You could send an email to Google asking them to improve their Android File Transfer program, I guess... As I mentioned, I have switched over to using ADB and the OSX terminal program for any heavy lifting, and use AFT for the little stuff.
You could also run a program on your N5 and transfer files via WiFi. I have used WiFi File Transfer Pro with great success (though on my Galaxy Nexus; I haven't tried it yet on my N5). You run it on your N5 and it sets up a web server which you connect to with a web browser on your Mac (e.g., Safari or Chrome). Full graphic interface on your Mac, works over WiFi rather than USB.