Extremely slow External Drive

I have just installed a USB 2.0 Lacie 1 TB external hard drive in the rear port of my Airport Extreme router, for the purpose of storing & sharing Photos, Music & video files on our network. All this was done on the advice from the apple guy.......when i open Iphoto it takes well over a full minute to see the photo library (that little pinwheel just keeps on spinning)...Does anyone know a solution to this extreme slowness?

Just writing to bump your question as I have a very similar question. I want to connect a HD to my Time Capsule for the same purpose as you and want it to be fast like you. I hope you get an answer.

Similar Messages

  • Extreme - iTunes - External Drive

    Some time back I moved my massive music collection and some other files to a 1TB external drive which I am also using as a Tie Capsule. I then bought an Airport Extreme and plugged the external drive in to it. Now I cannot access my music library. It does not show up when I use Finder but I know the files are still on the drive.
    Any ideas on how to access these files?
    If I were to daisy chain 2 external drives on the Extreme and made one the Time Capsule and one the music? Would that work?

    The real question I guess is: Would my apple TV be able to read music or movie files on its own on my external hard drive plugged into my Airport Extreme without iTunes running on my computer?
    Sorry, but no.
    And a second question: Can iTunes on my PC manage and read files on my external drive wich is plugged in that Airport Extreme trough wifi?
    In theory, yes.  But, I would not recommend this since response times will be very slow, and the library will tend to get "lost" on a regular basis, requiring that you "point" iTunes at the library location on a fairly regular basis.

  • Does AirPort Extreme support external drives with Advanced Format (4K) ?

    Hi!
    I have an AirPort Extreme from 2008 and now i want to use a Raid 1 USB HDD for Time Machine.
    The new disks often has the new "Advanced Format" (4K blocks).
    Does this APE support such 4k drives?
    At the moment i don't have any experience with this new format,
    for this reason i don't know if the APE or the hdd case has to support this format.
    regards
    Sebastian

    Sebastian Brandner wrote:
    1) I'm using a simple USB Disk, connected to my APE, as Time Machine Backup Volume. This works quite well for about a year.
    Yes, for a few folks it does appear to work for a number of days, weeks, or months. But sooner or later, the backups turn up corrupted, often beyond repair. It happens to me about eery 3 months, which seems fairly typical. That's likely why Apple doesn't support it, and nobody should depend on it.
    2) The RAID Case shows only a single disk to the connected device, raid 1 handling ist internal and so it's again just a simple usb disk.
    Correct. I didn't say otherwise. In a supported location, Time Machine will back up to a hardware RAID set (but not a software one).
    3) The link with the supported disks doesn't handle the new disk format 4k. :-/ Maybe the support entry is too old.
    Note that it's a 2008 Airport Extreme; that predates the support article by at least a couple of years.
    But by all means, call AppleCare if you don't believe the support article.

  • Can I use an external drive for a 2nd time capsule backup?  Other questions too

    My setup:
    1 Macbook Air
    1 Mac mini as HTPC
    1 Mac mini as a media server (5tb and growing) with external drives.
    I want to get a 2tb time capsule to back up my laptop and mac mini that i use as a HTPC.  Simple enough....
    Since the new gen airport extremes support external drives to a time machine back up i want to plug a CineRAID device with 4 6TB drives (12gb of storage in a RAID) and use that as a backup for my media server.  Could I just plug it directly into the mac mini?  Yes, but i am trying to have the lest amount of clutter possible visible. So i want to put in a closet where my router is..
    So can I plug in the CineRAID into the usb port for a 2nd time machine backup with massive storage?
    Option 2: 
    Just get an airport extreme and use the CineRAID for a backup via USB...
    Also,  how much space does the airport extreme support?  Like i said up time I am at 5tb but its growing fast

    So can I plug in the CineRAID into the usb port for a 2nd time machine backup with massive storage?
    There is conflicting advice about whether a RAID setup will work with Time Machine, so you can find information that will say that it will work and other info that will say that it will not. In general, Apple says that Time Machine must "see" the RAID drive as a single partition, but they also say that you need to check with the support folks at the drive manufacturer for more details.
    The only way that you will know whether it will work or not on your network, is try it out on your network.
    Please let us know about your results.
    Just get an airport extreme and use the CineRAID for a backup via USB...
    Same as above.
    how much space does the airport extreme support?
    The firmware on an AirPort Extreme will support up to a 4 TB drive, but I have not tried it on a larger drive, so we'll need another user to answer on that one. Here again, it would be wise to try a few "tests" before you try to backup or transfer a large amount of data.

  • My final cut is running extremely slow after having for 6 months.  I use external hard drives and save nothing on my computer.  it takes a long time to render now. do you think something is wrong with computer. took it to mac store but they fail to help

    my final cut is running extremely slow after having for 6 months.  I use external hard drives and save nothing on my computer.  it takes a long time to render now. do you think something is wrong with computer. took it to mac store but they fail to help me.  I have a 13 inch mac book pro 10.6.8 8gb 2.3 gfz intel core i5

    What did Apple tell you about what they did (or did not) find here?
    See if working on the main disk is any faster.
    USB2 is glacial, as I/O interconnects go.  And USB2 disks have been known to fail, or sometimes to drop back to USB1 speeds, too.  FireWire 800 is substantially faster than USB2, but still not as fast as the internal drive connections can provide.
    Put another way, start varying your configuration, and see which configuration changes (still) have the problem, and which don't.

  • 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.

  • USB 3.0 external drive extremely slow on Macbook Air 2014

    Dear Apple Support Team & Folks in Apple Community,
    Seriously, I have a problem with my new Macbook Air 2014 which has equipped with USB 3.0 port. I read through the forum and hardly find a solution for this.
    Recently, I plugged in my USB 3.0 external drive and expect that it would reach the same file transfer speed as that on my PC. Instead of 625 MB/s (5 Gbit/s), it was hardly reaching 60 MB/s (480 Mbit/s) to my surprise! Sounds like Macbook Air doesn't recognize USB 3.0 device properly. I have tried Western Digital and Seagate devices but failed to get reasonable transfer speed on my Macbook Air.
    I tried it again with my USB 2.0 external drive on Macbook Air and only got the transfer speed around 15 - 20 MB/s which is disappointing.
    Any patches or Firmware updates would be appreciate!
    I have OS X 10.9.3 already with EFI and SMC update patched by App Store.

    I would be interested to know which consumer grade non-raid external harddisk that could reach 6xx mb/sec.
    The speed you mentioned should be normal, since most of these are 5400rpm drives (asumming it is 2.5 inch).

  • Slow streaming from external drive connected to Airport Extreme

    In the last week or so, when I try to play videos stored on my Airport Extreme on my Apple TV, they are extremely slow to load. It takes about 10 minutes before they even play, and at various points throughout it will have to essentially buffer for the same amount of time. The problem seems limited to the Apple TV, though, as I have no problem playing the same videos directly in iTunes.
    Has anyone else experienced this lately?

    Katie, I have had the same problem with both AIrport Extreme and a new TC.
    Have you update the firmware to 7.4.1, if so downgrading back to 7.3.x fixes the problem for now.
    I think there is something going on as a result of the 7.4.1 firmware upgrade.

  • Copying files from an external HD extremely slow!

    Hi everybody.
    Thank’s to read this message.
    I’ve a MacBook Pro 13” (mid 2009) core2duo 2.26 Mhz whit 2GB ram and running Snow Leopard 10.6.2
    The system runs perfect until i try to copy something from an external drive, takes a lot of time to copy it, for example a 600 mb file takes almost 15 minutes, thats ridiculous, the problem is only when the info comes from an external drive and not from the machine to an external drive.
    I’ve tried whit tree different external HD and cables, whit four different USB flash memories, happened the same whit the SD slot and whit the CD drive, the size of the files or the content doesn’t matter is slow whit anything, I thought in the external drives format (FAT32 most of them) but happened the same whit the Time Machine disk whit HFS+ format, yesterday i copy a 4.5 GB folder whit videos and photos from time machine HD and took 4, yes 4 hours!!
    Is a serious problem because while is copying a file uses all the machine resources and i can’t do anything else until finish writing the file. Also i think is not an Snow Leopard problem, cause i tried to install Windows XP whit Bootcamp and in the part when the system copy files from the CD to the HDD happened the same, just took extremely lot of time and i had cancel it.
    I already reset the PRAM, repaired the hard disc and made a test whit the Hardware test tool in the Snow Leopard disc but can’t find something wrong.
    Well, thats the problem, any idea or comment is appreciate, thanks a lot

    Hi Eww, thanks a lot for your answer
    Thats a good idea, but why happens the same when i'm out of Snow Leopard, i mean installing windows xp goes very slow.
    I think should be something that controls the in and out information flow, but i don't know.
    Any other idea??

  • My external HD of 1TB is not being recognized by the iMac and when after a long waiting period it does, the whole computer becomes extremely slow. Do I need any particular add-on to make it workable?

    My external HD of 1TB is not being recognized by the iMac and when after a long waiting period it does, the whole computer becomes extremely slow. Do I need any particular add-on to make it workable?
    Before I updated to OS X Mavericks I was using another external disk that was getting disconnected ocasionally so I bought a new ADATA HD710 portable 1TB Drive and moved the files to it. This new drive which is supposed to be OS X Mavericks compatible takes minutes to show the files especially when opening second and third level folders which has made mu iMac unusable
    What should I do?

    Your Mac should be able to recognize many different types of drives (including Windows-formatted drives) immediately for Reading, provided they are in good working condition and not damaged. There should be no need to transfer to a different type of drive.
    If there is no recognition of this drive, see if it can be seen in Disk Utility.
    If your aim is to transfer the data on it DO NOT use ERASE or PARTITION as these will completely erase all the information on the Drive.
    If the drive is present while the Mac sleeps, it is likely to drop out and not be seen any longer, especially if it is a USB-powered drive.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Would I benefit from unplugging my 3 Tb external drive (itunes library) from my pc and plugging it to my airport extreme?

    The real question I guess is: Would my apple TV be able to read music or movie files on its own on my external hard drive plugged into my Airport Extreme without iTunes running on my computer?
    And a second question: Can iTunes on my PC manage and read files on my external drive wich is plugged in that Airport Extreme trough wifi?
    Thanks for you help!

    The real question I guess is: Would my apple TV be able to read music or movie files on its own on my external hard drive plugged into my Airport Extreme without iTunes running on my computer?
    Sorry, but no.
    And a second question: Can iTunes on my PC manage and read files on my external drive wich is plugged in that Airport Extreme trough wifi?
    In theory, yes.  But, I would not recommend this since response times will be very slow, and the library will tend to get "lost" on a regular basis, requiring that you "point" iTunes at the library location on a fairly regular basis.

  • Can I backup to an external drive on airport extreme

    Have Airport extreme with a usb port free for use- can I hang an external drive on it and use time machine to backup my macbook. I am new to Apple from the pc world and lovin it

    I just updated the firmware on my extreme and am using it with a USB disk for Time Machine right now, It seems to be working fine...a little slow but working.

  • ITunes + Ping extremely slow with Library on external HD

    Hi,
    My Library is on an external HD connected to an Airport Extreme base station. My MacBook is connected wired to Airport, so there are no possible wifi connection issues.
    iTunes is extremely slow since version 10. If I select a song and want to select another one, I've got a spinning beach ball for at least 20s. Change a rating: 20s delay. Every move I make: at least 20s delay...
    My guess: every time I select a song, iTunes connects to Ping to fill up the dropdown menu next to the song title. Disabling Ping doesn't help. I tried in Terminal "defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool TRUE", but this merely hides the dropdown menu, it doesn't stop the functionality.
    iTunes is basically not usable anymore.
    Any suggestions?

    talie wrote:
    I am running iTunes 11 with the media files stored on an external hard-drive. This setup works great except for one thing:
    If I am currently downloading something from the iTunes Store and I quit iTunes
    Don't quit iTunes.
    How can I make iTunes see the interrupted download and not have to restart the download from the beginning?
    You cannot.

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