Late 2009 iMac running slow after moving it

[Joeag45]

Have a late 2009 iMac, 16 gigs of ram, 1 TB HD, hard drive is only about 30% full, with four user accounts set up. I move the computer to a different location in my house and now every program and app when opened takes a long time to open or close all the while the spinning beach ball appears. It was absolutely fine before it was unplugged and moved. It is running Sierra.

 

[MacInWin]

If that hard drive is the original, it could be failing. The expected life of HDs is about 4-5 years. Some go longer, but you're taking a risk if you use one consistently longer than that. I would recommend you open Disk Utility and do a check on that drive. Run First Aid to see what it reports.

 

[Joeag45]

I upgraded the hard drive a couple years ago from the original 500gig. I did run run Disk Utility and reported nothing out of the ordinary. I’m thinking I might try restoring it from time machine from before it was moved.

 

[pigoo3]

The actual physical movement of the computer would have absolutely no bearing on how fast the computer operates...unless...it was dropped or experienced a serious bump.

Moving a computer from one area of a house or building could slow down the WiFi...if the new location was much further from the WiFi router. Or what could be causing a slow down is if the computer was almost alway put to "sleep" when done with it each day...and this move necessitated the computer being shut down (which may not be done often with this computer). This would have required the computer to reboot at the new location...and maybe something strange happened when it was rebooted.

Also realize that if you were trying to open apps RIGHT AFTER the computer was rebooted/freshly started up...the computer may be "busy" for a while doing some "housekeeping". It can do this after being freshly rebooted...especially if the computer is not rebooted often.

If none of this explains things...and if the HD is not near full...then what Jake mentioned about the HD failing could be another very likely possibility for the slowdown.

Lastly...you could try running the free maintenance app called Onyx.

- Nick

 

[Joeag45]

The computer was mainly just put sleep and rebooted periodically. The WiFi connection is as strong as it always was, and definitely not not dropped or bumped. It’s been a couple days since the fresh boot and things are only marginally faster. I might just upgrade to High Sierra and download Oynx and see if that helps in a couple of days.

 

[harryb2448]

Do not even bother as an upgrade will fix nothing.

I think your solution is to go with a Solid State Drive and be amazed by the performance hit.

 

[pigoo3]

The computer was mainly just put sleep and rebooted periodically. The WiFi connection is as strong as it always was, and definitely not not dropped or bumped. It’s been a couple days since the fresh boot and things are only marginally faster. I might just upgrade to High Sierra and download Oynx and see if that helps in a couple of days.

All great details...thanks.

If I was a betting man...I would focus on two things:

- Double check how full the HD is...and if not too full (more than 90% or so)...then run Onyx. If it is pretty full...then I would off-load some stuff & run Onyx.
- If the HD is not too full...and if after running Onyx things don't improve...then I would suspect the hard drive may be failing.

* Nick

 

[Joeag45]

Tried a restore from from time machine from a couple days back and all seems to running fine now. No sluggishness at all. I did, however, download Onyx to help check and clean up a few things. I'll keep the current HD instead of upgrading it, rather spend the money on a newer iMac. Guess I'll just run with it for now and see how things go.
Thanks again for the help guys, appreciate it.

 

[pm-r]

I might just upgrade to High Sierra

Do not even bother as an upgrade will fix nothing.

I have to agree with harry on that!! ;D

I was going to suggest booting using Safe Boot Mode and then restart normally as it will normally purge a lot of old unneeded crap, but I don't know if Sierra doesn't just do that with a normal boot now.




- Patrick
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[dtravis7]

Just curious, what brand is the hard drive you installed 2 years back? Is it a Seagate by any chance? If so they have some of the worst reliability ratings I have seen. Every iMac I have worked with that had a 1TB Seagate eventually needed a new hard drive. I always install WD Blacks and have not had one issue with any of them.

 

[Rod]

Dennis you beat me to it. Life for the pre installed drive is estimated at about 5 years but a "third" party HDD especially a shoe brands may not have quite so long.
joeag54 says there are 4 users and its seldome shut down and we all know some things only happen when the Mac is shut down and rebooted, caches are emptied and the Finder reindexes the data just to mention a few things.
I think the physical movement probably changed nothing but the shutdown and reboot may slow things urchasedown for some days especially with a 1 TB HDD.
I would suggest that with that many accounts heavy use and a 3rd party HDD that may be nearing it's life span that each user purchase a USB external HD and backup their accounts. It need only be a bit bigger than the partition in use and the Native Time Machine app is all you need.

 

[Joeag45]

I just want to update, yes the replacement HD was a Seagate, the HD is failing, turned it the other day and it was making a clicking noise. Any Brand suggestions you recommend, I viewed a Toshiba on OWC’s site a 2TB. I’m going to pass on an SSD for now because I’m going to upgrade to a 27” iMac in a few months.

 

[chscag]

If you're going to purchase a new iMac in a few months, just replace the HDD with a 7200 HDD the same size as the old one or the Toshiba. I'm not sure if you need the thermal adapter for the new HDD, so it might be a good idea to ask the tech at OWC before you purchase it.

 

[Joeag45]

Thanks, my thoughts exactly, I contacted OWC and they said it the thermal adapter is necessary, for the same size drive and the adapter its $90 bucks out the door, I have all the necessary tools to do the job. I’m going with the Toshiba and steering clear of the seagate drive this time.

 

[pm-r]

I'm not sure if you need the thermal adapter for the new HDD, so it might be a good idea to ask the tech at OWC before you purchase it.

Thanks, my thoughts exactly, I contacted OWC and they said it the thermal adapter is necessary,

Just for interest sake, the special thermal adapter cable is needed with the 2009 and later model iMacs and their spinning HDDs.

And I also use and suggest using the free Macs Fan Control.app to keep the iMac cooler than Apple's default settings:
https://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control




- Patrick
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[Rod]

I second that. The Mac Fan Control app is a good idea. I have it installed on my 2015 MBP because I’m in Indonesia 6 months of the year, average daily temps of 25 C and we only use aircon at night.

 

[chscag]

And I also use and suggest using the free Macs Fan Control.app to keep the iMac cooler than Apple's default settings:
https://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control

Got to disagree with Patrick on this one. As long as the thermal adapter cable is used, there is no reason to try to rev up the fans so the iMac runs cooler. I personally use Macs Fan Control but only to monitor temperature and fan RPM on my new 5K iMac. Nothing wrong with installing the app and use for monitoring purposes but I recommend leaving the fans set to their factory settings.

 

[Rod]

Why is that chscag? It has been my long held impression that cooler is better when it comes to CPU’s.

 

[pm-r]

Got to disagree with Patrick on this one. As long as the thermal adapter cable is used, there is no reason to try to rev up the fans so the iMac runs cooler.

Sorry Charlie, but I guess we'll agree to disagree, but I'll say and I agree with Rod that that running cooler is better when it comes to CPU’s and most electronics. And that includes all our Macs.




- Patrick
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[harryb2448]

Fan Control software is generally designed to stop the iMac fans going full bore after replacing a hard drive and not using the therma; kit such as OWC's heat sensor kit.

For mine anything that interferes with the Macs inbuilt hardware can cause problems by having the fans run too slow, or even too fast. Have used originalLC's, Performa 480, 5200, 5300, 5600 Directors Special, G3 Bondi Blue iMacs, 350Mhz iMacs, G4 towers from 400MHz to 1.42GB MDD, Dual Core G5's, Mac Pros, mid 2011 iMac, late 2013 iMac and 2016 iMac, as well as notebooks, with never a fan control needed.