How do I fix a suddenly dead slow iMac?

About 10 days ago my previously rock solid 2006 iMac began running dead slow. I mean open safari come back in 20 minutes and the window might be open slow. Since then, I've experimented with repairing the hard drive, repairing permissions, erasing the (internal) hard drive and reinstalling snow leopard, attempting to reload my data from an external drive using system restore, migration assistant, time machine, and drag and drop. Every time I get more than just the basic operating system on the hard drive, the system slows down again. I've also reset the PRAM several times. Does this sound like it could be anything but a hard drive failure?

annefrombath wrote:
Even with all the files loaded, I've used up only about 60% of the hard drive space. Another note... when I run the repair permissions diagnostic after adding additional files I get pages of things that required fixing. This is even if I've just copied one pages file from the backup. Not sure if this is relevant or not (maybe this happens all the time and I only just noticed it).
I still think it't the HD, if you have a copy of Disk Warrior I'd try using that. If you don't you can get a license or if you take it in for service either your local Apple Store or AASP will have a license.
As for the messages in Repair Permissions please read Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore

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Try soft resetting your phone by pressing volume down + lock key for about 10-15 seconds, until your phone vibrates and release the buttons, this will reboot your phone.
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Is there a fix for my intolerably slow iMac?

I will greatly appreciate any help provided by the community - whether it's harsh reality or a miraculous fix.
My beloved 24" iMac (Early 2009, 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB) - which ran like a dream all the way through 10.6.xx has been booted back to 2001 in terms of speed. Even the simplest of things like opening Mail, launching Chrome or even copying files bring up the dreaded rainbow wheel and sometimes take 3-5 minutes to launch and return keyboard and mouse control to me. Photoshop and Aperture are virtually unusable. A simple crop in Photoshop has caused a total system hang and working with any file over say 20MB in size becomes a game of patience, waiting and resisting the urge to put my fist through the glass out of frustration.
I'm a Mac user since 1993 and I've never been forced to downgrade the OS. I've either ponied up and bought a newer model, or refused to upgrade the OS after learning a particular OS rendered my model unusable. Well, I received poor information this time and this iMac went from a graphic and web production machine to being a glorified web browser (and even that is slow, jerky and unreliable).
Is there a cure for my woes short of trying to find my original install DVD and retrograding the entire thing back to 10.6? I'm loathe to do this becaue this will render as useless several programs I use regularly - Coda for example and all of my Apple apps - iPhoto, Aperture, and who knows what else. Based on the fact that I try to keep all my software current at all times, it could start an endless backward spiral that makes the situation even worse than it is already.
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https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1992
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http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303081
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If it is able to be repaired, and the machine is still slow, I think you may have run into some RAM that is bad, and need to replace it, not add to it.
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How do I fix a suddenly dead slow iMac?

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