CTSeaDragon
Level 1 (13 points)
Desktops

Q: iMac Running El Capitan Locks Up When Saving Photos Library and the Mysterious "com.apple.sbd" Process

This issue is in reference to my iMac (27", mid-2011) running OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MBand, and a 1 TB hard drive.  The hard drive is about 2/3 full, but I can free up some space once I resolve this issue as discussed below.

 

I back up my Photo library routinely to my external HDDs (2 Seagate 5TB drives).  The library is 408.65 GB, and up through Yosemite, backing up the  library took about a day or so without issue.  Now with El Capitan, the iMac is locking up every time I try to back up the library, freezing up at approximately 1.26 GB (about 10-15 minutes) into the process.  The iMac doesn't lock up when I back up the much smaller iTunes library or individual files. 

 

I noticed in the Activity Monitor that the "com.apple.sbd" process is taking between 99% and 103% of the CPU and that it has been running since I last rebooted the machine.  One post I saw recommended disabling the key chain in iCloud to deal with the "com.apple.sbd" process, but that action made no difference.  Other processes (e.g., Outlook, "kernel_task", mds, etc.) intermittently spike into the 10-15% range, but for consistent offenders, "DesktopServicesHelper" or Activity monitor usually take the #2 place at approximately 7.0%

 

A few questions pop to mind:

1) What is the "com.apple.sbd" process?

2) Does the "com.apple.sbd" process need to run?

3) Is the "com.apple.sbd" process related to the iMac locking up?

4) Should I force quit "com.apple.sbd" process?

5) What else should I be looking at to see how to speed up the iMac?

 

A lot of the posts I've seen on the topic are so bland as to be unhelpful or represent actions I've already taken or am avoiding due to cost (like upgrading memory).

 

I keep the software up-to-date, but did I jump to El Capitan too soon?

 

It looks like OS X v10.5 and earlier and Disk Utility, but I can't find it in El Capitan.

 

I have nothing running in "Login Items".

 

I'm open to any ideas.  I'm sure there is something obscure that is escaping me.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 19, 2015 6:26 PM

by CTSeaDragon,Solvedanswer
CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon
Level 1 (13 points)
Desktops
A:

Frank, yes, you are correct in that I am primarily accessing the library from the iMac (which of course is in OS X format). What I'm taking about is a completely separate issue - backing up the library externally to the iMac. Based on my own first-hand experience, I (very respectfully) must disagree with your point on file corruption - I have had **no** such issues going back and forth between the two formats.  FUD...

 

The drives need to be in NTFS format in order to support an hetergeneous ecosystem, so the OS X fixation is fascinating.

Posted on Oct 31, 2015 8:10 AM

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Q: iMac Running El Capitan Locks Up When Saving Photos Library and the Mysterious "com.apple.sbd" Process

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  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 25, 2015 8:34 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 25, 2015 8:34 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    ... and now the transfer is at the 1.30GB point, which is further than I got with the other drive...

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 26, 2015 6:45 PM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 26, 2015 6:45 PM in response to CTSeaDragon

    It sounds like I'm not the only one who had the same problem:

    Can't move my iPhoto library to external hard drive?

    copying files window stuck

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 29, 2015 5:49 PM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 29, 2015 5:49 PM in response to CTSeaDragon

    It sounds like my issue is similar to what happened with iPhoto here - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4006808

     

    Is there an updated version of this thread - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353 - for cleaning up an iMac running El Capitan?

    Thanks in advance for any help someone can provide!

     

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 31, 2015 4:51 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 31, 2015 4:51 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    I am starting to see signs of hope as I think I may be making progress.

     

    It looks like Photos is exporting the pictures OK if I select all of the photos from within Photos (i.e., Command-A) then go into the Photos menu bar to "File", "Export", "Export Unmodified Original for [###] Items...".  So far, I can see Photos backing up the pictures to the HDD just fine, and the transfer isn't hanging up like it had been previously.

     

    Previously, I had been trying to execute the back up by simply copying the entire library (a.k.a., drag-and-drop or Command-C then Command-V). I even went into "File", "Export", "Export [###] Items...".  Either way, for some reason, the transfer was hanging at the same spot - between 1.24GB and 1.28GB into the transfer of a library which is around 400GB.


    So far, so good - here's to keeping my fingers crossed.


    This problem started about a month ago.  I don't know if the problem is related to something that changed in OS X due to El Capitan, the size of the library, something else, or some combination thereof. Does anyone even know? 


  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Oct 31, 2015 6:06 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 9 (50,793 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 31, 2015 6:06 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    How is the external drive formatted? A Photos Library can only be used on a Mac OS Extended disk format.

    It seems all of the HD companies are formatting as NTFS and installing a system mod to allow you to write to it.

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 31, 2015 7:05 AM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 31, 2015 7:05 AM in response to Barney-15E

    The drives don't have to be exclusively formatted in OS X Extended disk format for the iMac to access them. My drives are formatted in NTFS, which the iMac can access with read/write privileges since I installed a NTFS driver from the HDD manufacturer (Seagate in this case). I have had success reading/writing from the iMac to the NTFS HDDs, but when I installed El Capitan, I was unable to write to my HDDs until I specifically installed the manufacturer's NTFS driver.

  • by Frank Miller2,

    Frank Miller2 Frank Miller2 Oct 31, 2015 7:38 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 2 (174 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 31, 2015 7:38 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    As Barney-15E says, an iPhoto/Photos library MUST reside on a locally connected Mac OSX Extended formatted disk.  Yes, Macs can access NTFS drives with the proper software, but they should not be used for iPhoto/Photos libraries.  Library corruption is sure to follow.

  • by CTSeaDragon,Solvedanswer

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 31, 2015 8:10 AM in response to Frank Miller2
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 31, 2015 8:10 AM in response to Frank Miller2

    Frank, yes, you are correct in that I am primarily accessing the library from the iMac (which of course is in OS X format). What I'm taking about is a completely separate issue - backing up the library externally to the iMac. Based on my own first-hand experience, I (very respectfully) must disagree with your point on file corruption - I have had **no** such issues going back and forth between the two formats.  FUD...

     

    The drives need to be in NTFS format in order to support an hetergeneous ecosystem, so the OS X fixation is fascinating.

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 31, 2015 8:13 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 31, 2015 8:13 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    .. or I should say, I haven't had any file corruption issues .... yet (knock on wood)  No jinxing allowed!

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 31, 2015 8:49 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 31, 2015 8:49 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    That being said, Frank and Barney, thank you for your feedback!  I appreciate your insights.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Oct 31, 2015 9:27 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 9 (50,793 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 31, 2015 9:27 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    Well, the problem isn't that you are using an NTFS drive. The problem comes from the driver software that allows you to write to that format. As they may not understand how the Mac uses hard links, and how the NTFS file system handles hard links, you will not fare well.

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Oct 31, 2015 10:05 AM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 31, 2015 10:05 AM in response to Barney-15E

    True, good point.  I didn't have any issues whatsoever with writing files to the NTFS-formatted drives until I tried copying this particular library in toto - all other files copied over just fine.

     

    Your reply confirms my suspicion that there is a compatibility issue between the driver and El Capitan. I was able to copy it just fine up through Yosemite.

     

    That being said, I have resolved the issue.

     

    Thanks so much for your help.

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Nov 7, 2015 11:27 AM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 7, 2015 11:27 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

    I thought for sure that I had lost the iMac on Monday. It was working fine, but then suddenly, it "died" and wouldn't power up. I thought for sure that the power supply (if not more components) was fried. I took the iMac to the local Apple Store on Thursday evening.

     

    The Apple Guru noted that the issue was tied to the SMC locking up. He said that next time this event happens, leave the iMac powered down and completely unplugged from any power source since the SMC will remain locked up as long as power is applied to it. The iMac powered up just fine (it had been unplugged since Monday). He reset the SMC and ran diagnostic checks without issue.

     

    I was hoping that resetting the SMC would fix my problem (the indications of a faulty SMC resembled my problem) but no such luck. That being said, I can still export the unaltered individual photos to the Seagate HDDs just fime (that process works just fine for my backup purposes),

     

    Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Nov 7, 2015 1:22 PM in response to CTSeaDragon
    Level 9 (50,793 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 7, 2015 1:22 PM in response to CTSeaDragon

    CTSeaDragon wrote:

     

    True, good point.  I didn't have any issues whatsoever with writing files to the NTFS-formatted drives until I tried copying this particular library in toto - all other files copied over just fine.

     

    Were you ever copying a Photos Library to the NTFS drive. I never knew of any restriction on an iPhoto Library, but there certainly is one on the Photos Library.

    I don't know if the Library itself uses some HFS+ unique features (like hard-linked folders). If it does, then trying to copy the Library will fail where copying the iPhoto Library may not.

    If there is some limitation, then you'll have to do the research to figure it out as it is well above my interest level.

  • by CTSeaDragon,

    CTSeaDragon CTSeaDragon Nov 8, 2015 6:17 AM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 8, 2015 6:17 AM in response to Barney-15E

    Barney, you're fine - you've gone above and beyond the call of duty, so I appreciate the help as you've incentivized me to dig deeper and to not give up. I'll have to keep on researching this issue. Even the Guru at the Apple Store on Thursday was likewise stumped.

     

    That being said, I can still backup the photos since I can go into Photos and export them as individual unmodified originals to the HDDs just fine. The issue all along is that  I just can't drag-and-drop / copy-and-paste the whole library in one fell swoop (like I used to be able to do) without the process stalling at the 1.24-1.28GB point.

     

    I successfully copied the both the iPhoto and the Photos librarlies to the Seagate HDDs (in NTFS format) without issue up until about 1-1/2 to 2 months ago, which was right about the time I installed El Capitan.  This timing could be a coincidence, but it is a strange one. Formatting the  HDDs in HFS+ is “no bueno” since I am in a heterogenous (i.e., PC and Windows)  ecosystem.

     

    This thread is the closest one I’ve found to date which resembles my issue  https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7260501, but it looks like Paragon is up-to-date. From what I've read, the max file size for copying to NTFS is supposedly 4TB, and this file is only 400+GB.

     

    These threads are getting closer to home -  https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5639633

    http://blog.seagate.com/consumer/which-hard-drive-format-or-ntfs-hfs-fat-whats-t hat/

     

    I'm not the only one having this issue:

    http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cant-copy-photos-library-to-external-hd.1868 509/

    http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/i-just-want-to-move-my-photos-library.190253 2/

    http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ntfs-mounter-external-hard-drive-problem-sol ved.1163432/

    http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/exfat-external-drive-permissions.1638119/

     

    Thanks for all of your help! If I ever figure this thing out, I'll post the solution here.

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