New mac constantly beachballs

[chscag]

As far as I'm aware, there are no defrag tools that are compatible with the APFS format. I too have a copy of iDefrag but since most of my external media is solid state, I have put it away for good. And by the way... for folks who want a copy of iDefrag for older versions of macOS and for use with HFS+, the developer has released it for free use. There was at one time a copy of a serial number to unlock the app that was available on the web. My understanding is that it too was released by the developer.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

You don't happen to be up to date about defrag tools do you? Obviously they still shouldn't be used on SSDs, but I'm not sure if anything is compatible yet with APFS or even Catalina. My long time preferred one, iDefrag, has long since been ceased development and hasn't been supported since High Sierra, possibly Sierra. I do still use it myself strictly on my external media drive, which is not bootable, formatted in HFS+, and only holds media files. I wouldn't advocate using it for anything else but still need to find an alternative. I know TechTool Pro comes with one, but don't know much about its current state.

Sure. SSD's shouldn't ever be defragmented. APFS, while compatible with rotating disk hard drives, is really best for SSD's and if your OS gives you a choice, stick with HFS+ for rotating disk hard drives.

Only iDefrag does a *smart* defragmentation (i.e. it optimizes placement of things for best performance). To the best of my knowledge (and I contacted and spoke with everyone about this for an article I wrote), no one else's defragmenters do a smart defragmentation. So I don't recommend anything other than iDefrag, the exception being if you are running an OS that iDefrag won't run under yet you still have a rotating disk hard drive. In that case you will have to make do with whatever POS you can find.

Lots of folks will argue that you never need to defragment a Mac's hard drive. Those folks have never had a hard drive that got too full and either became flaky, or worse, lost data. Even if you clear off a lot of space on your too full hard drive, that may not be enough to get it to run really well again. The Mac OS requires *contiguous space* (not bunches of little bits of spaces strewn all over) for its own use to work best.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Sure. SSD's shouldn't ever be defragmented. APFS, while compatible with rotating disk hard drives, is really best for SSD's and if your OS gives you a choice, stick with HFS+ for rotating disk hard drives.

Only iDefrag does a *smart* defragmentation (i.e. it optimizes placement of things for best performance). To the best of my knowledge (and I contacted and spoke with everyone about this for an article I wrote), no one else's defragmenters do a smart defragmentation. So I don't recommend anything other than iDefrag, the exception being if you are running an OS that iDefrag won't run under yet you still have a rotating disk hard drive. In that case you will have to make do with whatever POS you can find.

Lots of folks will argue that you never need to defragment a Mac's hard drive. Those folks have never had a hard drive that got too full and either became flaky, or worse, lost data. Even if you clear off a lot of space on your too full hard drive, that may not be enough to get it to run really well again. The Mac OS requires *contiguous space* (not bunches of little bits of spaces strewn all over) for its own use to work best.

For my usage that I mentioned on an HDD formatted in HFS+ with strictly media files on it, I'm still managing with iDefrag even under Catalina. I test defragged a couple files and compared before/after checksums to make sure that the files weren't corrupted before proceeding on the entire drive. Yeah, I like to live dangerously. But no way I'd use it on an HDD booting an unsupported version of macOS.

 

[neilf]

Try opening Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder and leave it running in the background. You can minimize it to the Dock to get it out of the way. Next time you get beachballing click on the AM icon and then look at the CPU tab to see what is running away. If you click on the column header for %CPU, it will sort to have them win order, so you can get the heavy hitter to the top.

You said you are new, but the machine is from 2018. Did you buy this used? The symptoms you describe are often a failing HD. Did it come with Apple Care beyond the default 1 year from purchase? If so, contact Apple to have them test the hardware to see if the drive needs replacement.

Am I the only one who finds using the Activity Monitor, confusing? Every time I try to find out what is happening on my Mac, whilst the information is "probably" there in Activity Monitor, it is jumping around like a lunatic! I try to read some of the lines of information, but then its moved to another line. I guess this is updating in real time, so the info is constantly updating? Am I missing a way to be able to take a snap shot of the info, so I can digest what is happening?

 

[denniscampbell]

geb,
have a 21 imac and the best thing i found is the external drive route................
as a suggestion : ..purchase an external ssd drive (several out there with massive amounts of space )......clone your existing drive >back up in time machine (also external)> now you have two copies of a working system clear the dubious hd and run everything through thunderbolt and add as many ssds as you need /want......always a workaround
good luck

 

[Notebooksquad]

I agree with a few people here like ROD about not being a HDD issue. These iMacs have heat issues. It's a known fact. And GPU cookers after a few years. Makes me wonder if this only happens when you just boot new in the morning. Or it happens later? If it is a later thing, then you most likely have a sensor/heat issues on the main board. Which Apples ASD, or AHT tests will conclude and confirm. But hey. This is iMac. It gets hot in there. Anything is possible. Even over heated drives can do this in even standard systems. They weren't designed the best for heat.

 

[chscag]

These iMacs have heat issues. It's a known fact. And GPU cookers after a few years.

Have to disagree with you with regard to iMacs and overheating. Actually iMacs run cooler than just about any other Mac except a well ventilated Mac Pro. I have owned nothing but iMacs in the last 10 years and have never had a problem with overheating. The GPU cookers you mention are more in line with older MacBook Pros, not the iMac.

There were some GPU problems with iMacs dating back to around 2007 - 2009, however, later models have been mostly trouble free. The iMac (even the 2019 model) draws cool air in through the bottom vent openings and expels warmer air through the top vents or large vent in the back. (newer models) As a matter of fact, up until 2012 iMacs used three fans to do internal cooling.

Of course like anything else... your mileage may vary.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I agree with a few people here like ROD about not being a HDD issue. These iMacs have heat issues. It's a known fact. And GPU cookers after a few years. Makes me wonder if this only happens when you just boot new in the morning. Or it happens later? If it is a later thing, then you most likely have a sensor/heat issues on the main board. Which Apples ASD, or AHT tests will conclude and confirm. But hey. This is iMac. It gets hot in there. Anything is possible. Even over heated drives can do this in even standard systems. They weren't designed the best for heat.

Yeah, this is so wrong. Besides the fact that the OP's iMac is only 2 months' old (not "a few years"), I and many of us here can attest (as chscag already has) that these normally hold up just fine long term. I only recently replaced a 2010 iMac with a 2019 model, and I had beat that one and now this one up quite a bit with video transcoding. There was nothing wrong with the 2010, it was just end of life for macOS upgrades and time to move on. Quite a lot of these older models are still kicking around just fine. Now it is entirely possible that he got a lemon and there is a sensor problem, but let's not feed a bunch of ill-informed baloney to new users here.

 

[mmouer]

Click on the Apple - Then Force Quit. It will display running apps indicating which one is unresponsive. Click on the app it will quit after confirmation and give you the option of sending a report to Apple. Answering another question, I switched to MAC over 10 years ago and will never go back.

 

[ferrarr]

Everybody thinks iMacs run hot, because they only touch the top where the heat is exiting. And of course heat rises, so that is where the heat will go anyway.


Sent from my iPad using Mac-Forums

 

[MBAmtloin]

Am I the only one who finds using the Activity Monitor, confusing?

I stopped using that in 2015 because that never remedy anything and was confusing.
i cant find that option or program on my macbook air now.

weird that a brand new iMac would feature a spinning ball, was the original posters problem solved yet?

 

[MacInWin]

Am I the only one who finds using the Activity Monitor, confusing? Every time I try to find out what is happening on my Mac, whilst the information is "probably" there in Activity Monitor, it is jumping around like a lunatic! I try to read some of the lines of information, but then its moved to another line. I guess this is updating in real time, so the info is constantly updating? Am I missing a way to be able to take a snap shot of the info, so I can digest what is happening?

I use AM all the time. You can stop the jumping by clicking on the title of the column to sort by the Process name. That works in all five tabs, but sort of diminishes the value most of the time. The idea behind using AM is to find out what is hogging the machine, so if you sort on %CPU, or Memory, or Bytes Written/Read or Sent/Received Bytes you can see what app is taking up the most of that particular activity. Yes, it jumps around, but generally if something is hogging, it stay at the top as the biggest user. If it's jumping around in CPU, for example, and nothing is staying as the number one user, then you don't have an issue to worry about, generally. Ditto for the other tabs.

 

[MBAmtloin]

Thanks Jake, i launched activity monitor and noticed some apps not in use by hogging RAM.
AV is like meeting an old friend who is still a good person!