Strange delay

[kenglade]

Anyone have any ideas about what may be causing a delay in the time I open my Documents folder and am able to scroll down the list. Sometimes it's as long as 30 seconds.

The folder is not crammed and I just removed one large second and made it independent of the Documents.

I'm running Leopard on a G5 with 2GB of RAM so I don't think that's the problem. On the other hand, my HD is about half full and I'm getting ready to upgrade it. Would that result in this type of behavior?

 

[r0k]

Anyone have any ideas about what may be causing a delay in the time I open my Documents folder and am able to scroll down the list. Sometimes it's as long as 30 seconds.

The folder is not crammed and I just removed one large second and made it independent of the Documents.

I'm running Leopard on a G5 with 2GB of RAM so I don't think that's the problem. On the other hand, my HD is about half full and I'm getting ready to upgrade it. Would that result in this type of behavior?

I get those freezes on Windows XP at work all the time and they are very frustrating. I have an old G4 Mac Mini at home and I don't remember any delay opening the Documents folder. One thing to try is to copy and paste the entire folder to a new location. Then see if you experience the delay in the new location. On windows, there are many things that go on when you open a folder. On OSX there is a lot less of this monkey business but there are still a few things to look out for. See if there are any .ds_store files and if there are delete them. They will get recreated but the delay might be gone. Another thing to consider is the view you have set. I prefer list view. If the OS is busy building thumbnails a folder will open slowly whether it's Windows, OS X or Linux. The best remedy is to keep files in a folder underneath documents. Have the bare minimum files in Documents, a dozen perhaps. Then keep the rest in sub folders. There should be no delay whatsoever in opening the Documents folder from now on.

Replacing a hard drive that is only half full is overkill. I don't think I'd bother till you have 20-25% space left. Unlike Windows, OS X is stable with 0 free space and your hands aren't tied to delete things to free up space. So wait on that new hard drive till you are lower on space and then migrate.

 

[kenglade]

I get those freezes on Windows XP at work all the time and they are very frustrating. I have an old G4 Mac Mini at home and I don't remember any delay opening the Documents folder. One thing to try is to copy and paste the entire folder to a new location. Then see if you experience the delay in the new location. On windows, there are many things that go on when you open a folder. On OSX there is a lot less of this monkey business but there are still a few things to look out for. See if there are any .ds_store files and if there are delete them. They will get recreated but the delay might be gone. Another thing to consider is the view you have set. I prefer list view. If the OS is busy building thumbnails a folder will open slowly whether it's Windows, OS X or Linux. The best remedy is to keep files in a folder underneath documents. Have the bare minimum files in Documents, a dozen perhaps. Then keep the rest in sub folders. There should be no delay whatsoever in opening the Documents folder from now on.

Replacing a hard drive that is only half full is overkill. I don't think I'd bother till you have 20-25% space left. Unlike Windows, OS X is stable with 0 free space and your hands aren't tied to delete things to free up space. So wait on that new hard drive till you are lower on space and then migrate.

Good advice. The delay and the Beach Ball of Death drive me crazy, but nothing is as bad as the Windows Blue Screen. Many thans. I'll give it a whirl and post the results.