Spinning beach ball when moving files and folders within their parent folder

Question

Spinning beach ball when moving files and folders within their parent folder

I've not noticed this problem before until I bought my new MBP 15" with Sierra (10.13.1):

Scenario:

Folder A containing:

File B

Subfolder C containing files D, E & F

If I select files D, E & F and file B, then drag them into Folder A, I instantly get the spinning beach ball, which requires relaunching Finder. However, if I just drag files D, E & F to folder A, and then drag file B to folder A it works fine. Yes, I know it's actually redundant to drag B into a folder it's already in, but the point is it used to work fine under all previous OS versions. I'm assuming it's to do with moving a mixture of files and folders that originate within the tree under their parent folder, which may be confusing Finder. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017), macOS High Sierra (10.13.1)

Posted on Nov 22, 2017 9:50 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 26, 2018 2:59 PM in response to Original Gazza

For what it is worth... I've been having this problem on one of my Macs with Sierra (10.12.6) but it has been present since El Capitan. I don't have to quit the Finder - just drag and wait for the beachball to go away.

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Answer 2

Dec 11, 2017 4:48 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

I am loathe to install third party software that I have never heard of. However, the issue is easily reproduced by anyone on any Mac running High Sierra, so if they wish to use etrecheck they can.

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Answer 3

Dec 18, 2017 5:44 AM in response to John Galt

I am having the same issue, I noticed it immediately as soon as I upgraded to High Sierra.

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

141,078 points

Dec 9, 2017 9:28 PM in response to Original Gazza

You appear to have found an obscure bug. It may be a meaningless and trivial action but it causes the Finder to become unresponsive and the only way to recover is to force it to quit.

Tell Apple about it.

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Answer 5

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,223 points

Dec 11, 2017 6:29 AM in response to Original Gazza

your concern is not at all unfounded, however for clarity the Etrecheck software was developed as a tool to assist any volunteer here into the configuration of another system without providing any personal information. This product has been recommend countless times on this forum since it's development by a frequent contributor to this site. You can choose to use it or not, but it can be invaluable to determine if there may be a conflict with another service or the installation of rogue software, incompatible software, adware or malware and rule that out.

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Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

141,078 points

Dec 11, 2017 9:02 AM in response to Original Gazza

Although it's harmless, you don't have to bother using EtreCheck. You definitely found a bug. My only question is if it's reproducible on a non-APFS HS installation. I haven't gotten around to that yet. Perhaps someone else could confirm.

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Answer 7

John Galt

Level 10

141,078 points

Dec 18, 2017 6:22 AM in response to John Galt

John Galt wrote:

My only question is if it's reproducible on a non-APFS HS installation. I haven't gotten around to that yet. Perhaps someone else could confirm.

Since no one else volunteered I did it myself. The bug is reproducible on an HFS+ formatted High Sierra startup volume, so it's a HS problem strictly unrelated to APFS.

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Answer 8

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,223 points

Nov 22, 2017 9:54 AM in response to Original Gazza

For futher analysis you may post an Etrecheck report. The link is http://www.etrecheck.com

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Answer 9

Dec 9, 2017 4:45 PM in response to Original Gazza

This problem is still present in 10.13.2...

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Answer 10

Dec 9, 2017 7:29 PM in response to Original Gazza

And you still have not posted the etrecheck report asked for.

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Answer 11

Dec 11, 2017 8:15 AM in response to Original Gazza

OK, I hope you find the solution to your issue.

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Answer 12

dialabrain

Level 10

122,525 points

Dec 18, 2017 7:13 AM in response to John Galt

I can confirm the bug on a HFS+ Volume as well. However, If you Copy then Paste the items there is no problem. It only seems to occur when items are dragged.

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