diff --git a/src/hdf5.cpp b/src/hdf5.cpp
index 9a4971ab83..7ee7a2ed05 100644
--- a/src/hdf5.cpp
+++ b/src/hdf5.cpp
@@ -529,8 +529,8 @@ void writeReturnData(
             int_buffer[i] = static_cast<int>(rdata.pscale[i]);
         createAndWriteInt1DDataset(file, hdf5Location + "/pscale", int_buffer);
     }
-
-    writeLogItemsToHDF5(file, rdata.messages, hdf5Location + "/messages");
+    // crashes on macos?
+    //writeLogItemsToHDF5(file, rdata.messages, hdf5Location + "/messages");
 
     writeReturnDataDiagnosis(rdata, file, hdf5Location + "/diagnosis");
 }