Devonthink Not Responding & Freezing iMac

I have sent a message to support about this problem but thought I’d see if anyone on the forum can help me figure out the problem. Here’s the issue:

I have multiple databases but I’ll use only one as an example right now because it’s the largest. It is 754 MB in size. It has 150,000 plain text files, 10,000 rich text files, 16 pdf files and 13 image files. Every time I open it Devonthink goes into a “not responding” mode for up to 5 minutes before opening the database.

Then, when I attempt to move items around in the folder structure in an attempt to get better organized Devonthink freezes my whole computer … nothing responds … for up to 10 minutes. Once the computer becomes responsive again Devonthink remains unresponsive for another 5 - 10 minutes.

During this freeze I’ll check the activity monitor and find I have about 2 gb free ram and DT is only using about 3% CPU cycles. But, DT is unresponsive. Then, when it becomes responsive again the files/folders I was attempting to move haven’t moved. If I try again, the response is the same.

I’m running an Intel iMac 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Due with 4 gb ram and plenty of free disk space.

This same non-responsive behavior occurs when I empty the trash in DT as well.

I’ve verified the database, repaired the database and optimized the database. I’ve run AppleJack on my Mac, repaired disk permissions, etc. ad nausea … still nothing changes in DT’s behavior.

Can someone please help me figure out what is going on with this program. I really want to use it in my day-to-day business operations but at this point that is looking like it’s not possible.

Harvey

What speed is your disk? You may want to look at the disk activity part of activity monitor to see if you’re being killed by i/o

A few other things to consider.

Are you indexing folders (or is your database) on a different drive, or on an iDisk, or other device - one that might not be spun up when you open your database? DT might be waiting for IO from elsewhere - hence the low memory footprint but high wait/seek times. I agree with @padillac that the most likely culprit is IO.

Do the PDFs and image files, in particular, open quickly in their native apps? Try “Show in Finder” and then, from Finder (not from DT) use Open With. I’ve had cases where a PDF had embedded images that were corrupt and DT would hang for long periods even when that PDF was not selected. For me, getting rid of the PDF fixed the problem.

Have you used Tools > Verify & Repair / Backup & Optimize?

Just for test purposes, make a new database and copy a few groups into it. Close a misperforming database, restart DT, and see how your performance on the new database is. This is one way to check out the performance of the app itself, without reinstalling.

Or, just uninstall and reinstall. Doing so will not affect your data. (Taking care, first, to empty the global inbox.)

It’s the 7200 rpm hard drive that came installed on the iMac. I looked at the i/o part of activity monitor as you suggested (while it was not responding) but didn’t see anything that looked unusual.

I’m not indexing. The files are imported. I have the database on my main system drive so there isn’t a “spin up” issue.

I did as you suggested and the files opened just fine in the native apps.

Yes, I have done this but it didn’t seem to have any effect. The Verify & Repair showed no problems.

Good suggestion. But, alas, I have the same problem. I created a completely new database and added completely different files to it.

I failed to mention that I had already done an uninstall/reinstall. It had no effect either.

Thanks for your input guys. I do appreciate it.

I still haven’t heard anything back from tech support. It’s been 5 days since I sent the problem to them … beginning to wonder whether they actually exist …

Anyway, I think I did finally get a fix and thought I’d update anyone who has been following the thread.

I did some reading about the debate over defragging on Mac and decided to purchase iDefrag and see if it helped. It took about 30 hours to do a full defrag but it did seem to help the problem with DT hanging my system while emptying the trash. But, it didn’t do anything at all about the issue of simply moving files and folders around also hanging the system.

Even though my pdf files opened just fine in their native apps (suggest by korm) and I didn’t think that was a problem, I decided to delete them since I only had 16 of them anyway. That did the trick.

Apparently, korm was correct and there was an issue with one of the pdf files. But, that problem did not show up when opening the files in the native app. Fortunately, I was able to recreate those files and everything seems good now.

So if you’ve been following this thread and having a similar problem, take a look at your pdf files.

I’m still disappointed with the lack of showing from support though.

Sorry for the lack of response, Harvey, but I was hors de combat with an intestinal bug for a while. An experience that I definitely don’t recommend to others. :slight_smile:

In the event anyone is following this thread and experiencing a similar problem, I wish to post an update and tell how my problem was finally resolved.

First, the prior fix wasn’t a true fix. I did get rid of a few problem pdf files and I did run a complete defrag on the drive. That appeared to solve the problem for a while but it was only for a week or so. The problem showed up again and I opened another support ticket.

Christian worked with me for a long time troubleshooting the issue but nothing really seemed to help. Ultimately, he thought it was related to Spotlight indexing of my DT database but disabling it didn’t help. I did days worth of my own research and troubleshooting because DT is perfect for my work and I really want to use it.

To make a long story short, as I reviewed the discussions Christian and I had about the problem I focused on the Spotlight issue. After a LOT of research I stumbled upon some discussions on other forums about Spotlight indexing of external drives causing problems on some systems. I have several external drives that house information I really don’t need indexed so I decided to disable Spotlight indexing on those drives.

That was it. As soon as I disable Spotlight indexing on the external drives DT started functioning perfectly again. I have continued to build the database to the point where it is now more than 2x as large as before and it shows no signs of problems at all.

I don’t know whether this was a “fluke” for my system or not. But, if you’ve been following this thread and/or experiencing a similar issue, you might give it a try.

Sorry to be too long-winded but I always get frustrated when I follow threads on forums and the final solutions are never posted … so I want to close this one on a good note saying that the problem is solved.

While I was initially frustrated with the slow response of tech support, I have to say that Christian did an excellent job of helping me troubleshoot. We exchanged quite a few emails on the topic and my level of frustration was beginning to show. Christian, however, remained very patient and focused on trying to solve the problem. I couldn’t have asked for better treatment.

My many thanks to all who contributed to solving this problem.

Harvey

Excellent outcome, Harvey. Thank you for posting the post mortem root cause analysis.

If those links are still available to you, could you post the one or two that you found most helpful? For completeness, and because this might help other readers with troubleshooting similar “DT doesn’t work” problems that find their way to the forum.

[quote=“harveycox”]
… I had about the problem I focused on the Spotlight issue. After a LOT of research I stumbled upon some discussions on other forums about Spotlight indexing of external drives causing problems on some systems. I have several external drives that house information I really don’t need indexed so I decided to disable Spotlight indexing on those drives.

That was it. As soon as I disable Spotlight indexing on the external drives DT started functioning perfectly again. I have continued to build the database to the point where it is now more than 2x as large as before and it shows no signs of problems at all.

Hello Harvey,

I was having strange action with databases not switching and DT PRO hanging and no response and then I saw your report (e.g. when I clicked on inbox and then clicked trash [for example] ~ DT would not switch to trash~ then when I clicked the window it would switch to Trash {sometimes} otherwise it would just hang).

How did you disable indexing of external HD?

I had an external USB attached to the macbook pro and I just ejected it and when I ejected it DT Pro began to respond as usual and began switching between databases very fast (as normal).

So, I think I should take your example and post in forums. I have always taken so much from many other forums and usually I never respond or post replies, even when I found what I was looking for. But I guess it is no harm to give a brief reply in gratitude.

I haven’t been in the forums for while so I apologize for not responding to this post sooner.

To turn off Spotlight indexing of external drives go to System Preferences->Spotlight->Privacy and drag your external drives in there.