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M1 Mac Mini grinding to a halt!

D

dazzer21-2

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 3, 2005
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My main Mac is a 5K iMac. I now have an M1 Mac Mini which is in another room, probably about 10ft away as the crow flies. My problem is that when I connect to it, it sometimes takes up to 30 seconds to establish a connection. Then, when I'm working on it, mainly using Adobe CC, it will work perfectly well and then I get the beachball. After about 20 seconds, it frees up and then maybe a couple of minutes later it'll stop again. I've tried with InDesign 2020 and 2021 and the same happens, so unsure if Adobe are at fault here. The wireless connection is rock solid, all other devices work continually whilst this is happening. I've restarted, zapped the PRAM, even upgraded the iMac from Mojave (which I loved) to Big Sur (which I don't!). Any ideas? Thanks.
 
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Just for science: have you connected the mini to a display and tried to run the same workload?

And is the behaviour the same then?

Just from my own experience WiFi is really crap for stuff that requires a stable connection, like remote logging in. My bet is that it is the WiFi that is the problem and either working directly off the computer or running wired network to it will solve your issues.
 
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How you connect will matter as well. If you're file sharing, like a server/client scenario, I'd expect what you're seeing. If, on the other hand, you're logging into the Mini via Screen Sharing (and driving the Mini remotely), performance shouldn't suffer too much, but you'll be 'driving' the Mini instead of the iMac.

How are you 'connecting' to the Mini?
 
I would try to connect via ethernet and see if the problem goes away. If it does time to look at the network settings.
 
doesn't adobe cc applications have issues when using network shares??

this might be an adobe issue

Networks, removable media | Photoshop

In Adobe Photoshop, troubleshoot issues that may occur when you save and open files across networks of from removable media.
helpx.adobe.com helpx.adobe.com
 
The machines are just on a home network. The iMac is connected to the router via Ethernet, but having to use wireless between the Mini and iMac as they are in different rooms. I'm using the iMac to work on the files that I am reading from the Mini. I don't use screen sharing on the iMac to work directly on the Mini. As the time goes on, I think Adobe might be the culprit. When it DOES start working well, all manner of Adobe 'helpers' seem to quit randomly - the majority of the time I'm running InDesign, with other Adobe apps as required. But my network has been all Intel up until now; since the M1 has been connected to it, it's been running like a dog.
 
dazzer21-2 said:
The machines are just on a home network. The iMac is connected to the router via Ethernet, but having to use wireless between the Mini and iMac as they are in different rooms. I'm using the iMac to work on the files that I am reading from the Mini. I don't use screen sharing on the iMac to work directly on the Mini. As the time goes on, I think Adobe might be the culprit. When it DOES start working well, all manner of Adobe 'helpers' seem to quit randomly - the majority of the time I'm running InDesign, with other Adobe apps as required. But my network has been all Intel up until now; since the M1 has been connected to it, it's been running like a dog.
Click to expand...
That is definitely your issue. Adobe apps generally don't like working off a network share (you can, but shouldn't). That link posted by Icubed above has some good info.
 
Thing is I've had the same setup for YEARS without any problems at all. I'm using the apps that are installed on whichever local machine I happen to be sitting in front of, just accessing the files I'm working on across the network from another machine.
 
dazzer21-2 said:
Thing is I've had the same setup for YEARS without any problems at all. I'm using the apps that are installed on whichever local machine I happen to be sitting in front of, just accessing the files I'm working on across the network from another machine.
Click to expand...
What is the specs of your M1 Mac Mini?
 
dazzer21-2 said:
Thing is I've had the same setup for YEARS without any problems at all. I'm using the apps that are installed on whichever local machine I happen to be sitting in front of, just accessing the files I'm working on across the network from another machine.
Click to expand...
You lucky dog! I've had nothing but misery with Adobe apps opening files on a network share. And I run a clean ship.
Regardless, they don't really support it (historically, anyway), even to the point of actively discouraging the practice.

From the link above:

Recommended workflow​

Technical Support strongly recommends working in Photoshop directly on the local hard disk. To prevent data loss, save files to your hard disk first. Then transfer them to the network or removable drive in the Finder or in Windows Explorer. To retrieve files, copy them in the Finder or in Windows Explorer from the network or removable drive to your hard disk. You can then open the files in Photoshop. This workflow avoids problems that occur when network system setups or removable media device drivers are incompatible with the operating system or Photoshop.
 
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Have you checked Activity Monitor on the Mini while doing this? That might let you see if the slowness is from an overloaded Mini or if it is a communication issue over the remote session.
 
My main Mac is a 5k iMac, and I too have a base level M1 Mini.

I have no issues with accessing files on the Mini via wifi from the iMac or even files on an external drive connected to the Mini from the iMac.

I also have no issues using screen sharing which I do quite a lot using the iMac as the screen, or my Thunderbolt Display connected to the iMac as the screen and via Jump Desktop (but the built-in OSX screen sharing worked fine too).

I don’t however use Adobe apps this way, so that is likely your issue.
 
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Two questions.

1.) is it the app beachballing or the screen share that reports issue.
2.) do you have a monitor connnected to he mini or a headless display.

I ask 2 as I run my mini 2018 and prior to that a 2009 headless but have a fit 4k hdmi adaptor connected to the hdmi port to fool into thinking a monitor connected.
without performance via screen sharing was crap.
 
Good call mcnallym, I too use a hdmi dummy/ghost adaptor on my base mac mini so I can get a better resolution via screen sharing.
 
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