Macbook Pro 2011 extremely slow wondering if hard drive failure

Question

Hello, I want to start off by saying I'm not a huge computer guru, so that is why I'm coming here first. My Macbook Pro worked very well for a year, and then it has slowed down drastically. I've always been a windows user so mac is kind of foreign to me, but I'm trying to learn.
Some problems I've encountered are 1. Extremely slow running whether internet related, or just an application. I have checked the activity monitor and nothing is hogging up my memory. 2. Spinning wait cursor (rainbow circle) when I try to do ANYTHING. It takes minutes to start computer once it makes it to home screen. The circle just spins for a few minutes. Even just web surfing it's there. 3. Battery drains from 100% to less than 20% in 30 minutes, which again is annoying. 4. When battery drains the fan turns on and seems to drain battery even faster. 5. I get a lot of random errors forcing shut down of programs. I have ignored this problem for two years by not using my laptop or using it very minimally, but I am going to be needing a laptop again for school and not just my iPad and phone so I was planning on taking my macbook to genius bar, but wanted to check here first since Apple is an hour away. Plus I want to be able to use the piece of equipment that I spent a decent chunk of change on. I used time machine to back up everything today. I know its not a space issue as I have 300+ free GB on hard drive. I have tried to read through similar posts, but its overwhelming so I came here to post my own question.
I ran disc utility and there were some errors, which were able to be corrected after a couple tries. Computer still slow though when trying to do anything and running rainbow circle.
In recovery mode I reinstalled OSX
I was finally able to install updates after completing the above that were not able to be installed before.
I ran etre check, this is the report that came up:
Problem description:
Extremely slow computer, possible hard drive failure
EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)
Report generated November 3, 2014 9:25:29 PM EST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
  MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) (Verified)
  MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
  1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
  4 GB RAM
  BANK 0/DIMM0
  2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
  BANK 1/DIMM0
  2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
  Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
  Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
  Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
  Color LCD 1280 x 800
System Software: ℹ️
  Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63) - Uptime: 0:6:50
Disk Information: ℹ️
  Hitachi HTS547550A9E384 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
  S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
  disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
  Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 499.25 GB (357.49 GB free)
  Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB
  OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5970H 
USB Information: ℹ️
  Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
  Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
  Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
  Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
  Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
  Apple, Inc. MacBook Pro
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
  /System/Library/Extensions
  [not loaded] com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver (1.2.0 - SDK 10.0) Support
  /Users/[redacted]/Downloads/LCC Installer.app
  [not loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver (3.5.1 - SDK 10.0) Support
Startup Items: ℹ️
  HP IO: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP IO
  Startup items are obsolete and will not work in future versions of OS X
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
  [failed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist
Launch Agents: ℹ️
  [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
  [loaded] com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist Support
  [running] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist Support
  [invalid?] com.luthresearch.savvyconnectmenu.plist Support
  [loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
  [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
  [invalid?] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist Support
  [invalid?] com.luthresearch.scservice.plist Support
  [loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
  [loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
  [failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist
  [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
User Login Items: ℹ️
  iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
  Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
  SavvyConnect UNKNOWN (missing value)
  Google Chrome Application (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)
  HP Scheduler Application (/Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard/Software Update/HP Scheduler.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
  Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
  FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support
  Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 15.0.0.189
  QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
  JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 67 Check version
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
  Flash Player  Support
  Growl  Support
  Java  Support
  Logitech Control Center  Support
Time Machine: ℹ️
  Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
      11% Safari
      3% WindowServer
      0% fontd
      0% Google Chrome
      0% ps
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
  245 MB WebProcess
  206 MB System Preferences
  168 MB Safari
  99 MB mds
  82 MB Google Chrome
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
  1.37 GB Free RAM
  1.57 GB Active RAM
  318 MB Inactive RAM
  1.03 GB Wired RAM
  436 MB Page-ins
  0 B Page-outs
Basically I'm wondering if anything sticks out in this report. I was thinking it could be a possible hard drive failure. I know my computer has been dropped on the floor at least a few times. Thoughts are appreciated. Thank you for your patience.

Answer 1

Eab, I feel your pain! I am replying simply to share my similar ongoing experience with my early 2011 17 inch MacBook Pro, running Mavericks with seeming ample hard drive space, [applications requiring less than 100GB, about 200GB data (total drive space of 500GB)] & 4GB RAM. (Disclaimer: I am not a wise or computer-savvy mac guru - simply a fellow traveler who has had a very similar set of problems - apps taking forever to load, rapid battery depletion & super overheated MacBook.  While I am a Genius Bar groupie, getting to the Apple store is, for me, akin to an antarctic polar expedition (i.e. problematic). Having spent endless hours struggling with a similar issue, I offer you a synopsis of my struggle/experience.
STEPS TO DATE:
1.Installed several memory utility programs (Daisy Disk &  MacCleanse) system
maintenance program to regularly and thoroughly empty application caches (Adobe apps & internet browsers being tremendous hogs), identify and remove language elements and other redundant space hogs, etc.   Result: Small, but real improvement when I forced myself to perform a "scan and delete" session every second major computer run (typically about 6-8 hours in length). However, this did nothing to help the problems regularly detected when I run the Disk Utility which almost invariably demonstrates disk permissions that need to be repaired and, with increasing frequency, has demonstrated actual disk errors that require restarting and walking through a disk repair protocol. I did bring it to the Genius Bar where they kindly reinstalled Mavericks which they could do in about an hour versus the several hours that doing this at home requires.  This did identify that my RAM was, on fact, a limitation on the speed at which I could run certain apps.
2. My next move was to install an additional 4GB of RAM. I bought the new RAM on eBay for about $90 because, with 3 kids equipped with MacBooks & iPhones, I simply couldn't afford the official Apple RAM. I even installed it myself, with the help of a YouTube video. Result: Giant improvement in speed (starting up or switching apps. If I had realized how simple it turned out to be, I would have done it well over a year ago. Some minor improvement in the overheating problem, but persistent problems with disk permissions continually requiring repair and periodic disk repairs (using Disk Utility) required.
PLANNED FINAL INTERVENTION:
3. I am purchasing and installing a solid state drive (ssd) and simply chucking the original hard drive, after considerable discussion with my savvier mac friends. It has become clear to me that, sadly, every hard drive has a finite life affected by a variety of factors. I am, in fact, hard on my equipment - running multiple graphic apps simultaneously, transferring massive GBs of data between my laptop, time capsule and an array of hard drives. I will let you know how it goes, but can share that the decision to get a solid state drive followed many conversations with multiple Mac guru-types (in the hope of saving you similar painful tribulations). The cost varies according to the size of the drive, but $400-$500 would buy a reasonable starting size. I am waiting for Black Friday sales, myself. Amazon (where I will likely purchase the ssd) is already offering a number of pre-Black Friday deals.  While I don't really feel like putting out that amount of cash, I reassure myself that a new drive will almost certainly solve the disk errors (with a solid state one offering more durability) & will help me prolong the life of my MacBook Pro by a couple of years hopefully. It beats buying a new Apple MacBook only three and a half years after investing close to $3k for this one!
I am certain that more experienced forum users could point you to software that could help defragment your drive or may be able to offer other solutions. I've simply had enough of struggling with burning thighs and head-banging behavior triggered by slow performance. I hope this is helpful to you in some small way.  The war is not yet over, but I'm feeling good about the battle plan!