andynick Author

Level 5

4,961 points

FCP Runs Slow on iMac Pro

I have an iMac Pro (2019) with the following spec:

Processor: 2.3 GHz 18-Core Intel Xeon W (with 1TB SSD)

Graphics : Radeon Pro Vega 56 8 GB

Memory: 128 GB 2666 MHz DDR4

IOS: 14.4.1

Final Cut Pro: 10.7.1

External HDs - various from 8TB Samsung T5 SSD to Promise Pegasus32 R6 24TB (a hateful thing) and Seagate 10TB Backup Plus.

All media is outside the Library

All Libraries are stored on the Mac internal SSD which has more than 50% free space (and is VERY fast).

All external HDs have a minimum of 10% free space.

Regardless of which HD the original media is on, when I use a Library which has more than a couple of hundred clips, FCP is very slow to navigate between libraries or to browse clips. It stops responding, and sometimes takes more than a minute for the beach ball to go away.

I don't really understand Activity Monitor, but I see no big spikes on CPU use (which is about 1.5% when running FCP). Memory use is about 15GB total (of which FCP is using about 2.6) when the beach ball is active.

I'm at a loss with this. Clearly, I get the issue more often with Libraries which contain a lot of clips, but after the delay, the system works fine.

I have deleted all Generated render, proxy and optimised files - and of course, ditched the preferences several times.

I'd buy a newer Mac if I was sure it would overcome the problem, but as Activity Monitor doesn't suggest the Mac is anywhere near its working limit, I can't see that it would make any difference.

One of the libraries has around 5000 clips of smaller size (mostly 1080p and 720p). The other library has around 1600 clips most of which are 4k.

I get the same problem with either library.

Any knowledgeable advice will be most welcome...

Andy

Etre Check

iMac Pro, macOS 13.5

Posted on Apr 22, 2024 2:40 AM

Top-ranking reply

joema

Level 4

1,293 points

Posted on Apr 23, 2024 7:18 AM

If you have lots of projects or project snapshots it can cause slow behavior when navigating between libraries. In each library, select the Projects smart collection in the top folder, and see how many projects and snapshots you have. Please report the total number for each library.

There is a separate issue if you have imported "bare" AVCHD clips using "leave files in place." Those usually have an .MTS file extension. Those can cause extremely high I/O rates which is noticeable when changing libraries or events, if the viewer is in "filmstrip" mode. Even if just a few of those clips are imported to a library that mostly contains other types of media, the AVCHD clips can "poison" the I/O capability of the entire library. That media type should be imported using "copy to library" or, ideally, rewrapped externally before import using EditReady.

Please investigate these areas and report back. If none of these apply, the next time you have a 60-sec beachball, please take a Spindump using Activity Monitor. Procedure:

Run Activity Monitor
Select the FCP process in Activity Monitor
In FCP reproduce the beachball behavior
While it's in a beachball state, in Activity Monitor, do View>Run Spindump, or else use CTRL+OPT+CMD+S keys (all at once).
After the Spindump is generated, in the upper right corner, click the "Save" button and save it as a .txt file.
Upload the text file somewhere I can see it. That text file will be about 8 megabytes, likely too large for an attachment on this forum.

Tom -- Do you have any other suggestions for how I can get this file? I tried posting a link to a WeTransfer upload folder, but I was warned against that.

View in context

Similar questions

24 replies

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Apr 23, 2024 11:17 AM in response to joema

To the best of my knowledge there is no prohibition in the terms of use against links to file sharing sites such as WeTransfer. I know the links are almost always removed shortly after posting, probably by a bot. The link will appear in the autogenerated email that does to anyone following the forum, a particular thread, or who posted on a particular thread. I understand why Apple is wary of file sharing links posted on their forums, but again, there is no explicit language that I can see in the TOU that prohibits it. I can't speak to other Apple forums but certainly in FCP and Compressor they are used fairly frequently.

joema

Level 4

1,293 points

Apr 23, 2024 12:11 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I just tried posting a WeTransfer link to accept errorlogs and that was not OK. I'll be happy to use whatever the approved procedures are, but we absolutely must know what those are. They aren't in the TOU. When dealing with FCP, there is a significant class of problems that require us to receive various logs and other troubleshooting files, and sometimes send customers files as well.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Apr 23, 2024 1:31 PM in response to joema

I don't know what the limit is for the Additional Text button, but logs and crash reports should fit in there. I don't think it would take a spin dump, but I've not tried. Obviously it's not a solution for sharing media files.

Apr 23, 2024 8:35 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I can't speak to other Apple forums but certainly in FCP and Compressor they are used fairly frequently.

I only participate in the FCP community on the US site, but I can compare it with the Japanese site. I feel that only the FCP community on the US site has "special" deletion criteria.

We may have direct discussions with the Japanese site administrator and users. It has been pointed out for some time that the removal criteria for each site is inconsistent and tends to be based on personal feelings. Administrators in Japan rarely delete links unless there is an advertising or sexual purpose. I am always grateful for their kindness.👍

The most important purpose is to "solve a problem". I think we users are working very hard for this purpose. You need to directly validate the file to serve your purpose. Is it really a good thing to take away the means to solve a problem?

andynick Author

Level 5

4,961 points

Apr 24, 2024 12:58 AM in response to joema

The biggest library has 6940 clips in the Smart Collections...

I couldn't find any .mts files.

I had no idea links were 'verboten' and I'm struggling to get the spindump text or even part of it to go into the 'additional text' box, but I've uploaded it to Amazon and will add the link below if it will let me.

Now that I'm using faster drives, the problem only occurs when I launch FCP and when I change from Original or optimised to Proxy or Proxy preferred.

Thanks for your continued help with this.

Spindump

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Apr 23, 2024 8:36 AM in response to joema

I think only by doing it off the forum

Apr 23, 2024 8:48 AM in response to joema

A possible workaround is to post a link to a youtube video - that is allowed.

You can put some other link in the description for the youtube video.

andynick Author

Level 5

4,961 points

Apr 25, 2024 12:48 AM in response to joema

No media or libraries on any network or cloud-based location that I am aware of.

andynick Author

Level 5

4,961 points

Apr 25, 2024 10:57 AM in response to terryb

Thanks for the suggestion, terryb. iCloud Drive is enabled, but not Desktop & Documents Folders.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

FCP Runs Slow on iMac Pro