Brian

OK, your hardware is "Fine" for Photoshop Standards. But I do see a few things that I don't like. I'd change your PS Scratch Disks to just use the Internal Drive. YES, YOU DO NEED A SCRATCH DISK. I'd just select the one named "Macintosh HD." You have more than enough room for the PS Scratch Disk, and you have 32GB of RAM, which really puts you ahead of the curve. The problem with using a EHD for a Scratch Disk, is the type of HD. If it's just a normal USB External HD, the bottleneck that you get with a USB port kills your performance. If you need that much Scratch Disk to process your images, we really need to look at your editing habits and the plug-ins that you use. You are running CS5 and MacOS Sierra. If there is any corruption with the video card drivers, there isn't a fix as the drivers come from Apple, which is part of the OS. Since you are so far behind with the MacOS versions, if you did attempt to upgrade, you will be forced to upgrade to MacOS Big Sur, which like Catalina is 64-bit only. Therefore, your Photoshop CS5 would stop working permanently. Period. Plus any other software / plugins that aren't 64-bit. Now, I know a lot of people will ask, "But I thought PS CS5 was 64-bit? Why is it going to stop working if I upgrade?" The reason is the programming language that PS CS5/CS6 was coded with is NOT compatible with MacOS Catalina OR Big Sur. In your case, if you do decide to upgrade, I'd hold off for now, as your entire editing month of December would go down the drain. If you think you have problems now, just you wait. The other thing that concerns me is they had to downgrade from High Sierra to Sierra. Why? As in, why didn't they fix that issue? They just slapped a Band-Aid on it and called it good. Ether there is a problem with your Fusion Drive, (Macintosh HD) or you have other problems with the Motherboard or Video Card. You aren't the 1st person to have issues with a 2015 27" iMac. I think Apple had a bad batch that year; specifically the GPU (The "Brain" of your Graphics Card) fails. The usual symptoms is laggy issues, weird / garbled display and being forced to reboot often to "fix" the issues. Unfortunately, you have a 2015 iMac. It's not worth fixing. I know, I know, "...but I spent so MUCH money!! It's only 5 years old!!" I get it. I empathize...but there is only one place that fixes Apple's products, and that is Apple. Spending over $1000+ (Parts and Labor, plus shipping) to fix a 5 year old computer isn't worth it in my opinion. Combine that with COVID and it jacking up all the prices, just complicates things. So what would I do? Use a little plug-ins as possible. Try not to use everything all at once. Also do not have 100+ tabs opened in Chrome when you edit, if you are anything like my wife. LOL!! She ALWAYS has so many Browser Tabs open constantly. The more Browser Tabs you have open, the more RAM is used as each tab eats a bit of RAM. Judging on your screenshots, this probably isn't the case, but I'm just making sure. That said, you run a lot of plug-ins. You might want to edit smaller batches of photos. Especially if your camera is 24MP or more. The higher the MP count, the more resources from your computer are required. The other thing I would try is head to your Photoshop's Performance Settings. Look towards the right and you should see your Graphics Card. Click the "Advanced Settings..." button and set the usage from "Advanced" to "BASIC." Then restart Photoshop. Heck, while you are there before your restart PS, uncheck that second HD in the Scratch Disk settings. Here is what I'm talking about with the Graphics Processor thing: This is how I have my PS Scratch Disk Setup:

Wow, it’s a Mac Pro. That’s plenty of Horsepower. “Advanced” in the Graphics Processor settings should work, but maybe there is an issue with PS. For now, leave it at Basic. You can always change it back and restart PS. I’m glad you cleared 85GB-ish of space. Not too shabby. With a Mac HD, internal or external, you never want to go more than 80% full at most. CleanMyMac is one of those programs I use weekly. It’s worth the Annual Subscription Fee. What Version of MacOS are you running. To find out, click the Apple menu and select “About this Mac.”

I've also kicked around this idea: Godox AD200 Pro Kit with a MagMog Modifer.

Tools like Liquify and Content Aware, along with Lens Distortion Corrections use the Graphics Processor that is built into you computer. Translation, it's your Video Card's Processing Chip and its Video RAM that is being used. Two things come to mind: Your current video drivers for your computer don't play well with Photoshop Your Video Card is integrated and under-powered and Photoshop can't use it. What you will have to do is head to your Photoshop's Preferences and in the Performance Section look for the "Graphics Processor Settings" area. Click the Advanced button and set it to "Basic." Click OK a few times to save the changes and restart Photoshop. If you are still getting the error message, then we will need to know more about your computer. Actually, scratch that. Can you fill out the info on this questionnaire and post it here in the thread? Details about your Computer

The Dell Ultrasharp Monitors have been decent over the years, and I've always recommended them. Truth be told, I have had some members that have had issues with defective monitors, but those are rare. So whomever you decide to buy it from, make sure they have a decent exchange policy. Also, budget for a Calibration Device as well. ALL computer displays need to be Calibrated if you are editing photos. In addition, it is much better to use either a HDMI or better yet, DisplayPort cable. The difference? DisplayPort is better for 4K Displays, and has all sorts of adapter options. It really is the future monitor connection type going forward. HDMI works fine on 24" and 27" traditional displays. (Non-4k). DO NOT USE A TRADITIONAL 15-PIN (D-SUB / BLUE) VGA CABLE!! That interface dates from 1989 and was only meant for 20" CRT (Tube) Displays and NOT fancy flat-screens. As with laptop computers, if you are editing photos you must make sure that the Dell UltraSharp contains a IPS-based Display Panel. This is non-negotiable. An IPS Display ensures thing like Colors, Contrast, Sharpness, and Brightness are consistent from edge-to-edge, plus it gives you a greater viewing angle. Be forewarned, not all Dell UltraSharps are IPS based. Some will be labeled UHD but contain TN Display Panels, which is fine for video games and general computer. How to tell? It will be mentioned somewhere in the Technical Specifications. Cloud Service is a bit of a misnomer. All the "Cloud" is is someone else's Server / Computer. Personally, I don't use a Cloud Backup other than my Microsoft OneDrive to store REALLY important files. I've heard BackBlaze mentioned a lot, but unless you get the fancy plans, if you delete files from your computer, within 30 days those same files will be deleted from BackBlaze's Servers. So be sure to read ALL the fine-print on whatever Cloud Storage you choose. Is it necessary? "Eh...it depends." Yes, you do want to have an off-site backup in case of Fire/Flood/Theft (stuff like that.) Floods can come from a busted water pipe in a ceiling or leaking water heater as much as the overflowing river next to a person's property. Is Cloud Storage required? Not in a complete sense. Getting a 12TB EHD to dump all your files off of your NAS and be kept off-site accomplishes the same thing. Or you can choose a Cloud Service. Really, which path depends on your Internet Connection. I'm in an area that has Gigabit Speed Internet (well 941Mbps Down / 40Mbps Up) so it's easy to upload stuff. If you are not in an area that has high-speed, then I probably wouldn't be uploading Gigs of Data at once. Keep in mind, I really don't shoot professionally anymore so my photos tend to be of my vacation photos and such. My wife gets photo-books every year of these trips so if they go, I at least have hard copies. So I might not be the best example. That said, I also have realistic expectations and know what I'm doing and am picking my own poison. But I do have a off-site data dump that I make every few months or so and that's kept in my Climate Controlled Storage Unit that's 25 min from my house.

I'm thinking a Network Transfer is in your future. Might as well cut your losses and start it now. I've been in your shoes and it's not fun.

Computer looks fine. What concerns me is the NAS. It doesn't list any hard drives and for that price, that's the cost of the NAS unit itself. Get a 4-Bay Model. Trust me. You'd be surprised on just how quickly you kick yourself for getting a 2 bay unit. I speak from experience. I'd get at least two Hard Drives to start with and here is the Drives that are meant for NAS Units that I would purchase: 12 TB Western Digital Gold Enterprise Grade Hard Drive Here is the NAS that is on my Amazon Wishlist: Synology 4 bay NAS DiskStation DS920+ (Diskless), 4-bay; 4GB DDR4 Before you ask, no I don't like Seagate Hard Drives. I personally only purchase Western Digital Caviar Black or WD Gold Enterprise Grade Drives for my stuff.

Bad Sectors are always a PITA to deal with, especially when cloning. You might have some data loss, though it sounds like you have a handle on things. Let's see what happens after 5 hours.

Buy it Right...Buy it Once!!! Hell, I'd rather you put that $750 towards a better lens than this 2011 iMac.

If you really don't care about budget and are willing to spend around $3200, Bump up the CPU to the i9 and Video Card to the Middle Option. Still get AppleCare and increase the RAM to 64GB and you will have a sweet system for a good 7-8 years.

I wouldn't get the extra fancy screens. I have a tricked out 2017 27" iMac with Retina Screen and it's fine. The glare, really isn't THAT bad. If I were buying a new iMac today, this is what I would purchase, start with the $2299 27" iMac: Be sure to add AppleCare for $169. Then I would purchase this RAM Kit from B&H to increase your RAM from 8GB to 40GB: 32GB Upgrade Kit for 2019 - Current 27" iMac Systems - $134.99 Hell, for a total of $270, you can remove the existing RAM from Apple and bump your computer up to 64GB!

"Eh..." 2011 is really old, at least by today's tech standards. High Sierra is also getting a bit long in the tooth as well and the current Operating Systems are not compatible; there is no upgrade path for you and that means if things get buggy and stop working, you are kinda SOL. Current versions of PS CC also might have an issue. That said, $750 is still $750, and I get it. You just need to have realistic expectations going into it. Are you comfortable throwing away $750? What I mean is, if you get a year or so out of this system, would you be OK with spending $750? Keep in mind, today's cameras, even the low-end consumer models start around 24MP. A 2011 iMac is fine for a 12-16MP Camera, otherwise it's gonna complain, even though it has 32GB of RAM. That 512GB HD doesn't make me happy either, but it's at least a 512GB SSD and that's not as bad as a 250GB or less HD, whatever type. Here is my advice: If you make money with your camera to put food on the table or a roof over your head and you need a computer to deliver stuff to clients, then yeah, this is a stop-gap computer. If you are doing this as a hobby, keep saving. With COVID-19 all around, most people aren't taking photos or traveling much, so I'd hold off until you get enough to buy a new iMac.

Yeah, a lot of off-the-shelf computers have OneDrive installed and Activated by default. Is there anything in these OneDrive folders that is important? If so, please copy those files first to a local folder on your computer. Because when you un-link things, and basically un-install OneDrive I think it deletes whatever files are in those folders. So check those folders and get back to me.

Did you ever use the new Lightroom in the past? Or the one that works on iPads? Not the "Classic" version of LR that works locally, the new one that syncs to Adobe's Cloud Servers. That's probably how it got turned on. Edit: Son of a Gun!! I also have 20GB of Cloud Storage that I never used. Looks like Adobe changed their $9.99 Photography Plan. I personally don't have anything loaded on there, and have no idea on how to turn it off. Try that link that I gave you or give Adobe a call. This should be an easy question for them.

OK, that's not iCloud. That is Cloud Storage that is included with your photography plan. Something is turned on and it's syncing data between your computer and Adobe's Cloud Storage Space. I found this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/delete-files-permanently.html You will have to call Adobe on this one, I've never used their Cloud Storage offerings. Most of the time, this Cloud Storage feature costs extra, usually $19.99 a month (or more, depending on storage capacity.) So for all we know you signed up for the Photography Plan and it included a trial period of Cloud Storage. As to why it's backing stuff up automatically, I'm sure it's some default setting somewhere that is turned on.

I do like the Windows 10 Pro recommendation! Also, it's better to get a slower CPU for the cost savings and a better Video Card instead of a fast CPU and crappy video card. 32GB RAM is a good number to shoot for. But I will tell you, if you have a high MP Camera, like 45MP or more, 64GB of RAM would be better. 100MB Raw files really tax your computer's resources.

Actually, that whole system the tech recommended is under-powered. If budget is a concern, save up more. Honestly, with COVID19 screwing around with all of the prices, computers are way more expensive now than they were a year ago. Here are my tech specs:

The 500GB Solid State Drive concerns me with today's software. At a MINIMUM, you want at least 1TB. If anyone tells you that is over-kill, they are just trying to sell you something that they have in-stock. For $120, you could have a reputable Samsung EVO 1TB 860 SSD. The Graphics Card is also under-powered. You really want a fast card that has at least 8GB or more of Video RAM. Adobe's products are relying on the Video Card more than ever to give their products a performance boost.

Here is some info from Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202351

Head to the Apple Menu and click System Preferences or choose it on your Dock Bar and head to Displays. Click the Arrangement Tab and I would set your displays to "Extend" by un-checking the "Mirrored Displays" checkbox, and arranging your Dell to be on the left. With Magnet, you get to pick and choose what goes where. Simply select a Window that you want to arrange, then head up to the Magnet Program, which installs itself next to the clock: I've logged into six different computers and had each Window arranged in a way that I wanted them. So my thinking is when you get your Displays arranged and things the way that you want, Magnet will do what you want without arguing and the Windows will stay there until you change things or reboot. Magnet isn't a permanent solution, and I don't believe any OS does this. You will have to setup your Windows each time you boot up. But after you get things situated, it will only take like 30 seconds each day to arrange things when you boot up for the 1st time.

One more thing! To make a Macintosh Window work more like ones you would find in Microsoft Windows, I also use this program as well. Right Zoom This program is free and now works with Catalina.

I have three screens corralled in this example: Photoshop is in the top left, Lightroom is the bottom left, and Firefox is on the right as a full vertical. I don't have two displays, but if you set your screens to "Extend" and use this program, it will do what you are looking for and not give you any grief.

Would you like to know the easy way? Or at least the one that I use? Spend $3 on this program from the App Store: Magnet on the Mac App Store. That program is awesome and totally worth the $2.99 (Plus Tax).

@cara4562 - Here are your instructions. No need to "quote" me, you and I are the only two that are allowed to comment on this thread. Just let me know how things go.