Slowwwww file sorting in OS X

February 23, 2006 12:25 AM

Why are files in OS X taking so darn long to place themselves alphabetically after being named?

A recent and annoying problem is happening when I create or rename files on my Mac. Like many, I navigate in the Finder using the column lists. When I name a file in a list it takes literally 2+ seconds for the file to position itself in the correct alphabetical placement in that list. For example if a folder contains a file named "ball" and I create a new file named "apple" it takes "apple" 2+ seconds to automatically go above "ball".

This happens with multiple apps open or with no apps open at all. To my knowledge, nothing is running in the background that would slow down the OS. All apps (photoshop, etc.) are running fine. I'm running OS 10.4.5 on a 2 GHz IMac.

I cry mercy. I've been to a dozen Mac sites and can't find the answer.

posted by quadog to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Does this happen in any folder you try it in? [Trying to exclude possibility of very slow disks full of files]

There is a slight pause when you rename a file in the Finder before it moves to its new position, presumably so you can see easily that the rename has taken effect. However, it's on the order of half a second on my very aged Powerbook. 2+ seconds is too long.
posted by edd at 1:22 AM on February 23, 2006

I think it's a bug introduced in 10.4.5. I just tested it on my Powerbook (10.4.5) and got the same results. Only affects column view, too.
posted by nathan_teske at 1:47 AM on February 23, 2006

There is a report up now on MacFixIt about this issue... it hasn't affected my PowerBook, though, luckily.
posted by bcwinters at 6:39 AM on February 23, 2006

It's not a bug, it's a feature!
-or so I thought. When I change file names, I intend to put them somewhere else and it's nice for them to stay put long enough for me to grab them and put them in another folder instead of hunting all over for the new name.
posted by idiotfactory at 7:44 AM on February 23, 2006

A chime-in for bcwinters's solution: I'm also able to reproduce in 10.4.5 only.
posted by boombot at 9:21 AM on February 23, 2006

Does this happen in any folder you try it in? [Trying to exclude possibility of very slow disks full of files]

Good question, but I don't have very many files on the HD. I just got the iMac about 6 months ago.

It appears I'm not the only one experiencing this problem so I guess we just sit tight for a bug fix.
posted by quadog at 2:35 PM on February 23, 2006