2011 Intel 27" iMac having huge slowness issues

Eycd · Feb 17, 2015

It's my Dad's mac and he doesn't do much on it other then update his iTunes library and check a few forums and Facebook etc. The computer runs horribly slow, like clicking anything brings up the loading symbol and it takes ages to start up. It also struggles and lags playing music on iTunes.

What should I do, I need to fix this myself ideally as it's out of warranty and paying apple to fix it isn't an option.

Thanks.

lclev · Feb 17, 2015

It would be nice to know how much memory is on the imac, the size of the hard drive and how much free space is available, and what version of OS X is it running? Also what apps are running? Is there a specific app or activity running when the beach balls occur? When was the last time it was restarted?

I can give you some maintenance things to try.

1. How full is the hard drive? There should be at least 15% of it free for file swapping.

2. Memory can be an issue if there has been an upgrade to OS X. Yosemite likes at least 4GB

3. Run Disk Utility to repair permissions and repair disk. Both are good to run occasionally.

4. Download Onyx - a free program - and run the automation tab. This will clear out cache clutter and a bunch of other stuff. Be sure to download the version that matches the version of OS X he is running.

Titanium Software - OnyX

Lisa

johnodd4 · Feb 17, 2015

Yea I would agree.

Run onyx And check ram i would actually recommend 8 gig's for yosemite though because all though it will run on 4 gig's it will basically beach ball and lag like no other.

Also check the hard drive out in disk utility find out how much space is free and what type of drive it is seagate hard drives are known for corruption and failure and when they go they go quickly.

Eycd · Feb 17, 2015

lclev said:
It would be nice to know how much memory is on the imac, the size of the hard drive and how much free space is available, and what version of OS X is it running? Also what apps are running? Is there a specific app or activity running when the beach balls occur? When was the last time it was restarted?

I can give you some maintenance things to try.

1. How full is the hard drive? There should be at least 15% of it free for file swapping.

2. Memory can be an issue if there has been an upgrade to OS X. Yosemite likes at least 4GB

3. Run Disk Utility to repair permissions and repair disk. Both are good to run occasionally.

4. Download Onyx - a free program - and run the automation tab. This will clear out cache clutter and a bunch of other stuff. Be sure to download the version that matches the version of OS X he is running.

Titanium Software - OnyX

Lisa

Thank you for the reply.

It's not currently running Yosemite, although I'm thinking about upgrading to Yosemite. It has 4GB of RAM. There is 600GB free on the 1TB HDD and it's running Mac OS X 10.6.8

chscag · Feb 17, 2015

Eycd said:
Thank you for the reply.

It's not currently running Yosemite, although I'm thinking about upgrading to Yosemite. It has 4GB of RAM. There is 600GB free on the 1TB HDD and it's running Mac OS X 10.6.8

That model iMac uses a Seagate 1 TB hard drive which was the subject of an Apple recall. The original drives were replaced for free by Apple. Ask your Dad to give Apple a call and see if his machine still qualifies for the free replacement. I suspect the slowness may be due to a failing hard drive although other things could also cause it. That iMac can certainly be upgraded with more memory which may help. The max memory it can hold is 32 GB.

Eycd · Mar 1, 2015

Ok, I have ordered a new hard drive and all the stuff I need to replace it.
How do I get the data off of the old hard drive onto the new one, can you explain this in detail as I googled but people just said time machine I backed up on time machine but then how do I load it onto the new hard drive, what do I do with the OS? etc many questions. If possible I wanna upgrade to Yosemite whilst doing this.

Thanks.

harryb2448 · Mar 1, 2015

When you get bhe new hard drive mounted, and good luck it is not the easiest task in the world, pop in the Snow Leopard DVD that came with the iMac, boot from it by restart and hold down 'C', leave Installer and go to Utilities in the Menu Bar, format the drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled), back to the Installer and run it. Update then as necessary.

Pop the old drive in an external case and connect up via USB or Firewire 800, which will be faster, and go to Utilities and run Migration Assistant. Then if you wish update to Yosemite. It is a free download, but you will require Snow Leopard to be updated to OS X.6.8 to access the App Store, and Dad will need an Apple ID if he does not have one.

pm-r · Mar 1, 2015

chscag said:
That model iMac uses a Seagate 1 TB hard drive which was the subject of an Apple recall. The original drives were replaced for free by Apple. Ask your Dad to give Apple a call and see if his machine still qualifies for the free replacement. I suspect the slowness may be due to a failing hard drive although other things could also cause it. That iMac can certainly be upgraded with more memory which may help. The max memory it can hold is 32 GB.

That Apple recall on the Seagate drives was only for certain models, and I have a 2011 27" w/ 1TB Seagate drive that wasn't included, and it's not slow at all.

And as it's the Dad's Mac who seems to just do some basic stuff, I sure as He__ wouldn't suggest installing Yosemite on it.

As for the now expired recall, some info here:
Apple quietly extends 1TB iMac Seagate replacement program | Macworld

pm-r · Mar 1, 2015

harryb2448 said:
When you get bhe new hard drive mounted, and good luck it is not the easiest task in the world, pop in the Snow Leopard DVD that came with the iMac, boot from it by restart and hold down 'C', leave Installer and go to Utilities in the Menu Bar, format the drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled), back to the Installer and run it. Update then as necessary.
… … ...

Just FWIW, if that 2011 iMac was released after July 20, 2011 as my 27" was, Apple didn't include any Snow Leopard disks and such Macs just came with Mac OS X 10.7 installed.

I had to call Apple to get a compatible SL Install disk and after they consulted three different techs they sent me the disk at no charge as they didn't know if my new iMac could even run it. I had to point out to them that that's what they advertised and one of the reasons I bought it. Almost the last model Mac that could run SL and it does so very well, but now using Mavericks mostly.

Eycd · Mar 1, 2015

harryb2448 said:
When you get bhe new hard drive mounted, and good luck it is not the easiest task in the world, pop in the Snow Leopard DVD that came with the iMac, boot from it by restart and hold down 'C', leave Installer and go to Utilities in the Menu Bar, format the drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled), back to the Installer and run it. Update then as necessary.

Pop the old drive in an external case and connect up via USB or Firewire 800, which will be faster, and go to Utilities and run Migration Assistant. Then if you wish update to Yosemite. It is a free download, but you will require Snow Leopard to be updated to OS X.6.8 to access the App Store, and Dad will need an Apple ID if he does not have one.

We as the previous member said didn't have a disc, or if we did it's lost for sure. Where would I get an external case for the hard drive? Forgot about that haha.

chscag · Mar 1, 2015

That Apple recall on the Seagate drives was only for certain models, and I have a 2011 27" w/ 1TB Seagate drive that wasn't included, and it's not slow at all.

Yeah, I knew that but I thought they had extended it at one time. It appears from your link that the extension expired in April of 2013. I'm really not a lover of Seagate drives as I had one fail in my 2011 21.5" iMac. However, Apple replaced it for free with a WD. I still had Apple care on the machine at that time. My current 2013 27" iMac has a 1 TB Seagate installed. I'm waiting for the "other shoe" to drop.

I do have Apple care on this machine so if it fails.....

chas_m · Mar 1, 2015

Charlie, you might find this article (and the associated chart) very interesting. BackBlaze (the backup service) use consumer-level HDs for their purposes, and have done extensive testing on the big name brands. What they found was quite interesting:

Backblaze updates hard drive reliability study, HGST on top | Electronista

(scroll down to the bottom for the main chart)

Bottom line: I wouldn't spend any money on 3TB or smaller Seagate drives, but the 4TB and higher models appear to be just fine. HGST (formerly Hitachi) appear to be the clear-cut winner in reliability.

chscag · Mar 1, 2015

Interesting study. Thanks chas.

2011 Intel 27" iMac having huge slowness issues

Eycd

lclev

johnodd4

Eycd

chscag

Well-known member

Eycd

harryb2448

pm-r

pm-r

Eycd

chscag

Well-known member

chas_m

Guest

chscag

Well-known member

Shop Amazon