I have a MacBook Pro, 2.33 GHz Intel Core Duo, 3GB RAM, 28GB avail on system hard drive, two external drives. Photomechanic hangs if I have Capture NX active. PM also hangs at various times while using it and especially if I leave it for a while and come back. It has hung while trying to execute a copy of a card to hard drive; the first copy went just fine and I was repeating it to a second drive. It has hung at other random times. I cannot "force quit" either; I must actually have to hit the power off button and then restart my computer with it. Since I stopped using a PC, I don't normally experience this type of problem and I have had Macs for several years.
I also tried to find PM in the Activity Monitor in hopes of forcing it to quit that way so I wouldn't have to power down my computer, but couldn't figure out which kernel or process it was. There wasn't one name PM or CameraBits, for example.
Thanks...hope there is a better way.
I had (have?) the same problem on my Macbook Pro, but I guess I found a reason and a sollution. I had the following folder-config:
/Volumes/Data/Photos/new photos
/Volumes/Data/Photos/To Send
The folders "new photos" and "to send" are also part of my finder sidebar and the system hangs at various points (especially when I tried to "enter" the PM menubar or when I changed back to PM from Lightroom).
Now I moved the "To send" folder one level higher and the problem seams to be gone. Now it looks like:
/Volumes/Data/Photos/new photos
/Volumes/Data/To Send
BTW: whenever PM has shown this beachball and was hanging, it helped to end any open process. E.g. to quit safari or an open text editor or any other open unneeded task has stopped the beachball and brought PM back to life. Strange!
Lars
P.S.: this finder icon creation option is off