macOS Mojave - Failure w/thumbnail cache same problem with High Sierra

When I previously upgraded to High Sierra there was an issue where the thumbnail images on movie files would not load properly, it was very slow. Many people here had this same issue and fortunately it was quickly resolved by Apples team. Great Job and thanks for the quick fix...

I have just upgraded to macOS Mojave; low and behold I am now faced with the exact same issue as before. I open a movie folder and all of my files show the generic movie icon then eventually, very slowly the art begins to fill in. I must say when I initially heard of this new OS I was hesitant to download it for this very reason, then I thought there's no way this could happen again... I was wrong.

I am using a 4 tb G|Drive connected via USB-C. I also tried with standard USB, no difference. Issue also occurs with files on desktop.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

Processor 2.7GHz Intel i5

Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

Graphics Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB

Please work your magic and fix this. 🙂

Thanks

MacBook Pro with Retina display, Other OS, Failure w/thumbnail cache

Posted on Oct 10, 2018 10:42 AM

30 replies

Dec 4, 2018 3:38 PM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

You tell ‘em! What good is a forum if Apple never looks at it to see what the problems may be. I have tried to contact Apple...it is a total hassle and I do not have the patience. Thank goodness for people like you. MOJAVE IS THE WORST UPGRADE IN THE HISTORY OF APPLE UPGRADES...and I have been doing this since the early 90s. My iMac runs so slow now, nothing works the same. The fixes are sooo complicated and do not fix anything. I would go back to High Sierra but have no way to back up 2 TB of files in order to do so. So...the thumbnail thing for my .psd files is just one thing that is wrong but the biggest pain for deciding which photos I want to further edit. Makes my photo editing workflow a nightmare. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PERSISTANCE!

Dec 20, 2018 7:25 AM in response to mlkelstrom

Today has been annoying me so much, simply trying to sort movie files and I just get the beach balling for so long, I even went and spent £90 and upgraded the RAM to see if that would make things flow faster but no luck, this is getting really stupid, it's the same issue as when High Sierra came out so they should get a fix for this ASAP! none of my thumbnails show up, my custom ones don't show, I can hardly do anything in my folders as I get the beach balling and I can't click anything, you'd think with people spending thousands of pounds on Apple products they'd get a system that actually works correctly.

Jan 1, 2019 10:20 AM in response to kjk

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, been traveling.

I talked to Apple Support again and they had me send a system report while actually creating an icon file with the program I use, then sent it to the engineers. . . allegedly. Well that was three weeks ago, I have not heard back from them since. My guess is they simply don't want to support this app since it's not produced by Apple, if this is the case I wish they wouldn't have done so from the beginning so that I wouldn't have spent countless hours producing the images only to not have them load properly now . If I don't see any results soon I'll be forced to downgrade to High Sierra. I was told by the representative working with me on this issue that as long as I made a backup of my data (Which I did) when I was using High Sierra then it would simply revert back to that version of High Sierra (http://osxdaily.com/2015/08/24/restore-mac-from-time-machine-backup/) which isn't ideal since you loose any changes, data etc. . . since then. Obviously, you can make a current backup prior to doing this then copy all of your data from there, but who want's to do that.

I hope for everyone's sake they just fix this and we can all move on.

Jan 4, 2019 12:30 PM in response to UrbanKaos

Yes it is quite maddening. . .

What you describe is the exact way my files also load. Hopefully others will relate this information to Apple to inspire them to actually fix it. Considering they caused this problem with their new OS one wold think they would be quite motivated to fix it. If work that I performed had caused an issue that wasn't previously there I would not be able to sleep until I got it sorted out.

Feb 18, 2019 11:25 AM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

Thanks for that, i'm just backing up my files now to Time Machine, sadly I didn't have Time Machine when having High Sierra so i'm going to see if I can downgrade now back to High Sierra, hopefully it goes ok, my OCD is going through the roof though as I love having the newest releases for things and when there are updates/upgrades available and I don't do them, my anxiety kicks off lol but this slow external hard drive stuff is driving me even more insane.

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Oct 12, 2018 10:20 AM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

How to Downgrade macOS High Sierra

The above will get you back to High Sierra. The same process works in Mojave if you have a High Sierra backup.

Nov 16, 2018 3:20 PM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

I have the same problem but with so many movies it crashes my system trying to load... I am so upset that I can’t even get to my movies because when I do it crashes.

RAEYYZ

Level 1

4 points

Nov 28, 2018 9:34 AM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

Also having this issue since the upgrade. Thought I was the only one.

Dec 1, 2018 8:58 AM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

I also have been having this problem, it's becoming a nightmare.

Feb 18, 2019 7:43 PM in response to UrbanKaos

How are you able to add custom thumbnail images for movies? When I add them in Mojave, I'm still stuck with the movie file as a playable preview instead of a static custom image.

Jan 15, 2019 8:43 AM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

It's driving me insane today, trying to sort my NAS out, and move movie files from my external hard drive, to my NAS folder via my iMac, yet I click on my movie folder and it just beachballs for ages!! I can't do anything.

Nov 2, 2018 5:33 PM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

I have the same proplem.

Some of my photo files show the generic icon instead of a thumbnail of the photo. It is weird because it is only some files, not all. These are .psd files that I saved previously from On1 software. It is a pain because I need to see the thumbnail...a waste of time having to open it to see if it is the photo I need to work on. Hmmm...now I am wondering if it has something to do with them being saved from On1. Because when I open them and edit in Photoshop and resave as photoshop .psd they do show the thumbnail.

I did a safe mode restart and it did not change. I saw something about checking some cache but do not know how to do that. I do not want to do the PRam restart because I worry about losing files.

A lot of people think it is due to something called Sketch, but that clearly is not it, even though removing that app and updating it has worked for some, I do not even know what that app is, it is not on my computer.

This is the second problem I have encountered with Mojave. The first was not being able to send emails from my Apple Mail account...the icloud one. I updated to 10.14.1 and that problem was fixed. So yes, Apple needs to fix this. Some of the fixes I have seen posted are too complicated. People assume they are writing instructiions for someone way more computer savvy than I am!

Dec 3, 2018 3:52 PM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

Update:

About an hour ago I got a call back from the person I spoke to earlier in the day. Apparently all of the detailed information that I have given on this issue to the support team was not clear enough because after receiving the data report as well as all of the transcripts from previous conversations about this issue, here and with their support staff, I was just asked if the problem was with the artwork not showing up at all (!!!)

Even at the start of this post I was very clear about this issue (even more detailed messaging and talking with Apple support), they actually asked me to start the process all over. Unbelievable! Somewhere there is a serious breakdown in the chain of communication at Apple and they seriously need to get it sorted. I'm quickly going from patiently annoyed to I will never buy another Apple product again if they don't get this fixed; and soon! So let me reiterate: THIS IS THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM AS WHEN HIGH SIERRA WAS RELEASED. IT WAS FIXED IN THE FOLLOWING HIGH SIERRA UPDATE. REFERENCE HERE: High Sierra - Failure w/thumbnail cache

This last bit was for you guys in the support team. Respectfully, I'm sure you have other things to worry about (we all do) but please read the first page of this post, carefully. Try to understand what is says: I know it's not written in computer speak but I have confidence that you can get it. Every person I have spoken with on this issue has been able to read this post, as I have directed them to it. I like to write things out with the intention of leaving a log of events for everyone so they may have some insight into the process. I own an electrical company and I find that my customers like to feel as if they have learned something from me, but they also like to know that I understand them and that I am going to fix their problem. If I don't they'll go elsewhere.

I'm channeling my inner Steve Jobs there a bit in the hopes that someone will get to work, so sorry for the condescension. 🙂 This is what happens when you get tired of explaining things. I've listened to you now it's your turn to listen to me.

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Dec 3, 2018 7:33 PM in response to ihateyoursuggestion

I don't think you fully understand what these forums do.

FYI: These are user-only forums. Apple is not here, and they are not listening. Thus, we are unable to help with hardware repairs, service questions, order information, and other related concerns such as repair costs or parts prices. For these questions, you need to contact Apple directly. Thank you for your understanding and support.

It would help you if you were to read the Apple Support Communities - Terms of Use.

Contacting Apple Customer and Support Service

Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.

Primary support help at Contact Support.

To contact product and tech support: Contacting Apple for support and service including international calling numbers.

Dec 4, 2018 9:44 AM in response to Kappy

Actually I do and I'm mostly letting others know where things stand. Additionally, I have spoken with several people in tech support in the last month by phone and they have actually viewed this post. Also, the woman who walked me through making a system report for the engineers to look at transcribed what I have written here for reference, and the last person I spoke with from tech support also visited this forum also to gain insight into the issue.

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.

macOS Mojave - Failure w/thumbnail cache same problem with High Sierra