Fetch Softworks

Upload / download speed great - getting file lists in directories extremely slow (10 posts)

• Started 14 years ago by KirkM
• Latest reply 13 years ago from Scott McGuire

• KirkM Member

  I love Fetch. It has worked great and been very fast in all aspects until recently. I use SFTP to access my servers for various Linux file tasks and it used to fly right through the directories. Now, it takes a very long time to load each directory to which I navigate. When I get there, the upload and download speeds are still great. It is just getting there takes foooorrrrevvvver.

  I don't know if something in the normal updates to server software could have done it or what happened to cause this. No major events have taken place that would point to anything different. It just one day started doing this and I can't figure out why. I have messed with every setting and checked my servers top to bottom and can't find anything suspicious. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  We'd like some more information to help us figure out what the problem might be.

  Which version of Fetch do you have?

  Do you see the problem with more than one server? If yes, are all the servers run by the same company (or by you), and are they all running the same SFTP server software?

  Do the directories you see this problem with have lots of files in them?

  Do the directories contain lots of different kinds of files, or files with many different filename extensions?

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• KirkM Member

  SEE answers below:

  Which version of Fetch do you have?

  5.5.3 (latest version)

  Do you see the problem with more than one server? If yes, are all the servers run by the same company (or by you), and are they all running the same SFTP server software?

  Yes, both servers have this problem. They are at different companies, one is running Centos5 32 bit and the other is running Centos5 64 bit. Same basic software on both, all up to date. They are very fast servers. FTP navigation with Fetch is also much slower than it used to be when going through directories, but SFTP is much slower. The built-in ftp capabilities of my web editing software (Dreamweaver) is lightning fast when navigating through the exact same directories.

  Do the directories you see this problem with have lots of files in them?

  Some do, and they take up to 5 or 6 minutes to load in Fetch using SFTP. The directories with very little in them take less time, but still stall and load much slower than they did or should.

  Do the directories contain lots of different kinds of files, or files with many different filename extensions?

  The REALLY slow ones do. But, again, even a directory with, say, 5 or 6 total files of the same type takes 15 seconds or more to load. It should be instant with that little to read. Fetch is acting like there is something interfering with its communication to the server every time you go to a new directory. Even logging on to a site initially takes quite a while to connect and get the tree up, maybe 20 to 30 seconds. When I open a terminal window and SSH into the server, it snaps up anything in an instant. I can do a yum list of many hundreds of files and it literally displays in a second.

  As I said, I don't think it is Fetch because it was working beautifully up until recently. But I am looking for any insight possible from your knowledge and experience to perhaps guide me to where I should be looking for a problem - either with my Fetch settings (which I didn't change before this started happening) or something on my servers that I need to adjust.

  Thanks for the help. Again, great product. I used a few of the others and this is by far the best featured and constructed FTP software for Mac.

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  Thanks for the additional info. We do have a few other things to check and try to see if we can improve the speed or find out what's going on.

  First, go to the Fetch menu, choose Preferences, and click the Miscellaneous tab. Is the "Ignore file list cache" checkbox checked or unchecked? If it is checked, uncheck it and see if that makes a difference.

  Next, please try the following:

  * Quit Fetch.
  * Click the desktop background to select the Finder.
  * In the Finder, go to the "Go" menu, and choose "Home"
  * Open the Library folder
  * Open the Preferences folder
  * Find the Fetch Cache file, and move it to the Desktop. (Don't throw it away because we might want to look at it.)

  Open Fetch and try going to some of the problem directories. Do they load any faster?

  Let me know if either of these makes a difference.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• KirkM Member

  "Ignore List Cache" was already unchecked.

  I pulled the pref file and it does seem to go a bit better. It isn't fast as it was, but it was much better with the initial login and going through the smaller directories was snappier. The big ones are still a bit of a problem, but definitely faster. A minute, maybe a bit less, is a lot better than 5 or 6 minutes! I can live with that.

  I do think that one of the recent regular server updates did something that is fighting with Fetch or has somehow made Fetch's job more difficult. I am not a Linux guru and just basically run yum updates from the command line to keep things current.

  Thanks for the help. I think this will be much better than what I have been experiencing the last couple of weeks.

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  It's good to hear that removing the Fetch Cache helped improve the speed of directory listings.

  Two more things for you to try, which may result in further speed increases.

  First, download and install our newly released version of Fetch, version 5.6.

  Second, try setting aside your Fetch preferences file in addition to the Fetch Cache file:

  * Quit Fetch.
  * Click the desktop background to select the Finder.
  * In the Finder, go to the "Go" menu, and choose "Home"
  * Open the Library folder
  * Open the Preferences folder
  * Find the com.fetchsoftworks.Fetch.plist file, and move it to the Desktop.

  Note that removing the Fetch preferences plist will remove the list of servers that appear in Recent Connections; if you use the Recent Connections for connecting, be sure you have the connection information for all the servers listed there written down elsewhere (or saved as shortcuts in Fetch).

  Please let us know if either of those results in further improvements in directory listing speed.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 13 years ago #

• KirkM Member

  I was actually downloading the update as you were responding. Great news! That fixed everything. It is blazing fast again. I just went through all my directories with problems and it is loading almost instantly. Even when I went to one of the folders with almost 4000 files in it, it took about 4 or 5 seconds to load. Even better, the scrolling stalls are gone. It scrolls smooth as silk, even with thousands of files.

  Thanks very much, I am thrilled! I have a whole bunch of file migrating to do with multiple clients and this will make it so much easier and faster.

  I do think this is by far the best FTP product on the market.

  Posted 13 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  Great, we're glad to hear that Fetch 5.6 has resolved the problems. We did make some improvements to the file list performance in it.

  You can go ahead and put the Fetch Cache file on your desktop into the Trash, if you haven't already.

  You're very welcome, and thanks for the kind words!

  Best,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 13 years ago #

• KirkM Member

  Been living with this for a few weeks now and it is unbelievably fast going through directories. It is absolutely instantaneous. I couldn't be happier with it.

  Posted 13 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Kirk,

  Thanks for the followup - we're glad to hear Fetch 5.6 continues to work well for you.

  Best,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 13 years ago #