpowerAP/GetSMART 7
MPT934DS1.20.0104.00
MPT934DS1.20.0104.00
This might report the firmware revision or something like that.
These are the commands I know about, and they apply only to the "Smart AP" software supplied with current inXtron enclosures, but it may be possible that other brands use it as well.
I have not been able to identify information about the self-test (early(?) failure warning), but it might be contained as well in the data reported above.
As always, your mileage may vary and you should never do such experiments without FIRST making sure you've got backups of your data and that such backup is not connected during experimentation!
Maybe this can help some people getting the information they need; And maybe there are similar capabilities with other enclosures. At the very least it demonstrates that with the proper firmware in the enclosures themselves and some software on the Mac it IS possible to get at least some of the SMART information from the drive in an external FireWire- or USB-connected enclosure.
None of that is fed into the system's "official" SMART mechanism, though, so no luck using standard mechanisms or applications for it. It's strictly a command-line affair (deservedly disregarding the mishappen Widget).
Good luck!

Cannot remove Disk Icons from Disk Images or External Drives from Desktop

After years with PPCs, I just upgraded to an Intel Mac. I am now running into a funny problem. The majority of the time (although occasionally it works as it should), I am unable to eject disks. These include disk images from my internal hard drive, external hard drives, and disk images from external hard drives.
I do not get the “Cannot eject this disk because it is in use” error that happens when something is trying to access a file on the disk; instead, nothing happens. I’ve tried ejecting by dragging the icon to the dock, hitting the eject icon in finder, right-clicking and ejecting from there, and even using a terminal-based script that I found on the WEB. None of these do anything- no errors, but the icon hangs about as if nothing happened.
Occasionally I cannot log off at all (I just get the SBBOD); here I have to do a hard reboot. Sometimes I can log off properly. Either way, all seems to be fine when I log back in.
I’ve run Applejack multiple times.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated! Thank you.
OS 10.5.6
2.8 GHz Intel Core Duo iMac with 2 GB factory RAM

The linked macfixitforums topic is over seven years old and isn't applicable. Follow nerowolfe's suggestions. Once you sort things out, see these:
Switching from Windows to Mac OS X,
Basic Tutorials on using a Mac,
MacFixIt Tutorials,
MacTips, and
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition.
Additionally, *Texas Mac Man* recommends:
Quick Assist.
Welcome to the Switch To A Mac Guides,
Take Control E-books, and
A guide for switching to a Mac.

Combo Drive reading Dual Layer / booting from external DVD USB

I am helping a friend with an iMac G5. He has the combo drive which is not able to read the dual layer Leopard DVD. I have looked to see if there is a firmware update for the drive however no luck. I am able to put an external usb DVD and it reads the disk however I was not able to boot from the disk using keyboard commands I tried AppleOption+ShiftDelete, C, and also tried Option but no luck.
I have been reading that booting from usb external drive is a no no on older G5 iMac's unless you are using fire wire. If any one can give me some help with getting the USB drive to boot, or figuring out why the combo drive spits out the DVD every time I would appreciate it. I am also willing to make a bootable usb leopard thumb drive, but I don't want to waste my time if it's not going to boot from USB.
Thanks,
jtadmin

Do you happen to have a more recent Mac that can read the Leopard installation DVD?
If so, you may be able to start up your Mac in FireWire Target Disk Mode,
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
and let the iMac G5 use your Mac's optical drive to boot from the Leopard DVD.
Also, it is true that PowerPC Macs can generally only boot from external drives that are FireWire.

Since you can no longer backup to disk, how to restore from external drive without losing all ratings and playlists

since you can no longer backup to disk, how to restore from external drive without losing all ratings and playlists?

My own opinion is that you should install the later appropriate version of Silverkeeper. That said, I would in fact recommend if you can wait a few days for an answer, that you email the La Cie Silverkeeper backup team via the email link on the site at http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/
They are careful to say they are not officially providing a backup service, but when I emailed them with a query regarding usage about a year ago after downloading Silverkeeper for myself, I got a reply within a couple of days that cleared up my question.

Cannot access shared external drive on iMac from Windows 7

Used to be able to access this drive with no problem from any of my PC's. Sent iMac in for repair and system drive was wiped so I'm starting from clean install of Leopard. Did all the updates first including 10.6.4 which wasn't on before the system drive died.
Firewall is off
SMB is on
Everyone as well as main user has read write access to external drive
iMac is in the same workgroup as machine, although it wasn't before and it worked fine.
PC can ping the IP of the iMac and get a response, can see the iMac in list of networked computers
but cannot access anything on it.
Windows 7 network diagnostics says "file and print sharing resource (JMGIMAC) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts" "The remote computer isn't responding to connections on port 445
I've tried everything, any ideas
Josh

I am familiar with the instructions for sharing files and have followed them (several times I might add).
My problem is that the information that I place in the WINS tab ( in the Network Preference Pane) disappears when the iMac is re-started. This information (especially the Workgroup name) must appear when the computer re-boots. It doesn't and I have to re-enter the information in the iMac before I can access its files from a Windows PC.
I have searched the internet for days trying to find an answer to this question. Although the problem seems to be fairly common, no solutions have been found.

Starting up from external Drive???

Have cloned my on board Drive with CCC, on a brand new JOURNALED external drive.
All went well.
Checked copied data.. it all seems fine.
Now testing the External Drive is creating a bit of anxiety as I have never attempted that before.
I know what and how to do it but am concerned that booting my computer FROM the ext.Drive, especially if slightly corrupted may cause me an issue to re-boot internally.
Also
Does updating the CLONE require as much time on follow ups, I truly hope it does NOT start all over again, just amends newly modified data...RIGHT?
I thank you for any input.

Basically all you should have to do is;
1) with external drive connected and powered on Open System Preferences->Startup Disk & select your External Drive.
2) Restart using the Restart... button.
There are things to keep in mind. The external drive must the appropriate type of Partitioning for the Mac CPU architecture that you are trying to boot (GUID Partition Table for Intel, Apple Partition Map for PPC). Up until somewhat recently Macs would only boot off of Firewire, and even then only certain Firewire chipsets. Newer Macs (I believe this includes all Intel Macs, but not sure) can boot off of Firewire or USB 2.0. I do not know about the very latest Macs, but obviously the new MacBooks won't boot off of Firewire because they do not have that interface available.
As far as I know unless you start accessing your internal drive and doing damaging changes there is little or no risk trying to boot off of your external clone. Worst case if it doesn't boot properly, power the mac down with the power button, disconnect the drive, and start up with your internal disk. If you do need to take this action make sure to go into Startup Disk and select your internal drive, otherwise your Mac spends time looking for bootable disks every time you power it on.

Problems booting from external drives

Ever since I got this 6-core 2013 MacPro (January 2015), I have had strange problems and glitches, but for this posting, I am talking about problems being able to boot up from external drives. I took the 4 external drives out of my old 2009 MacPro and put them into a 4-bay Thunderbolt enclosure. This enclosure can be configured as a RAID if all drives are the same (which they are not) or it can just be a place to be able to access all 4 drives. I used to be able to boot from each of those drives on the older MacPro but I am unable to do so now. They show up in the System Preferences/Startup Disk but if I choose one, it just reboots into the new MacPro drive. I even tried pulling out a couple of the drives and mounting each into a USB 3.0 (Sabrent) dock and still I could not boot from those drives which have the latest version of Yosemite. Yes, they are formatted correctly. I used to boot from them. I was able to clone one of the drives to a Seagate USB 3.0 hard drive and boot from that. Although, the clone was not perfect. It didn't transfer all my settings so I could recover some logins and serial numbers I wanted that I have never been able to retrieve since I got this new Mac.
Yesterday, I formatted a 32GB flash drive and tried to install Yosemite on it. I planned to put DiskWarrior on it. When I started to install Yosemite (from a saved download) it let me choose that drive, but when it restarted before installing, I was right back where I started on my MacPro's hard drive.
Is this normal behavior for the 2013 MacPro? Or is it just mine? I am beginning to think I may have a lemon since I have had other strange problems that don't go away.

Not all external devices are bootable. First stop would be involve whoever handles the 4-bay Thunderbolt. Seeing how it has a bridge most likely in order to support RAID mode that may not have the correct frmware or other reasons.
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/search/bootable%20volume
CCC is the only program I would be using.

Extremely Slow Disk Access from External Drives (USB & Firewire)

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