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Mac Desktop running slowly


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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?

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. :(

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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?

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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. :)

 

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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!

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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. 

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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?

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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.

 

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