External Hard Drive incredibly slow after High Sierra

Question

Level 1

52 points

External Hard Drive incredibly slow after High Sierra

Absolutely fuming isn't the word, ever since Apple stopped making us pay for updates they have been buggy garbage.

Rant over: I'm experiencing a very slow external HDD which is used for files after this update. If I do not have it connected, my iMac works fine. As soon as I connect it and want to browse, it freezes a lot, takes an age to load contents, sometimes even taking 2 minutes. I thought maybe it was because it is indexing, I left it for several hours but it still wont work properly.

Activity Monitor shows high CPU usage with kernal task & iconserviceagent when trying to load these folders, the HDD also makes a lot of noise as if it's under high load.

I've tried upgrading it to APFS which can be done on a HDD, no idea why people say it cannot be done as it has been done with mine! - still no improvement.

Really no idea why I trusted another update, think i'll leave it next time, Sierra brought bugs and High Sierra has totally ruined my computer. My iMac is 21.5 late 2013 with an SSD upgrade. My external HDD is a 3TB Seagate HDD.

Any help, or people with the same issues?

iMac

Posted on Sep 26, 2017 6:08 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Pichini13

Level 1

4 points

Sep 26, 2017 5:03 PM in response to J4MMYz

You can try clearing the icon cache:

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password. Restart the computer and empty the Trash.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

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Answer 2

Sep 27, 2017 5:09 PM in response to etresoft

The only difference I see is that you are using only a couple of files and they should be easy to process.

In my case, they are video files (.mkvs). They are around 30-40GB each and about 500 of them per hard drive.

I also noticed this on another hard drive that had 747 .m4v files from the iTunes Store (with no custom icons) and those did not cause a problem. But on that same drive and folder, I had 25 .mkvs with custom icons and the bug presented itself. As soon as I removed the custom icons from those 25 files, problem solved for that drive. Funny thing is, High Sierra would not let me add custom icons to those files again.

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Answer 3

J4MMYz Author

Level 1

52 points

Sep 26, 2017 12:29 PM in response to Old Toad

Heres the report, I have removed/cleaned up the things in red that was prompted. As you can see, highest CPU usage from iconserviceagent

EtreCheck version: 3.4.5 (455)

Report generated 2017-09-26 20:25:00

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 1:54

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Remove/Report] links to remove adware or update the whitelist of legitimate software.

Click the [Clean up] link to delete unused files.

Problem: Computer is too slow

Description:

External HDD extremely slow loading contents

Hardware Information:ⓘ

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

iMac - model: iMac14,1

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4570R) CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

iCloud Quota: 39.65 GB available

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel Iris Pro - VRAM: 1536 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080

Disk Information:ⓘ

KINGSTON SV300S37A240G disk0: (240.06 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: No)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 239.85 GB

USB Information:ⓘ

USB30Bus

Seagate Expansion Desk

Expansion Desk disk2: (3 TB)

EFI (disk2s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk2s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 3.00 TB

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks:ⓘ

My SSD (disk1s1 - APFS) / [Startup]: 239.85 GB (166.22 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 239.85 GB (166.22 GB free)

(disk1s2) <not mounted> [Preboot]: 239.85 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 239.85 GB

(disk1s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 239.85 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 239.85 GB

(disk1s4) /private/var/vm [VM]: 239.85 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 239.85 GB

SEAGATE (disk3s1 - APFS) /Volumes/SEAGATE : 3.00 TB (1.17 TB free)

Physical disk: disk2s2 3.00 TB (1.17 TB free)

System Software:ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13 (17A365) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Possible adware:ⓘ

Adware: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.MyUpdater.agent.plist

One possible adware file found. [Remove/Report]

Clean up:ⓘ

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.MyUpdater.agent.plist

/Applications/MyUpdater/MyUpdater -guid 22164498041898502 -source nwt-1634

Executable not found!

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.ea.origin.WebHelper.plist

/Applications/Origin.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.ea.origin.WebHelpe r

Executable not found!

2 orphan files found. [Clean up]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 179 Apple tasks

[running] 99 Apple tasks

[killed] One Apple task

one process killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 37 Apple tasks

[loaded] 188 Apple tasks

[running] 100 Apple tasks

[killed] 4 Apple tasks

4 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? 4737623b 72ac4dde - installed 2017-08-23) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[failed] com.MyUpdater.agent.plist (? 281a5689 0 - installed 2016-08-26) Adware! [Remove/Report]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 eb6bee8f - installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-09-26)

[loaded] com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-09-21)

[loaded] com.bombich.ccchelper.plist (Bombich Software, Inc. - installed 2016-11-01) [Lookup]

[running] com.cleverfiles.cfbackd.plist (Justin Johnson - installed 2016-05-31) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.ea.origin.ESHelper.plist (EA Swiss Sarl - installed 2017-09-25) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (Shell Script e3fefdd2 - installed 2017-07-22) [Lookup]

[running] org.serviio.server.plist (Shell Script 16e32f40 - installed 2017-09-21)

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.ea.origin.WebHelper.plist (? 89771325 0 - installed 2017-09-25) [Lookup] - /Applications/Origin.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.ea.origin.WebHelpe r: Executable not found!

User Login Items:ⓘ

Mail Application - Hidden

(/Applications/Mail.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-12) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-09-21)

Flash Player: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-12) [Lookup]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 144 build 01 (installed 2017-08-23) Check version

PepperFlashPlayer: 27.0.0.130 (installed 2017-09-12) [Lookup]

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

[enabled] AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2017-09-25)

[not loaded] Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (installed 2016-12-22)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-08-29) [Lookup]

Java (installed 2017-08-23) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

My SSD: Disk size: 239.85 GB Disk used: 73.62 GB

Destinations:

Time Capsule [Network]

Total size: 2.00 TB

Total number of backups: 3

Oldest backup: 26/09/2017, 17:43

Last backup: 26/09/2017, 19:27

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 2.00 TB > (Disk size 239.85 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

57% iconservicesagent

35% kernel_task

4% mdworker

4% WindowServer

3% mdworker

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

1.39 GB iconservicesagent

705 MB kernel_task

433 MB Safari

148 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

95 MB java

Top Processes by Network Use:ⓘ

Input Output Process name

4 MB 44 KB com.apple.WebKit.Networking

43 KB 6 KB Mail

29 KB 0 B java

19 KB 8 KB mDNSResponder

8 KB 11 KB apsd

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

21.92 iconservicesagent

5.64 WindowServer

0.54 java

0.50 corespotlightd

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

4.70 GB Available RAM

1.49 GB Free RAM

3.30 GB Used RAM

3.22 GB Cached files

21 MB Swap Used

Software installs:ⓘ

OptimUSB: 7.0 (installed 2017-09-01)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2017-09-12)

Adobe Pepper Flash Player: (installed 2017-09-12)

OptimUSB: 7.1 (installed 2017-09-13)

The Unarchiver: 3.11.2 (installed 2017-09-13)

OptimUSB: 7.2 (installed 2017-09-17)

The Unarchiver: 3.11.3 (installed 2017-09-17)

Bitdefender Virus Scanner: 3.9 (installed 2017-09-19)

MyDrive Connect: (installed 2017-09-25)

Bitdefender Virus Scanner: 3.9 (installed 2017-09-26)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

2017-09-26 14:52:00 Finder.app Hang [Open]

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Answer 4

Sep 26, 2017 4:38 PM in response to J4MMYz

Have you tried removing the custom icons from the external hard drive?

Open Finder, select all files and the press Option-Command-i and one "get info" panel will show up for all files. Select the icon where the custom icon usually go and the press delete on your keyboard.

That should help you in the meantime. Fair warning, this will erase all your custom icons and there is no getting them back, so use at your own risk. This just solved my problem. It's a stopgap but it worked for me.

As for bug reporting, you can do that here:

https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/

Reply

Answer 5

qh05t

Level 1

4 points

Oct 15, 2017 1:53 AM in response to J4MMYz

So I had this same exact issue with my external hard drive and 2016 MacBook Pro running on High Sierra and was able to fix the problem.

For several days I was unable to even view the hard drive in Finder without the computer freezing up completely. After seeing that kernal_task and an iconservicesagent process were using the entire CPU when trying to access the drive, I knew it had to be an issue with the custom icons I had on several files and folders across the drive.

To fix the issue, I used my brother's MacBook Pro (still running Sierra where the hard drive could be used just fine) to delete all of the custom icons across the drive. Once all of the custom icons were removed from the drive, I plugged it back into my MacBook Pro running on High Sierra and the drive was immediately accessible and running perfectly.

This is definitely a weird bug where having custom icons on a large amount of folders/files across an external hard drive causes the computer to overload the CPU with an iconservices task. Hopefully Apple realizes this issue in the near future and releases a fix.

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Answer 6

putnik

Level 4

1,185 points

Sep 26, 2017 1:28 PM in response to J4MMYz

Try excluding the external from Spotlight indexing in Preferences>Spotlight>Privacy

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Answer 7

urabus

Level 1

14 points

Nov 8, 2017 1:26 PM in response to J4MMYz

The issue is fixed for me on 10.13.2 Beta (17C67b).

...and should be history for everyone after the public release.

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Answer 8

-Marc__

Level 1

98 points

Nov 19, 2017 6:25 PM in response to nick12202

@nick12202, scroll back to my reply of Oct 23: it provides instructions to bulk remove custom icons, if that’s what you still want to do.

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Answer 9

AbeOdd

Level 1

11 points

Dec 2, 2017 11:33 AM in response to J4MMYz

I've just updated to 10.13.1 and now everything works fine. I don't experience any kind of problem anymore.

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Answer 10

AbeOdd

Level 1

11 points

Dec 12, 2017 3:36 AM in response to J4MMYz

I've just updated to 10.13.1 (17B1003) and now everything work fine. I don't experience any kind of problem anymore.

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Answer 11

putnik

Level 4

1,185 points

Sep 26, 2017 6:21 AM in response to J4MMYz

You might try starting in Safe Mode, to see if it is a third party app that is causing the problem. (Hold the Shift key at the startup chime). The startup will be slow in this, because it does some checks.

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Answer 12

John Galt

Level 10

155,810 points

Sep 26, 2017 11:27 AM in response to J4MMYz

Component substitution is often the most expedient means of isolating problems. I'd try installing HS on an external boot USB hard disk drive, preferably USB3. Boot from it, and compare performance knowing it cannot possibly be as fast as running macOS from an internal SSD.

If it's faster, that would be unexpected, and implicates the SSD.

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Answer 13

Old Toad

Level 10

215,736 points

Sep 26, 2017 12:20 PM in response to DNSBRU

Download and run Etrecheck. Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

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Answer 14

J4MMYz Author

Level 1

52 points

Sep 28, 2017 3:13 AM in response to DNSBRU

DNSBRU have you filed a bug report? The more people that do this the better chance of us getting heard.

All, I'm pretty certain I know what the issue is. Before the update, if you was to paste an icon (normally a screenshot of the video) in the Get Info window you'd get a rectangular icon, which is correct and normal. However, after this High Sierra update - custom icons are either broken or bugged, because they cause an unbelievable lag in performance as we are complaining about here, and if you now want to do a custom icon (which is what i've found) it now comes out square and stretched, it does still cause issues... I only find these issues to be on my external HDD, my internal SSD everything works normal, but it still gives the video a square icon.

How does this bug reporting work, does Apple actually reply to you? Or do you just get blanked so we are left unassured this will be sorted.

The thing that worries me is in Sierra there was a bug with the Finder view "Arrange By Kind" - this did not get fixed until High Sierra, and it was such a minor bug... it was very disappointing that it took so long to be fixed - well if this takes a year to be sorted I don't know what i'll do.

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Answer 15

J4MMYz Author

Level 1

52 points

Sep 28, 2017 2:31 PM in response to Zigoto

All,

I have just had an email back from Apple from the bug report I sent. Apparently i'm the first to file this issue so if everybody that experiences this issue could take a moment and file a bug report it would be very helpful, as this has got to be fixed. Here's a link to the bug reporter, you'll need a Developer Account which is just your Apple ID. http://bugreport.apple.com/

I've given him more details and pinpointed the issue being custom thumbnails for videos must be the issue.

If anyone else reading this thread also has this issue and hasn't commented, please do as more numbers pointing out the bug will be a better chance of getting it fixed.

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