So, when I transfer certain files, macOS will popup its typical file transfer box. However, a quarter of the way through the megabytes/gigabytes stops counting and the bar stops increasing. And the amount of time left starts going up rapidly: 5 minutes, 9 minutes, 45 minutes, 2 hours, etc. then the box randomly closes and the file is transferred - even though the graphical box gave no indication that it was even close to finishing. I did SHA1, MD5, SHA256, SHA512 (for good measure) and the files did transfer successfully. Has anyone experienced this? Is there a problem that needs to be addressed? What am I doing wrong?
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File transfer mystery
- Thread starter 9valkyrie
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I think we need some more details:
- What are the files being transferred between? Internally within the main drive? Between the main drive and an external drive? Between external drives? Between a local internal/external drive and a network share? If external drives are involved how are they connected, what type of drive is it, and what format are you using?
- Is there a specific file type of file size that this occurs with?
Yes, I have seen such things on occasion. The progress bar is "approximate" and could perhaps be a bit buggy in some situations, but as long as the file transfer goes correctly I would not worry. Back in the days of dial-up, I recall relying upon the progress bar was a pretty reliable but once I started using faster transport, both local ethernet LAN and cable modem for remote access, the progress bar could sometimes give estimates that were wide off. I don't know what algorithm is used to predict how long to finish, but yes, I have noticed anomalies at time. Usually, it seems to work...
I've used USB-A devices, USB-C devices, network shares, etc. SSD drives, flash drives, HDD drives, etc. It's not really that picky. It just seems to happen all the time.
Anything over 1GB.
As @jdw13 has stated, it's quite likely that USB-C may be too fast for macOS to figure it out?
Progress bars are unreliable because of all the buffering everywhere: sometimes components in the transfer chain
seem to stop because those must 'wait', while the transfer still goes on.
In fact, the start of transfer might be shown too optimistic, while the target still is not 'hit'.
Then, be aware that the transfer might go on, when the source tells you that it is done.
This may be the primary cause of "device taken off line too soon".
All what counts is the total time used by the transfer.
I have noticed that transfers to a Mac running Ventura and after, add a small time per file for security reasons.
This all is called development.
;JOOP!
Here's a new one: I tried to transfer two (2) encrypted dmgs 5gb apiece and the file transfer box stated that it transferred 2gb for the first one and 100mb for the second one. 🤔 But the end result was a complete file! But hey, they are writing an Operating System... I'm thinking that they may be less focused on graphical sometimes. It's *nix, so that's stood for a few years. 