Re: Problem copying large files to a hard disc

Hi Tom,

Tom Harrington wrote:
In article <fdrlve$1k2$1$8300dec7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Alan Fry <ajf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Has anyone come across such a thing? Is the 'Finder' at fault? Is it hardware? What can one do to diagnose the root cause.


I would suggest you run Console (in the Utilities folder) while attempting one of these copies. There may be illuminating messages printed there when the copy stops.


Thank you very much indeed for that suggestion: it has solved the problem, but possibly in a way you might not have predicted. Let me tell you the story because it may well save other folk from falling into the same pot-hole.

Some time ago I bought an external Western Electric Firewire-enabled HD being advised this waqs a good reliable work-horse. It came with some software on board with the instruction to download that before formatting the disc. Fine. I did that and parked the said backup software in Applications.

However, again following advice, I didn't use this software for backup, but downloaded 'SuperDuper.app' which has worked faultlessly. The sofware from the Western Electric (ArcSoft by name) meanwhile resided parked harmlessly (or so I thought) in Applications.

So everything, it seemed, was fine. Backups proceeded smoothly, the machine was in all other respects behaving exactly as a Mac should, and in short I was a happy bunny. Until, that is, this problem copying large files popped up out of the blue.

Firing up Console, as you suggested, revealed huge and incessant activity by ArcSoft which couldn't find or load something or other. So what -- no one had asked it to do anything anyway.

Binning ArcSoft 'WD Backup.app' stopped all this activity in its tracks, and lo and behold, the problem transferring large files disappeared too.

So, the moral of this tale is, if you buy a Western Electric HD, throw the sofware that comes with it away. Do not assume, as I did, you could transfer it to your boot HD 'in case it might come in handy'. Just format the HD and obliterate it.

Thank you again for your response.

With kind regards,

Alan Fry
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