jshall27 Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 Hi Brian, I've seen your posts in the past warning about upgrading to Big Sur, so I'm still running Mojave 10.14.6. I'm also currently using Photoshop CC 2019 (although I have the newer versions downloaded). I run CleanMyMac once a week and I have most of my files on external hard drives, so I have over 2 TB of available storage and I've got 32 GB of memory. My computer is running really slowly no matter what I do. Do you think I should bite the bullet and upgrade to Big Sur or do you have any other suggestions on what could help with the speed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 I have a Mac desktop running Mojave 10.14.6 and Photoshop CC 2019. It is over 4 years old, and has 32GB of RAM. Its hard drive has 2100GB free out of 3120GB. The last time I shut down was just before posting this thread. I run a cleanup program about once a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 1 hour ago, jshall27 said: Its hard drive has 2100GB free out of 3120GB How old is this Mac. What size screen is it? I've never seen a Mac come with a 3TB Main Hard Drive, though if it has a few years on it, 3TB is possible. As per our original conversation on FB, upgrading to Big Sur isn't going to improve performance. The MacOS isn't Windows; formatting and re-installing or upgrading has a negligible affect on increasing speeds. If your Mac is from 2013 or earlier, honestly? It's time for a new computer. Heck, ones from 2015 are also getting a bit "long in the tooth" at this point. So lay on more details, an inquiring mind wants to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 The computer is a late 2015, so just shy of 6 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 Oops, missed the other part...it has a 27" display Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 It's a 3.12 TB Fusion Drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 20 hours ago, jshall27 said: It's a 3.12 TB Fusion Drive That's your problem. A traditional spinning HD is not as fast as today's modern SSD Drives. A "Fusion Drive" is the combination of a small SSD Drive, usually 32GB and a much larger traditional spinning HD, in your case around 2-3GB or so. The problem is, the MacOS decides what is installed on the SSD side of the HD, not you. The only thing you have access to is the slower portion of the drive. How much faster is a SSD Drive? It takes approximately 15 seconds for my iMac to completely boot up to a login screen from it being in a powered off state. SSD Drives are way faster. In reality, it's time for a new iMac if you want more speed. Here are my "Quick and Dirty" iMac Configurations. Now, I'm sure you will be asking, "Can I just upgrade the HD?" The short answer is Yes...but the long and more honest answer is, you will need to have it done by an authorized Apple Service Center, or a Computer Shop that has experience in doing this sort of thing. I wouldn't try it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Oh, wow. I wasn't expecting to hear that! Thank you so much for your advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 This isn't a add more RAM or free up hard drive space or update to the latest OS, you have a physical hardware bottleneck that you can't get around. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Brian, Upon looking further, I have one external hard drive set as my Time Machine and it's almost full. Do you think that could be affecting the speed as well? It's a 4 TB hard drive and only has 131.66 GB available. Would it do me any good to delete some of the old backups? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 On 7/12/2021 at 4:54 PM, jshall27 said: Would it do me any good to delete some of the old backups? It couldn't hurt. Especially if they are from YEARS ago. As for the speed, disconnect the Time Machine Drive and see if your performance improves. If it does, let me know and I will add it to my brain to help others. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted July 19, 2021 Author Share Posted July 19, 2021 Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, I left town for a few days. So I unplugged my Time Machine and the computer is lightning fast now! I'm about to plug it back in and try deleting some old backups to see if that also helps the speed, because I don't want to not have the Time Machine backing up. Thank you so much for your help! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Ah ha!! So a full EHD, even a Time Machine Drive, can slow down a Mac’s performance! Good to know! Honestly? If everything is “fine” on your computer, there is no shame in formatting that TM drive and starting things all over again. Of course, if you are looking to restore things from a few years ago, this will cause an issue. This is just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted December 8, 2021 Author Share Posted December 8, 2021 Hi Brian, I’m back with a follow up! My computer worked ok for a while after this convo, but is now so slow it’s almost unusable. I was about to go out and purchase a new one, when someone suggested I purchase an external SSD as a cheaper, temporary fix. Is this something you’d agree with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 No, and external HD will not help you in this situation. You need a new INTERNAL Drive. It's that Fusion Drive that's killing you. A SSD Drive will speed things up, but it's just a band-aid. It's also something that you really can't do yourself, because if it's an iMac, you need to take apart the whole damn thing just to get the HD out (you start by removing the screen.) While I understand it's a good way to help things out in the short term, I feel you are going to be right back at square one in a year. Plus, Macs after 2011, the screens are held on by a special glue strip, so you will need an install kit as well as the HD, plus a interface cable that bypasses some sensors on the Apple HD. I think you are just opening up a Can-of-Worms trying to make it something it's not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 Here is the process for taking a 27" iMac from your era apart. If you aren't careful, you could rip the Display Cable out of the Connector on the Motherboard. In which case, you are screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jshall27 Posted December 9, 2021 Author Share Posted December 9, 2021 As always, I’m grateful for your expertise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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