Finder is slow/laggy

[yawns]

Hi,

I have a problem where Finder doesn't seem to "update" in real time. For example, if I right-click on the desktop and create a new folder, the folder won't appear for 3 - 5 seconds. Same if I delete the folder. There's a several second delay before it disappears.

It also takes some time to populate directories when I'm browsing around. It's really bad on Windows network shares. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds to list the contents of a single directory, even if there's only a few files in it.

If I do the same things from the terminal, there's no lag at all. e.g., I can mkdir ~/Desktop/abc and the folder appears on the desktop instantly. Same with deletion. With the shares, I can ls -R /Volumes/share and list every shared file on the drive, while Finder is still trying to load the contents of the a single folder.

Any idea why Finder is so slow when I'm working with the filesystem through it?

 

[dyt1983]

Have you looked at Activity Monitor?

 

[Negritude]

Do you have a LOT of files overall? What specific machine are you using?

 

[Eithanius]

Finder has been slow since Mavericks and made worse off in Yosemite... If you rely a lot on QuickLook it is even close to unusable...

 

[yawns]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry I didn't mention this before: It's a brand new rMBP and it's been like this since the moment I took it out of the box. It was literally the first thing I noticed. I upgraded to 10.10.2 and then did a verify/repair file permission before I even used the computer, hoping that would fix it (obviously it didn't). I guess I could wipe/reinstall, but I'm reluctant to sink the time now just for an annoyance.

Activity Monitor doesn't show any spikes in disk activity or CPU usage. I'm not sure what else I would look for there. The thing that seems really weird to me is that if I create a file or delete a file from the terminal, the effect is instant. Like if I do touch ~/Desktop a, "a" will appear on my desktop/in Finder right away. It's just when I do something through Finder that it lags.

I don't have a lot of files and as I mentioned above this was happening before I had put anything on here. Just the default/stock install was already bad.

Right now I'm resorting to the terminal for everything. If I want to get to a shared directory that's three levels deep, it would take like several minutes of click, wait, click... in Finder. From terminal you can do open /Volumes/share/foo/bar and then you only have to wait for bar's contents to populate, etc.

Also FWIW I have an early 2011 MBP running Mavericks and it has no issues with local files or the Windows shares.

 

[crjackson2134]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry I didn't mention this before: It's a brand new rMBP and it's been like this since the moment I took it out of the box. It was literally the first thing I noticed. I upgraded to 10.10.2 and then did a verify/repair file permission before I even used the computer, hoping that would fix it (obviously it didn't). I guess I could wipe/reinstall, but I'm reluctant to sink the time now just for an annoyance.

Activity Monitor doesn't show any spikes in disk activity or CPU usage. I'm not sure what else I would look for there. The thing that seems really weird to me is that if I create a file or delete a file from the terminal, the effect is instant. Like if I do touch ~/Desktop a, "a" will appear on my desktop/in Finder right away. It's just when I do something through Finder that it lags.

I don't have a lot of files and as I mentioned above this was happening before I had put anything on here. Just the default/stock install was already bad.

Right now I'm resorting to the terminal for everything. If I want to get to a shared directory that's three levels deep, it would take like several minutes of click, wait, click... in Finder. From terminal you can do open /Volumes/share/foo/bar and then you only have to wait for bar's contents to populate, etc.

Also FWIW I have an early 2011 MBP running Mavericks and it has no issues with local files or the Windows shares.

It really shouldn't be happening on your brand new machine. Take it back to the Apple store and ask for a replacement if possible.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Finder has been slow since Mavericks and made worse off in Yosemite... If you rely a lot on QuickLook it is even close to unusable...

I have read people complaining about finder speed. Not my experience with 10.10.2. In fact I think finder in 10.10.2 is faster then when I had 10.9.5 installed. No lag issues with quick look either on my 2011 27" iMac. Interesting to see how finder performs with a clean install of 10.10.2 on my 2009 Mac-Mini and my 2009 17" MacBook Pro. Both currently running 10.9.5.

 

[daxiel22]

Hi,

I have a problem where Finder doesn't seem to "update" in real time. For example, if I right-click on the desktop and create a new folder, the folder won't appear for 3 - 5 seconds. Same if I delete the folder. There's a several second delay before it disappears.

It also takes some time to populate directories when I'm browsing around. It's really bad on Windows network shares. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds to list the contents of a single directory, even if there's only a few files in it.

If I do the same things from the terminal, there's no lag at all. e.g., I can mkdir ~/Desktop/abc and the folder appears on the desktop instantly. Same with deletion. With the shares, I can ls -R /Volumes/share and list every shared file on the drive, while Finder is still trying to load the contents of the a single folder.

Any idea why Finder is so slow when I'm working with the filesystem through it?

I updated to 10.10.3 and I had the same problem.
Reverted back to 10.10.2 and I solved it.
I've updated today to 10.10.3 (14D87p) and the laggy finder is here again.

THANK YOU APPLE

 

[Taz Mangus]

I have read people complaining about finder speed. Not my experience with 10.10.2. In fact I think finder in 10.10.2 is faster then when I had 10.9.5 installed. No lag issues with quick look either on my 2011 27" iMac. Interesting to see how finder performs with a clean install of 10.10.2 on my 2009 Mac-Mini and my 2009 17" MacBook Pro. Both currently running 10.9.5.

I have clean installed 10.10.2 on my 2009 17" MacBook Pro and the system response is very good. This is at least as good or better then when 10.9.5 was installed. No WiFi issue either.

 

[NJFP]

Pretty sure it's all 10.10.3's fault. I just D/L'd the public beta and my entire computer is running like molasses in January. 10.10.3 sucks balls so far.......

 

[dsemf]

Pretty sure it's all 10.10.3's fault. I just D/L'd the public beta and my entire computer is running like molasses in January. 10.10.3 sucks balls so far.......

Do you have Photos running? I noticed that Photos is taking a LOT of CPU. I did a migration from iPhoto with around 6000 photos. Later today I can going to reset Photos and skip the migration and see what that does to the CPU load.

DS

 

[bobr1952]

It really shouldn't be happening on your brand new machine. Take it back to the Apple store and ask for a replacement if possible.

Agree--there are probably a lot of reasons why Finder is slow on some computers but it most certainly shouldn't be slow on a brand new rMBP--not slow on my 2012 so I would expect it to run just fine on a brand new machine.

 

[6838359]

I'm just leaving a comment here to stay updated on this matter since I have exactly the same issue since I updated to 10.10.3

Before, my MBP late 2011 with SSD was blazing fast. After the 10.10.3 update everything is blazing fast except Finder and open/save dialogs (which probably use Finder).

 

[kagharaht]

Hi,

I have a problem where Finder doesn't seem to "update" in real time. For example, if I right-click on the desktop and create a new folder, the folder won't appear for 3 - 5 seconds. Same if I delete the folder. There's a several second delay before it disappears.

It also takes some time to populate directories when I'm browsing around. It's really bad on Windows network shares. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds to list the contents of a single directory, even if there's only a few files in it.

If I do the same things from the terminal, there's no lag at all. e.g., I can mkdir ~/Desktop/abc and the folder appears on the desktop instantly. Same with deletion. With the shares, I can ls -R /Volumes/share and list every shared file on the drive, while Finder is still trying to load the contents of the a single folder.

Any idea why Finder is so slow when I'm working with the filesystem through it?

Take a look at this tip from OS D daily. Perhaps that's what you need to do?

http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/10/fix-finder-problems-mac-os-x/

 

[yawns]

I've upgraded to 10.10.3 and reset Finder by deleting its plist, but I'm still having the same issue. I think other posters here are having larger/worse issues than me. I recorded a video to demonstrate what I'm seeing, with console and activity monitor up to show nothing is going on there:

https://vid.me/zIGk

I click kind of quick because I was afraid the video file would end up huge, but this is what I was trying to show:

1 - Create new folder on desktop via Finder.
2 - ls -a in terminal. See "Untitled Folder" in output, but no folder on the Desktop.
3 - "Untitled Folder," appears on desktop.
4 - Delete "Untitled Folder," via Finder.
5 - ls -a in terminal. "Untitled Folder," is not in output, but it's still on the desktop.
6 - "Untitled Folder," disappears from desktop.
6 - Create directory in terminal. It instantly appears on the desktop.
7 - Delete the directory via terminal. It instantly disappears.

So, it's pretty bizarre. If I make any change via Finder (create, move, delete...), it looks like there's a delay only in it visually reflecting that change (since terminal shows it right away). If I do the same thing via terminal, however, Finder updates immediately. Why would Finder not instantly reflect changes made through it, but have no problem with changes initiated through some other means? Who knows. At this point I feel like it's minor enough that I can just live with it.

Same with the network shares. It's ridiculously slow, but I don't need them that often, so, you know, resignation has set in.

 

[6838359]

@yawns no update on this issue? I'm still experiencing it.

 

[valiot]

Solution found!!

Here's the solution on Yosemite:

http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/17/fix-slow-folder-populating-cloudkit-macosx/

The issue is a corrupt CloudKit database files that need to be deleted.

 

[losdevnull]

Still have the exactly the same issue

I don't think that is a solution, at least for me, cloudkit database is fine. even after I cleaned it up, I am still having exactly the same problem as yawns. I am at 10.10.3.

Here's the solution on Yosemite:

http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/17/fix-slow-folder-populating-cloudkit-macosx/

The issue is a corrupt CloudKit database files that need to be deleted.

 

[chevalier433]

It really shouldn't be happening on your brand new machine. Take it back to the Apple store and ask for a replacement if possible.

I disagree don't take it back to apple store to open your new factory sealed precious expensive machine to change your motherboard from ****** technicians and have the same issues.The problem is the core rotten os.

 

[crjackson2134]

It's a brand new rMBP and it's been like this since the moment I took it out of the box.

I disagree don't take it back to apple store to open your new factory sealed precious expensive machine to change your motherboard from ****** technicians and have the same issues.The problem is the core rotten os.

So chevalier, in your opinion if you just purchase a brand new product and find it to be defective, you should just live with it and not get a new replacement that isn't defective.

The fact that it had issues out of the box with the shipping OS version should be a red flag. I didn't suggest anything about cracking open the case and installing a new logic board. I suggested that they exchange/replace the machine with one that doesn't have this problem. Your logic is flawed. Yosemite runs just fine on most machines. It's not my favorite flavor but spending a decent chuck of change on a machine that doesn't work correctly out of the box warrants a replacement machine. I wouldn't accept a repair like that on a "BRAND NEW" system either.

 

[chevalier433]

So chevalier, in your opinion if you just purchase a brand new product and find it to be defective, you should just live with it and not get a new replacement that isn't defective.

The fact that it had issues out of the box with the shipping OS version should be a red flag. I didn't suggest anything about cracking open the case and installing a new logic board. I suggested that they exchange/replace the machine with one that doesn't have this problem. Your logic is flawed. Yosemite runs just fine on most machines. It's not my favorite flavor but spending a decent chuck of change on a machine that doesn't work correctly out of the box warrants a replacement machine. I wouldn't accept a repair like that on a "BRAND NEW" system either.

Its a brand new expensive sealed computer thats why i posted.In your opinion slow,laggy finder = logic board flawed?
New MacBooks are not meant to open for no Serious reason.

 

[crjackson2134]

Its a brand new expensive sealed computer thats why i posted.In your opinion slow,laggy finder = logic board flawed?
New MacBooks are not meant to open for no Serious reason.

I never said anything like that, and there is no reason to be dishonest about it. You keep spouting off about the logic board. Obviously you can't be rational and have an honest discussion. I won't waste anymore time on you.

 

[ABC5S]

Finder has been slow since Mavericks and made worse off in Yosemite... If you rely a lot on QuickLook it is even close to unusable...

My system is about one year old, and is fast using finder. No issues like some have had. Must be something else like added something that is bogging up the system. Old programs/bad software, older hardware, messing with the system, how the OS was installed, etc

 

[daxiel22]

It seems to be fixed in 10.10.4 , wait for this release.

 

[losdevnull]

When will 10.10.4 be released? REALLY looking forward to fixing this annoying problem.

btw. I don't think this is hardware related.. definitely something was wrong with OS or impact caused by some other software.. however I am using a new MacBook Pro 13'' 2015 model and did not have a lot software installed, but I am experiencing this...

It seems to be fixed in 10.10.4 , wait for this release.