1

I've automounted four FTP directories with curlftpfs and two SFTP directories with sshfs in my /etc/fstab on Ubuntu Desktop 14.04.

When I open the /mnt folder in which all directories are mounted, already this operation (getting the list with the six folders) takes a long time. I analyzed this with tcpdump, and it turns out curlftpfs/sshfs has a huge overhead. In fact, it's not curlftpfs'/sshfs' problem. The problem is that the file explorer wants to know how many files there are in the directory, and keeps downloading lower directories.

I'm more interested in being able to select the folder quickly than in knowing from the higher level screen how many files there are one level lower. Is there a way to disable this 'feature'?

I'm using Nautilus, however, I'm open to other file managers if that would help.

  • You may find this interesting: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24360479/ftp-with-curlftpfs-is-extremely-slow-to-the-point-it-is-impossible-to-work-with – Elder Geek Jan 21 '15 at 19:09
  • @ElderGeek thank you, but I don't think that's the problem. I also have a problem with SSHfs, while they say using SSHfs should be the solution. It's probably just my connection not being the best, but I'm hoping for a way to disable this meta-information in the explorer. –  Jan 21 '15 at 20:23
  • Which one are you using? Nautilus? PCFman? Please edit your question and provide that info. Without knowing which file manager you are using I don't know where to start. Thank you. – Elder Geek Jan 21 '15 at 22:52

1 Answers1

0

Regarding Nautilus: To stop wasting time on unwanted preview and file counting actions go to preferences and the preview tab and adjust your settings to match this:

nautilus-preview-no

Regarding alternatives:

I've found PCManFM to be very lightweight and fast (even on underpowered systems). PCManFM is the default for the LXDE desktop which is popular for systems that aren't quite as robust and might be a good choice for your situation. You might want to give it a try. There are several lightweight file managers available for Linux. PCManFM is just one among many.

Some other good choices are:

Gentoo File Manager, ROX-Filer, and Xfe

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just a small sample of what I found.

Source: https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=lightweight+file+managers+linux&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Elder Geek
  • 35,476
  • 25
  • 95
  • 181