Parallels MB pro suddenly slower, especially with Parallels

[Straitsfan]

This is driving me nuts

I use parallels on both my imac and my MB pro. The pro is mid 2010, core , duo, 2.4 gigs. 8 gigs ram.

I use both, but especially the MBP for legal transcription, using for the record software, if anyone's is familiar with it.

Well, the other day, it started running very slowly, overall, but especially with my footpdeal to playback the audio recordings. There is a time delay between the pedals, especially when I try to rewind/ff. I can't do that on the MBP because I have to wait for the software to 'catch up' to the pedal inputs.

But overall the Windows 7 runs slower in the VM, when closing, opening up programs, etc. Noticeably slower.

I'm not sure what's going on here. Could there be a problem with El Capitan? The VM runs fine on my imac, no problems; just the fan spins higher. I have a quad core i7 with 16 gigs of ram.
I don't know if there's something wrong in OSX that's causing it to slow down. I've tried using time machine to install an earlier version of Parallels (v.10), have tried installing another VM to see if there's something in the first one that's a problem, but no luck there.

This hasn't happened before from what i can remember. Just earlier this year it was running fine.

I've tried disk utility to see if there's a problem with OS X, but nothing came up.

I've been wondering if there's a problem with too little RAM, and I've read that my MBP could possible take up to 16 gigs of ram, but I don't know how I can verify that, or if that's even a solution.

I tried using boot camp, because I don't need to run both OSX and windows side by side -- I have more than one machine and can use one for OS X. But that can be a big thing, because I need the drivers to run my mouse and/or magic trackpad.

Does anyone know about problems with the newer versions of parallels with older Macs? The specs for it say that it'll work with a core 2 due processor, but from what i've read other places there are issues with the newer processors.

Any suggestions out there? If something happens to my iMac then I'm in trouble if I can't switch to the MBP.

 

[ferrarr]

In my opinion, an SSD would be a much better performance booster than ram. I had a 2011 MBP and I originally put a 240gb SSD in for a startup drive and moved the original into the optical drive slot with an adapter.

You can check here to see the specs of your mac and to find out about possible ram upgrades.

 

[MacInWin]

Try reinstalling the Parallels Tools. (Start Windows, once booted you will see the top bar has a item called, "Actions." You'll find the reinstall option there.

 

[harryb2448]

What version OS X? You need to do a better check of the hard drive. If you have OS X.6 boot from the DVD and run Repair Permissions. If later go into Recovery Mode > First Aid and run Verify.

 

[Straitsfan]

Sorry for the delayed response. I'm using El Capitan. I wish I could go back to Yosemite; didn't have any problems with it -- but then again I might try Virtual box and see how that works; i have XP and had no problems with running that on parallels.