I have a 2008 Aluminum Macbook that I use for travel, conferences, etc. I like it that it's a "throwaway". I have Catalina installed on it via DosDude1's patcher. It is good enough for browsing, email, running a slide slow, etc.
I'm a software developer. I don't have any serious expectation of doing development on this computer - I have desktop Macs for that. But I do like to keep XCode installed on it for emergencies. Because I do work for different clients whose code might be of various vintages, I have to be able to install multiple versions of XCode "side by side", so I do so by downloading XIP files for each version. (That is, I do not install from the App Store, and I use a renaming scheme.)
So, I just went to add XCode 11.3.1 (already had 11.2.1). At first, I tried to copy Xcode.app, but the estimated copy time (Path Finder) was something like 80 hours! This is on a wired, gbit network.
So, I aborted that, and copied the XIP file (smaller) which took only a few minutes. Then I proceeded to decompress it (you just open the XIP and the archive utility will decompress it.) But the archive utility said that the file was corrupt. I repeated this with the same results. I then SUCCESSFULLY decompressed it on the source machine. (iMac Pro). (Note I had already installed on the iMac Pro, so I was doing a fresh decompression of the XIP, which I had kept.)
I decided to bite the bullet, and copy the .app file. That was last evening. It actually just made a big jump this morning while I was typing this, and now shows 18.7 of 19.2 GB copied, about 20 minutes remaining. So, took much less time than estimated.
Sorry, I forget many hundreds of thousands of files it said it was copying.... but it was a lot! I suspect this has something to do with copying many small files. The "jump" was likely because it encountered some big files? Pathfinder estimate is showing ridiculously low transfer rate average 500K-1Mbyte/sec.
Anybody else encounter something similar? I think perhaps related to the fact that I did enable disk encryption - while I consider the machine a "throwaway", my client's data isn't!. (Yes, with OS installed with dosdude1 patcher - it is a bit of a hassle, but at least fixed in recent versions). I have "souped up" this machine as much as can be - it has 8GB of RAM (shared with display - don't laugh!) and a 512GB OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD.
Blackmagic Speed Test gives me 200MB/sec write, 226MB/sec read, very respectable for this old machine with SATA-2 interface. I get about 500mB/500MB sec on my 2012 Mac Mini with 2TB Samsung EVO 860, and 3000mB/2400Mb on iMac Pro so, no, I do not have big expectations here. Still much faster than the I think ~40Mb/Sec with the original spinner. (And I think ~80 with a hybrid drive that died before I got the OWC).
Network is not a problem - Speedtest (I know not the best way, it's not testing the local network, but in this case will do) gives me 800Mbps down/600Mbps up (WebPass/Google Fiber) on both machines, so clearly the local Ethernet connection is 1000mbit/sec. for both (and the lights on my router confirm the link speed.)
BTW, the copy just completed as I type, and XCode does run and has downloaded the command-line components and installing them now.
I suspect this would happen with any large "package" that contains a lot of small files. Anybody else encounter something like this?
There are TWO mysteries here:
- The XIP won't successfully decompress on the Macbook 5,1
- Xcode.app required many hours to copy over local network
I'm a software developer. I don't have any serious expectation of doing development on this computer - I have desktop Macs for that. But I do like to keep XCode installed on it for emergencies. Because I do work for different clients whose code might be of various vintages, I have to be able to install multiple versions of XCode "side by side", so I do so by downloading XIP files for each version. (That is, I do not install from the App Store, and I use a renaming scheme.)
So, I just went to add XCode 11.3.1 (already had 11.2.1). At first, I tried to copy Xcode.app, but the estimated copy time (Path Finder) was something like 80 hours! This is on a wired, gbit network.
So, I aborted that, and copied the XIP file (smaller) which took only a few minutes. Then I proceeded to decompress it (you just open the XIP and the archive utility will decompress it.) But the archive utility said that the file was corrupt. I repeated this with the same results. I then SUCCESSFULLY decompressed it on the source machine. (iMac Pro). (Note I had already installed on the iMac Pro, so I was doing a fresh decompression of the XIP, which I had kept.)
I decided to bite the bullet, and copy the .app file. That was last evening. It actually just made a big jump this morning while I was typing this, and now shows 18.7 of 19.2 GB copied, about 20 minutes remaining. So, took much less time than estimated.
Sorry, I forget many hundreds of thousands of files it said it was copying.... but it was a lot! I suspect this has something to do with copying many small files. The "jump" was likely because it encountered some big files? Pathfinder estimate is showing ridiculously low transfer rate average 500K-1Mbyte/sec.
Anybody else encounter something similar? I think perhaps related to the fact that I did enable disk encryption - while I consider the machine a "throwaway", my client's data isn't!. (Yes, with OS installed with dosdude1 patcher - it is a bit of a hassle, but at least fixed in recent versions). I have "souped up" this machine as much as can be - it has 8GB of RAM (shared with display - don't laugh!) and a 512GB OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD.
Blackmagic Speed Test gives me 200MB/sec write, 226MB/sec read, very respectable for this old machine with SATA-2 interface. I get about 500mB/500MB sec on my 2012 Mac Mini with 2TB Samsung EVO 860, and 3000mB/2400Mb on iMac Pro so, no, I do not have big expectations here. Still much faster than the I think ~40Mb/Sec with the original spinner. (And I think ~80 with a hybrid drive that died before I got the OWC).
Network is not a problem - Speedtest (I know not the best way, it's not testing the local network, but in this case will do) gives me 800Mbps down/600Mbps up (WebPass/Google Fiber) on both machines, so clearly the local Ethernet connection is 1000mbit/sec. for both (and the lights on my router confirm the link speed.)
BTW, the copy just completed as I type, and XCode does run and has downloaded the command-line components and installing them now.
I suspect this would happen with any large "package" that contains a lot of small files. Anybody else encounter something like this?
There are TWO mysteries here:
- The XIP won't successfully decompress on the Macbook 5,1
- Xcode.app required many hours to copy over local network
