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Finder and Synology NAS Folder listing too slow

Dear Apple community,


I had this same problem with a 2013 MacBook Pro 15", then I sold it and went back to Windows due to this annoying problem with finder among other things.

Now I bought a Mac again, the 2017 15" MacBook Pro to be precise, but I am having exactly the same issues.


If from the Mac I open a folder located on the NAS which contains a lot of files, for example 20.000 pictures it takes literally several minutes to display the list of files.


If I do the same on the Windows laptop using Windows Explorer (on an Asus UX501VW) running Windows 10 the files are listed almost instantly.


Both computers over Wifi, the last time I tried this over Ethernet the same happened.


You can check this video I posted on YouTube some time ago with my previous configuration and you will be able to see exactly the issue I am describing: OS X Finder vs Windows 10 File Explorer - Performance Test - ITCentralPoint.com - YouTube

I tried with other file managers like Path Finder and the speed improved a bit but still too slow.

Technical Details:

My NAS is a Synology DS1513+ (DSM 6.1.3-15152 Update 1)

My Macbook Pro has the latest software up to date: MacOS Sierra 10.12.6

My Windows Laptop Asus UX501VW running Windows 10 (10.0.15063)


I tried disabling AFP on the NAS and left only SMB, but nothing seem to change.

Thank you very much for your support with this problem that its driving me nuts.

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS Sierra (10.12.6), 2.8 Ghz - Radeon 560 4 GB - 1TB SSD

Posted on Jul 30, 2017 12:07 PM

Reply
5 replies

Jul 31, 2017 5:31 AM in response to Surferride

OK So there is a problem on Apple Finder and there is a workaround that Synology could implement.


This issue is happening since years, I hope Apple really does something to fix it permanently.

Slow Apple Finder file listing on MacBook Pro over SMB from Synology NAS - Spiceworks


On the meantime can somebody recommend a Finder alternative that wouldnt be affected by this issue?


Thank you

Sep 9, 2017 2:55 AM in response to Surferride

Hi Surferride,


Just here to echo your concern and frustration. I recently bought a Synology NAS, only to find out that write speeds in OS10.12 are absolutely terrible and that it is actually Apple to blame. I get around 2.8 Mb/s on SMB and barely 10 Mb/s on AFP. Way too slow.


I've done everything from trying to get the vfs_fruit module added in the smb.conf on the Synology box, to disabling client signing on the Mac OS side. Nothing works. My last hope is to replace the useless piece of SMB junk that Apple ships Mac OS with, with a new version of Samba, but so far no real progress.


Apparently this issue has been going on for years. Why Apple does such a terrible job on the SMB side and is not working on a fix is just beyond me. You'd expect a premium company such as Apple to come up with a solution to at least get some decent write speeds on a simple home network. It is absolutely appalling.

Finder and Synology NAS Folder listing too slow

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