Fail

I have a network drive (Samba) with photos. I am trying to view pictures from a Macbook Pro retina, Maverics, a new one. No software installed system wide, other than Chrome in my $HOME. I am able to browse photos from this network share using Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux, Xbox, PS3, WD TV (a set top box), etc.

This however, utterly fails from Mac. When I try "Quick view" (seclect + space) I either get an error or sometimes get a picture but can get to the next one (a beep or a hang). A double click eventually brings _one_ picture in Preview but this takes 30 to 60 seconds. Selecting all pictures (~100) and opening them in Preview just hangs Preview forever and makes it impossible to even reboot the OS (until shutdown eventually hard kills the Preview).

The only way I can see pictures on Mac is by using Chrome and file:/// URL. That brings pictures in 3-5 seconds as expected. Needless to say, this is a #FAIL. Back to 1996, using browser to view JPEGs. Being a Linux user and a OS engineer, I am used to some pretty rough software, but this is too much.

On the positive side the screen is awesome. But the OS seems to be severely lacking.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Thanks!

This will not solve your picture issue and I hope someone else can help you as I have never had that issue with a Mac but:

This is not Linux. Applications belong in the Applications folder when you click on t he Hard drive icon. I have seen issues putting apps other places but that Applications folder. Just a heads up for the future as some apps will not work right put in another folder.

Your picture issue does sound network related. Does the Internet work normally and fast? Can you copy files to other network shares without pauses?

dtravis7 said:

This will not solve your picture issue and I hope someone else can help you as I have never had that issue with a Mac but:

This is not Linux. Applications belong in the Applications folder when you click on t he Hard drive icon. I have seen issues putting apps other places but that Applications folder. Just a heads up for the future as some apps will not work right put in another folder.

Your picture issue does sound network related. Does the Internet work normally and fast? Can you copy files to other network shares without pauses?

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While this is not relevant to the issue, it is not necessarily true that applications belong in /Applications folder. $HOME/Applications works quite fine, as it should. There are many reasons to not perform system wide installs.

Either way, the network is fine. I can copy the same pictures or open them using Web browser and file:/// URLs with no issues and pretty quick.

From what I can figure, the picture viewing application is just plain broken. On two accounts: 1. there's not an easy way to do the obvious (double click and skip to next picture) 2. the app wants to write all sorts of trash (.DS_Store, thumbnails) onto the network share and trips over it's own feet in the process.

Remember what I said in the future if some Apple designed apps mess up. Good luck with your preview issue. I have never had that in my years with OSX.

"Double click and skip to the next picture" may work on some platforms, but is not the norm for Mac.

Here's how I view pictures on a network share:

1. Mount the drive if not already mounted (obviously)
2. Select the photos from a folder.
3. Press spacebar.
4. Down arrow to progress through the selection, or the slideshow option.

+1 for what chas_m pointed out. That works for me with my pictures on a network drive just fine. As for .DS_Store, etc, they are system files from OS X, not the application, and can be blocked from being written to non-Apple formatted drives. Here is Apple's instructions for that. Be aware, there have been reported some strange consequences of this action, but it worked for me when I wanted to give some pictures to someone on a USB stick and not have the .DS_Store, etc, on it.

As for the location of applications, theoretically they can be ANYWHERE, but in reality, some programmers make the assumption that applications will be in the Applications folder. It is possible that you will experience some unforeseen consequences of exercising the privilege of installing applications somewhere other than the Applications folder. If you do, remember that it's not the fault of OS X if you don't follow their guidelines and insist on treating it as if it were Linux.

We have had users here on Mac Forums with issues with*some applications not in the proper place.

dtravis7 said:

We have had users here on Mac Forums with issues with*some applications not in the proper place.

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It is of course the proper place for the apps to be in $HOME. You don't give keys to your house to strangers you met a minute ago on the Internet, you should not give admin access to your box either. Nor should you be using admin account. That aside.

Selecting a number of pictures and trying to open them in Preview just hangs Preview for as long as I cared to wait before rebooting the box. The OS eventually forcefully kills the Preview after a long wait.

The network and the network drive are fine: I am able to copy files using Finder, listen to MP3 using iTunes or open pictures using Chrome (via file:///Volumes/blah URL). This is a new machine and a brand new freshly installed OS with no applications installed. The network drive is also used by Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux, WD TV, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Any ideas? Or, do I 1996-style view JPEGs using Netscape... er Chrome?

Tonight after things quiet down here and I can get to my Mac with Mavericks, I am going to try the exact same thing you are doing with 10.9.4 and will report back.

What is the exact version of Mavericks you have on there? Is it updated to the latest 10.9.4? Reason I ask is I saw a bug report with 10.9.2 with your someone having your issue and it was supposed to be fixed in later updates.

Also how is the drive connected to the network? Is it a NAS plugged into the network or a drive plugged into another system on the network?

dtravis7 said:

Tonight after things quiet down here and I can get to my Mac with Mavericks, I am going to try the exact same thing you are doing with 10.9.4 and will report back.

Very is the exact version of Mavericks you have on there? Is it updated to the latest 10.9.4? Reason I ask is I saw a bug report with 10.9.2 with your someone having your issue and it was supposed to be fixed in later updates.

Also how is the drive connected to the network? Is it a NAS plugged into the network or a drive plugged into another system on the network?

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Updated to 10.9.4, no difference. The first picture took 38 seconds to show in Preview after a double click. The second took 55 seconds.

Chrome takes 5-6 seconds to open each image.

If I select an image and hit space key I get an error message: "An error occurred with the preview of this document." Initially the error window is blank and a some time later a thumbnail image appears inside of the error message window.

Anyway, I have to conclude it's just broken. It's not enough that the most obvious thing for browsing images ("double click on an image in folder and then click next") is not available, it's just completely broken functionally.

And I thought GNOME file manager was rough

antonsolovyev said:

Updated to 10.9.4, no difference. The first picture took 38 seconds to show in Preview after a double click. The second took 55 seconds.

Chrome takes 5-6 seconds to open each image.

If I select an image and hit space key I get an error message: "An error occurred with the preview of this document." Initially the error window is blank and a some time later a thumbnail image appears inside of the error message window.

Anyway, I have to conclude it's just broken. It's not enough that the most obvious thing for browsing images ("double click on an image in folder and then click next") is not available, it's just completely broken functionally.

And I thought GNOME file manager was rough

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Did I mention that the screen is gorgeous? A picture taken with a good camera and a sharp lens really shines on Retina. I never knew there was so much detail in my images! Now if only the software matched the hardware...

You did not answer my last question about the drive on the network. Please do as I want to duplicate it here exactly. I have never had anything slower than 1-2 seconds.

I am hoping maybe its some bug in Preview in Mavericks as I have never seen it in the older versions of OSX.

Also I just caught an error Auto Correct did! Wowl Very instead of What!

Also, In PREVIEW to use Next you need to open all the images you want at the same time. Next has and will never go to the next unless they are all loaded. Here with average size images it takes maybe 5-10 seconds to load 50 or more. So that part is not broken but how APple wants it.

Well you never answered so I went ahead while I could and tested it every way I can here. Drives inside PC's with Windows 7, Vista, Macs with internal and external drives running OSX, my server. Loaded every picture on those different drives and systems using my iMac with Mavericks 10.9.4. Never did it take more than 2-3 seconds to load say a folder with 50 pics or more.

I am not sure what size pics you are loading and that could make some difference but many of these are quite large taken with my canon with everything set full tilt and all were there in seconds and picture to picture in Preview was almost instant if not instant.

So not sure what is going on there.

PS, this was done with my Gigabit wired network in most cases and with one system Wireless N.

Well, I am sure it works for you, but it does not for me. Since this same Samba drive works with every other device I could find (including cheap set top box from WD, Xbox and PS3!), the blame goes to Mac OS X.

Well, that drive actually works quite fine with Mac OS X too, since I can copy pictures or view them using browser with no issues. Except Preview and Quick View won't work.

I am left to view pictures using Chrome.

Asked a coworker how to view pictures, he said "Preview? It's crap. Install A, B or C". Not really interested, I expect file manager to be able to at least view pictures. Hence #fail.

antonsolovyev said:

Since this same Samba drive works with every other device I could find (including cheap set top box from WD, Xbox and PS3!), the blame goes to Mac OS X.
....
Asked a coworker how to view pictures, he said "Preview? It's crap. Install A, B or C". Not really interested, I expect file manager to be able to at least view pictures. Hence #fail.

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Do you really believe that, an issue, no one else has experienced (as far as I can gather), is an operating system flaw, rather than something, you might need to adjust? And I wasn't talking about attitude ... Well, not entirely ...

As judged by the posts in Apple's support forums and elsewhere on the net, a lot of people are experiencing problems with slow SMB connections under Mavericks. It doesn't impact everyone, but it does impact quite a few people.

Back when 10.7 came out, Apple dropped the open source Samba system in response to the Samba group's adoption of GPL3 licensing. Unfortunately, Apple's proprietary SMB2 stack has its share of strange behaviors.

Some people have had success by forcing connections to use the older SMB/CIFS protocol instead of SMB2. For example, the original poster might want to check out Mavericks' SMB2 problem and fixes | ZDNet for some possible workarounds.

MBP17•David said:

Do you really believe that, an issue, no one else has experienced (as far as I can gather), is an operating system flaw, rather than something, you might need to adjust? And I wasn't talking about attitude ... Well, not entirely ...

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