I have been using a 256 MB USB flash drive for years with Tiger with no problems. After updating to Leopard (10.5.1), I can't copy anything to the Desktop. I can open and see all files on the drive, and then after dragging one to the Desktop the Finder Copy function starts and then freezes. Each time I can only abort by hitting the power button for 5 seconds, as the Finder ignores all efforts to stop the copy and quit. I use a D-Link USB 2 powered hub, if that is germaine to the issue.
I also managed to get a Finder freeze when dragging files from the Desktop to the Download folder in the dock.
Is this a general problem or only specific to my situation? If the latter, what if anything can I change/
When you get the finder to freeze, does the clock in the menubar also stop? Can you drag windows around? While the Finder is frozen, can you launch any other apps or do they too stop working (including ones that are already running)? What format is the USB frash drive (i.e. HFS+, NFS, UFS, ZFS, whatever)? Does the problem happen if you have the flash drive directly connected to the machine (remove the hub from the equation), does the problem still happen? Have you tried connecting the drive to a different USB port on the machine (if available)?
Sorry for all the questions, but we need more info to be able to help you out.
I don't mind the questions. My answers are, in order:
* The finder doesn't freeze (well not exactly) - the copy function freezes and I can't get Finder to stop the process or to exit and restart.
* I can launch other apps but they are sluggish
* The USB drive is formatted MS-DOS FAT 16
* The problem is the same whether connected to hub or directly to USB card
* The problem occurs no matter which USB port.
As I said, everything worked flawlessly under Tiger.
Thanks for the response.
Most likely it is due to the drive being formatted MS-DOS FAT 16. To verify, launch /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app. Type +sample Finder 2+ but don't press return. Switch to the Finder and kick of a copy something from the flash drive that causes the Finder to freeze up. When the Finder freezes, switch to Terminal and press return to run the sample command. When it finishes, it will spew out the path to the sample log (i.e. /tmp/Finder_khfgasfdk.sample.txt). In Terminal type +open <path to sample file>+. Text Edit will launch and open the log file. Copy/paste the results into a reply and post it up. With that info we might be able to see what exactly is freezing the Finder and possibly be able to fix it.
Thanks for the log. The Finder looks like it is just doing the copies. It hadn't frozen, its just chugging along. It also looks like you are doing two copies at the same time. That could be contributing to the slowness. Try doing one copy at a time, or selecting multiple files and copying them all at once instead of one at a time. Either way, from the log, it looks like if you just waited a little longer the copy would complete and everything would be fine again. As for the copy not being able to be canceled, there could be alot of reasons for that, none of which I would be concerned about.
I still think that part of the problem is that the drive is formatted in FAT-16. If you need the drive to work with WIndow's machines, try FAT-32. If not, then use HFS+. See if that makes a difference.
Your reply is interesting - because the copying never actually progresses and I could leave it for a few hours and it would not get done! The files are actually quite small and should take only a few seconds, so the log seems to be very misleading for some reason.
I am closing this now as I will reformat the drive and see what happens.
Just a late follow-up. I reformatted the flash drive as FAT32. Ic an now copy files but only one at a time. If I try more than one the process can freeze. I have tested this behaviour with two different brands of drive now.
