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cgc · Feb 14, 2012, 09:51 PM

Hello, my 2006 MacPro is connected to my FIOS router via cat-5 and my wife is connected via wifi (802.11G). Every time she copies a large file off my computer over the network my MacPro gets all herky jerky. Tabs in Chrome open slowly, the mouse moves jerky, Finder windows open slowly, mouse clicks aren't registered in a timely manner, etc. This behavior will clear once the copy is done. I think this copy is couple video files I ripped from some DVDs so maybe about 4GB in 1GB chunks. My CPU utilization is <8% and I have lots of memory (2gb inactive and 2gb free), the HDD isn't doing much (e.g. no TM backup or anything) and network throughput is a whopping 2.8MB/s.

Is this a known issue or bug? Any workaround? Thanks.

Waragainstsleep · Feb 14, 2012, 10:30 PM

My first guess would be the hard drive. It may not be working hard, but it may still not be working well. Has it been wiped and refreshed since it was new/recently? If its running the install it shipped with in 2006 it might be in need of a good spring clean.

cgc · Feb 15, 2012, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

My first guess would be the hard drive. It may not be working hard, but it may still not be working well. Has it been wiped and refreshed since it was new/recently? If its running the install it shipped with in 2006 it might be in need of a good spring clean.

I'm using a pair of WD Blue HDDs so they're not from 2006 but how would I go about "wiping and refreshing" them? CCC from one to the other and back?

reader50 · Feb 15, 2012, 12:05 PM

What's their percentage full numbers? Working drives should be kept below 80% full to maintain efficiency. If one has gone past 90%, it will experience heavy fragmentation and would become dog-slow.

A defrag utility will refresh a drive, provided it has adequate space again. Also, the data can be copied off the drive, the drive reformatted, and the data copied back. If a drive is already backed up, you can skip the initial copy step.

Waragainstsleep · Feb 15, 2012, 12:29 PM

I always assumed CCC would do a block level copy thus copying any faults of corruptions in the process. I ever bothered to find out for sure though.

cgc · Feb 15, 2012, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

I always assumed CCC would do a block level copy thus copying any faults of corruptions in the process. I ever bothered to find out for sure though.

I used to use CCC to essentially defrag a drive which allowed me to resize my BootCamp partition (e.g. more contiguous space).

cgc · Feb 15, 2012, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

What's their percentage full numbers? Working drives should be kept below 80% full to maintain efficiency. If one has gone past 90%, it will experience heavy fragmentation and would become dog-slow.

A defrag utility will refresh a drive, provided it has adequate space again. Also, the data can be copied off the drive, the drive reformatted, and the data copied back. If a drive is already backed up, you can skip the initial copy step.

My main drive has 449GB used out of 640GB so it's about 70% filled. The second drive is a TM drive and the third is a backup to the backup for music/photos/docs/etc. I'll CCC to my TM then use that drive as boot drive and the current boot drive as my TM drive.

Waragainstsleep · Feb 15, 2012, 01:38 PM

The other trick if you can find a spare drive is to put a clean install on it and test to see if the issue persists. If not, its either the disk or a software issue, if it does, its something else. Network or part of the Mac Pro hardware.
A really easy test to try would be the second ethernet port on the Pro though I don't know it would really tell you much whatever the result. Have you tried a new ethernet cable?

cgc · Feb 15, 2012, 02:49 PM

I don't think the ethernet port is jacked since I can DL at 15Mbps with no issues and my HDDs copy at 65MBps (I'm being careful with the casing of the "B"). I only get slowdown when my wife copies files out of my Public folder...I have a feeling it's something with OSX (using 10.6.8) but was hoping for confirmation of someone else who sees the same symptoms.

I'm cloning my HDD right now (both HDDs are identical WD Blue 640GB). Will try Waragainstsleep and reader50's suggestions when it's done).

Thanks.

Waragainstsleep · Feb 15, 2012, 06:06 PM

OK, that IS weird. Does it make any difference if she copies files from elsewhere? Try sharing something on one of the other drives?

cgc · Feb 15, 2012, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

OK, that IS weird. Does it make any difference if she copies files from elsewhere? Try sharing something on one of the other drives?

Haven't tried that...I put stuff she wants in the shared folder. Once I get some more time this weekend I'll look into all the possibilities. I've quit DropBox and Parallels as well.

cgc · 08:51 PM

In-laws showed up and spent the weekend so I had little time to troubleshoot but wife is copying some stuff and my computer has some serious lag. The keyboard and mouse are both noticeably laggy. I've cloned HDDs, tried other networking port, and shut off a few programs to no effect. I still have a few things running at login:

1. iTunesHelper
2. LaunchBar
3. Moom
4. SizzlingKeys4iTunes
5. Default Folder X Helper
6. MenuWeather
7. iStatMenus
8. LittleSnitch
9. SMCFanControl

I'm sharing via AFP if that makes a difference; in addition to File Sharing, I have Printer Sharing and Remote Management enabled in the OSX's Sharing PrefPane.

One of the files had an error so things smoothed out on my Mac and when I restarted the copy I saw a small (3.4%) spike in CPU usage caused by SMBD. Any known issues with this (I see a few via Google) but they all mention lots of SMBD spawns and I only have three. None of them use much memory so I'm at a loss.

What are the recommended settings to share files with Windows 7 and OSX 10.6?