My iMac maybe sick?

Hi,
I have bought the new iMac - (24 inch - 3.06 Ghz - 4 GB DDR3)
I have had it since its release date 04.03.09 and it been great. However recently its been feeling a little sluggish (Taking twice as long to shutdown and load up, opening apps ect).
Its completely up to date, and the hard-drive still has 60% free. So far I don't have any evidence that anything is wrong, but I know its running slower. Is there anything I can do to diagnose it or run a disk check?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank You

The most common general trouble-shooting steps are
(1) Run Disk Utility and use +Repair Disk Permissions+ on the startup volume.
(2) Restart from the Mac OS X installation disc. Insert disc and press (and hold) the C key during initial startup. At the first Installer screen, go up to the menu bar to Utilities and select to run Disk Utility. This time, use +Repair Disk+ on the internal drive. If that complete with no errors or errors that were repaired, quit Disk Utility and restart normally.
(3) Reset PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
(4) Reset SMC (power management). This is essentially unplugging the iMac (from power) and plugging it back in, but do it by following this procedure precisely.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
(5) Create a new admin user account in System Preference Account pane
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8235.html
Log out and log in to the new account (do not use Fast User Switching). See if you notice the same problems in the new account. If you do not, there may be some problem in your current account such as corrupt or mis-set preference files, or some background processes that are causing the apparent sluggishness.
These are not sequential steps, so you can do one or all in any order.

Similar Messages

Server problem with my imac - maybe due to Time Machine

I am new to macs but have jumped in the deep end and not so long ago bought an Air (love it) and even more recently bought a 2011 iMac (love it too).
Having set up my Air with apps etc I used Time Machine to install everything onto my iMac - it all worked remarkably smoothly.
I do have one problem though.
When I try to watch anything on Sky Player I get a c:1501 error.
I appreciate that you may have no idea about Sky Player - it's a UK online Tv service.
I have been on the Sky forums trying to resolve this but no joy.
I have tried removing and reinstalling Silverlight but to no avail.
I asked Sky to give me some kind of technical explanation that mac experts might understand - here it is:
"The C:1501 error usually indicates a problem connecting to the Sky Player servers, this is commonly found when proxy servers are used in your connection or a firewall has been set up to filter certain traffic.
There are a few instances we see where neither of these issues cause the problem however the most common as stated above is to do with network connectivity to the Sky Player Servers."
I suspect that Sky sees my iMac as a dupe of my Air and it doesn't like that.
Does this mean anything to you and if so can you help me?
Regards

Hello,
first time posting on any forum, whoopee for me ...
my solution was DRM ... got c:1501 when logged on as standard user, changed to super/administrator user and sky go/player worked.

Should I upgrade the internal hdd on my 2008 8.1 iMac or use an external drive?

I have an external hdd right now it is a 500gb go seagate goflex with a number of iTunes folders that I put on from my windows pc. I just received this 2008 2.4ghz core 2 duo 8.1 iMac and tried to import the files. The internal hdd is only 250gb so they would not fit, when I tried to get iTunes to run from the external drive it would but I would have to manually open each artist then album then song I wanted in the Finder for it to play. The songs do not show up automatically in iTunes, even though I think I followed all of the instructions for external hdd support. I was going to buy a new iMac and have the genius set it up, but now I think I am going to upgrade the RAM myself and am deciding wether or not I should also replace the internal hdd to 2TB or just get an external hdd so when I get a new iMac, maybe next year, I could still use it. However, I don't want to get another, larger external hdd if I'm going to have a hard time transferring all of my media to iTunes. Can I pay to have an apple genius do this at the store? I just upgraded the operating system to Snow Leopard and am waiting to upgrade RAM before moving to Mountain Lion. I just want my iTunes to sync up, at this point I will do just about anything, short of buying a new Mac. Thanks for any help.

You can keep your iTunes collection on an external drive. You can also keep just bulky items that you may not want to see often such as movies and just keep smaller items on the internal drive. This split option is more tricky but there are several ways to do it.
If all you have is a modest music collection, you can manage with an internal drive. Most modern media collections with huge movies files fast outpace even larger internal hard drives and you will have to resort to an external drive. Your computer dating from 2008 is (according to Apple's coproration standards) on its way to becoming a museum piece (hey, I still use a 10 year old computer, but Apple gave up hope for me years ago). I would not upgrade the internal drive. That will cost you a lot and be tricky to take with you to your next computer. An external drive you can just plug into a new computer.
Some of the issues you are encountering are because you do not yet know how to properly manage and transfer iTunes files. We can help you, or you can pay somebody a lot of money to do this for you on a regular basis.
Your GoFlex drive was used with Windows. Macs and Windows use different drive formats. If you are now using Mac-only then you will need to reformat the drive (you will need to store all those files elsewhere while you are doing this).
Do not buy just one external drive. When that drive fails (oh, and believe me, it will) your whole collection will be lost. Some of it you may be able to download again from Apple, but Apple does not "store" your iTunes collection, it is up to you to ensure its safety.

Looking to buy MacBook Pro or iMac-but which?

I currently have a MacBook, which I bought Feb 2010-- have since added/replaced RAM with generic 2x2GB (so now 4GB ram v. 2GB),-- 2.26GHz Duo Core 350GB drive.
I do LOTS of scrapbooks and movie stuff (have even considered making it more than just a hobby and perhaps make it a business)... anyhow, when I have applications open, such as: iPhoto, Aperture, Photoshop Elements, iMovie, iDVD running or some portion of those, it feels so slow. Encoding is a long process, etc.
I had made the switch from Windows-based to Mac in Feb 2010... not knowing I'd like the Mac so much, I went with the base model.
Now, I'd like to get something beefier, but not sure what route to go. As I can tell, the new MBP's are a large upgrade to my current MB (between quad core and GHZ and RAM speed), but enough for my needs?
If I were to get the iMac, could I connect my current MB to it via cable and use my MB as a monitor (so I can have somewhat the portability of a laptop-[as long as the cable is long enough to my "portable" spot], but the processor of the iMac?)
A 27" iMac seems to be beefier and yet cheaper than a 17"MBP... so, my inclination is to go with the iMac. The portability concerns me a bit, because right now, I have an option to go "scrapbook" at someone else's house with my MB.... not so easy with an iMac (maybe not too bad with the 21.5" iMac-not that I'd like to move a desktop often)- I really don't do this often, but I do sometimes like to be lazy on a Saturday morning and work a bit on a scrapbook in my leather chair--- if I know I am going to be doing an in-depth movie project or scrapbook for a while, I'd be fine sitting at a desk.
One could say that since I already have a MB, I could use that on Saturday mornings and at friend's houses doing my projects there that would not be as complicated/processor-needy.... and, use the iMac whenever I am doing the heftier projects and when I am going to be doing a lengthier project. I am only concerned that I will want to beat my MB with a baseball bat as it will seem even SLOWER than it is to me now since I'd be accustomed to the speed of the new iMac. (Not to mention that I'd have to transfer some data through an external drive in order to get files from one computer to another).
Right now, working on just iPhoto on my MB seems to be slow... my workflow on that for the books is that I have found that I like to work through one event at a time and not pull the photos into the project. So, each time I need to change the event I am working on, I have to exit out of the project, view the event, then load back into the project so that I can select the "recent event" photos. This process seems to take a bit more time than I'd like. (My workflow has changed from the previous version of iPhoto as the information (date, etc) was a lot easier to view while in the project- now I have to have my cursor sit over the photo for like 10 seconds before a date and file name shows up-quite aggravating).
Perhaps there is a better way to just select some photos from each event first and then pull them into the project. But, I do one page at a time... and have found I like being able to view in closer (in my photo library) on some photos before choosing them for the album-- and I just note which ones I like before heading back into the book. I have iPhoto '11 btw.
NOTE I GIVE THIS INFO ABOVE NOT NECESSARILY TO CREATE A DIFFERENT THREAD ON IPHOTO POINTERS, BUT JUST TO POINT OUT THAT LOADING THINGS ON MY MB SEEMS TO BE TIME CONSUMING-MORE TIME CONSUMING THAN I'D LIKE. Sometimes I have files in different iPhoto libraries for iMovie, which means I need to load in and out of iPhoto libraries and in and out of iMovie if I need libraries refreshed.
Once the question," iMac or MBP?", is answered, my questions head to:
upgrade the GHZ?
upgrade from 4GB RAM to 8GB (or 16GB on the iMac)?-- have heard more than 4GB might not be very useful- I have 4GB now, and wonder if that would have helped me out with my slowness to be able to go higher than 4GB (which my MB is limited to 4GB anyway).
assume the 7200RPM would be better on the MBP with smaller hard drive?
glossy or anti-glare?- my main use is photo editing and video-making--- don't play games and really don't watch movies. I have heard the matte is better for photo-editing as it seems like a truer representation of how printings will look.
was figuring I'd get the hi-res screen no matter what model I got- worth it?
was considering refurbished if the options coincide with my needs. should I be concerned doing this?
Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!

You need to keep the MacBook Pro for other uses, forget getting a overheating "you can't change anything but the RAM, cost you a arm and a leg to fix it" iMac and get yourself a Windows tower where you CAN upgrade the video card time to time, and CAN tweak things and CAN switch out the monitor, the keyboard, add surround sound cards and tons of other things for your 3D gaming experience.
I know this sounds like blasphemy on a Apple site, but it's the god honest truth.
Your clearly in the "competitive" aspect of 3D gaming and all the newest, most powerful video cards are on Windows as there are more users on Windows, thus a larger market for buying upgrade cards.
3D games only really need a dual core processor as all their "work" is really video card (GPU) related.
Windows towers are also a heck of a lot less expensive than a MacPro, and all the "games choices" are on Windows.
Mac's are ALWAYS significantly behind their Windows cousins when it comes to 3D games and with laptops your restricted by battery or heat issues, unlike towers with their massive cooling.
MacPro's have trouble getting new video cards, back in the PowerMac days it was easy as they thought the "Mac is back as a 3D gamers machine" until the Intel swtich that is, it's like now you only get what comes with the new machine and god forbid if you went cheap.
Windows 7 is not that bad actually, it's a lot more "pleseant" and secure than before, you can install the free Microsoft Security Essentials and it will protect you from most casual malware. Sure enough just using it for gaming isn't going to bother you much, you'll hardly see it or use it, just long enough to launch the game.
Just don't go treating it like you would a near immune Mac and you shoudl be fine.
I'll let the Cinebench score show you what your missing.
http://www.cbscores.com/index.php?sort=ogl&order=desc

Hello, I have a 2009 iMac, and my harddrive has failed several times now, and now I need to re-install snow leopard but my install DVD is damaged and I have bought a new snow leopard disc. However my iMac will not read the disc at all ?

Hello, I have a 2009 iMac, and my harddrive has failed several times now.
I tired to reinstall snow leopard with the install DVD that came with my iMac. However the disc is damaged so I bought a new Snow Leopard but my iMac wont read the new disc, it just stays in the apple logo screen, I have tired safe boot, holding down the "C" key on startup and tried using disc utility but getting nowhere.
Please help. Thanks.

Might be related, if your hard drive is a 1TB drive,it could be a Seagate drive.
The drives are known to fail and your iMac maybe covered for free replacement under the Apple's Seagate hard drive replacement program until April 12 of this year.
I Believe the 2009 models are covered under this replacement warranty.
You can find out if you are eligible here.
http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/
Good Luck!

IMac takes forever to fully boot -- how to fix? PLS HELP!

On my iMac, I often have to wait like 30 seconds to like 1.5 minutes between the time I press the power button and when I can start doing stuff. (I remember it used to be like 20 seconds always.) Usually I can't click on anything and the dock doesn't respond to mouse-overs while the toolbar on top takes its time to load up the spotlight, time, localization, and airport icons. (I don't use Airport btw, that's just for me to enable it if the Ethernet is unavailable.)
I think the problem started not too long after I had first gotten the iMac (maybe a couple or a few months?). This is something I've come to expect with Windows, but not with Mac.
At first I just tolerated the issue, but then I finally tried to solve the issue. I uninstalled VM software like Parallels and VMware Fusion, and I even uninstalled Office 2008 (and I think Adobe Design Premium CS3 also), with no luck. I tried going by suggestions from tech support: I ensured that there were no unnecessary startup items or services, that the desktop was clean, that disk permissions were fine, and that the problem wasn't specific to my login account. I even reset the PRAM. Nothing really solved the issue.
What can I do? If I re-install Tiger will that solve the issue? If I upgrade to Leopard will that solve the issue? If I upgrade to 2GB RAM will that solve the issue? And if I do install Leopard or re-install Tiger, will I still have all my software and files safe?

Check to see if you have any startup items you don't really need - these can cause a delay as to large numbers of fonts.
Other things which hamper performance include:
A very cluttered desktop. Store your work in progress and finished work in sub-folders inside the user > documents folder - as simple as this sounds it is a great resource saver
Backup regularly. Work that you do not touch more that once a year should be backed up to CD, DVD or an external hard disk. It is pointless and expensive to keep this sort of work on your working volume if you access it infrequently. If your startup disk is ±75% full this will have serious consequences on the performance of your Mac.
Make sure you have enough RAM. RAM is presently cheap so its worth considering.
Carry out a “repair permissions” - it is a good idea to do this once a month. You can find an article on how to do this in my tips archive (see link below).
Using “Cron” Scripts helps keep your Mac healthy by deleting cumbersome log files. Applications such as Onyx, Mac Janitor or MainMenu do this for you at the click of a button.
Do not, repeat not, use Internet Explorer. This ancient browser has not been updated for years and will cause you no end of grief. Use Safari, Firefox, Opera or one of the other browsers available for Mac.

Moving old iPhoto 6 file from eMac to new iMac with iPhoto 8

I plugged in a portable hard-drive to my old eMac, dragged the iPhoto icon into it and waited as it copied into the portable HD. When I tried up-loading it into my new iMac (with iPhoto 8), nothing would happen. Same for iTunes. Any suggestions? I'm sure I'm missing something critical. It seemed too easy, even for a Mac. Thanks from Canada.

Wow. I must be really slow. I tried entering that info (using Richard Campbell)for USER NAME and still nothing would show using Spotlight.
I've bought a firewire cable and will try connecting it from my old eMac to the new iMac. maybe using the migrating software will help. Or is that a bad idea?

Moving old iPhoto file from eMac to new iMac (iPhoto 6 to iPhoto 8)

I plugged in a portable hard-drive to my old eMac, dragged the iPhoto icon into it and waited as it copied into the portable HD. When I tried up-loading it into my new iMac (with iPhoto 8), nothing would happen. Same for iTunes. Any suggestions? I'm sure I'm missing something critical. Thanks from Canada.

Wow. I must be really slow. I tried entering that info (using Richard Campbell)for USER NAME and still nothing would show using Spotlight.
I've bought a firewire cable and will try connecting it from my old eMac to the new iMac. maybe using the migrating software will help. Or is that a bad idea?

Using iMac G5 as MacBook display

I have a 20" iMac G5 and am planning to buy a MacBook. I would like to use my iMac as a second display for the MacBook. How do I do that?

Good idea, but may not work in this case, the OP will need to try.
The MacBook has a intel OS and the OP has a G5 iMac so I would guess the iMac will not boot from the MacBook OS becasue the boot rom will be wrong. Of course if the iMac was intel then no problem...
The other downside is the iMac maybe slower than the MacBook, again unless it's a new iMac
But it worth a try
But at then en of the day a real LCD panel for the MacBook would be the ideal solution.

IMac 21.5 Video Card Replacement?

Hi all,
I have been searching everywhere to find out if i can replace the graphics card on my iMac. its a late 2009 21.5 iMac and I've tried everything i can to try and get a work around. i currently don't have a keyboard/mouse, and have stripped the screen out of the tower to find more information.
my problem was that the mac booted fine, id hear the chime, fans, HDD, but no screen. used a flashlight to see if it was the backlight, nothing. searching for the serial says theres 2 possible configurations, and i fear that mine is not a replaceable card. serial is W89410H75PC and the model is EMC-2308. i'll try and attach a photo of the 'foot' of the machine so everyone can see all the info i can. i also tried to attach a second monitor, a samsung tv which i use with my macbook pro, but had no luck. whilst stripping it out, i had a go at looking at the diagnostic LED's, and i think i saw 1 ON, 2 ON, gap, 4 ON. but they are hidden by the bezel/faceplate at the bottom and its hard to work out which is which.
thanks for any help, this mac was a discarded item, so ideally id like to try anything to get it working and even soldering a new board on if i can source a replacement is a realistic option,
regards,
Alex

MichelPM wrote:
There is a new GPU replacement program for mid 2011, 27 inch iMac models.
If your iMac serial numbers end with certain letters, your iMac maybe eligible for a no cost replacement GPU.
Contact either Apple directly at 1-800-MYAPPLE or contact your nearest Apple store and ask about this and make an apappointment at the Genius Bar to bring in your iMac if your iMac is eligible for the free GPU replacement.
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/16/apple-initiates-graphic-card-replacement-pro gram-for-mid-2011-27-inch-imac/
Good Luck
That's right, I totally forgot about this program.

IMac 2011, screen freezes and fans start spinning

Hello,
I have this really wierd problem with my iMac i5 2011 edition since a month or so...
A lot of times when I am downloading or watching a movie or playing games under OSX on my iMac my screen slowly freezes, it always starts with my finder and then te rest goes, I get the marble of death and shortly after that the fans start spinning like crazy, they start slow but after a minute or so they make a lot of nice. Take in mind then I am unable to use my iMac in anyway, the mouse moves but it doesn't respond to clicks and also my keyboard doesn't respond, I keep getting the marble of death still.
The wierd thing is that sometimes it doesn't do this for 2/3 days and sometimes it does it like 3/4 in an hour (have to restart manually). Also, this is very interesting, I have a version of Windows 7 installed on my iMac wich I use mainly for gaming and under windows it NEVER freezes in any kind, even when I game like 5/6 hours long straight.
Therefor I thought it must be a software problem so I did a complete system reboot 2 days ago but that didn't help, already froze 3 times since...
Can anyone help me? I still have 2 months of applecare but I have a LAN party soon so I am not to anxious to go 3 weeks without my iMac, maybe there is a simple solution that I am missing...

Some things you can try:
1. Try a new user account, create one in System Preferences -> Users and Groups, test to see if the issue still persists in this new user account, this will give us a lot of information. (if the problem is the same or it vanishes, let us know)
2. Make sure all your software is up-to-date, Apple Logo -> Software update.
3. Unplug all 3rd party devices, just keep in the necessary, Power, Keyboard + Mouse, no ethernet or external hard drives etc.
4. Reset the PRAM http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405
5. Reset the SMC http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
6. Boot to the recovery partition (CMD + R on startup until you see a spinning cog with an apple logo, then let go) -> Choose english as the main language -> Choose Disk Utility -> Select your hard drive from the left pane of Disk Utility (NOT Macintosh HD, the one that will look similar to: 1TB ST3200WAJS) -> Select the 'First Aid' tab -> Bottom right of the window it will say 'S.M.A.R.T Status: ________' ... What does it say after smart status?
7. While still inside the Recovery Partition, select Macintosh HD -> First Aid (tab) -> Verify Disk -> Repair Disk (unless it says the volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK) -> Verify Disk Permissions -> Repair Disk Permissions (if there are differing permissions on the disk)
Let us know if the issue still persists, but make sure you do all of those steps correctly and post back as much information as possible (PRAM takes two chimes at startup, unplug the power cable for 15 seconds, plug it back in, wait 5 seconds, turn on... make sure you follow all articles)
Good Luck!
MiiCK

How come most people think it's an isolated Alu iMac issues?

My old PC couldn't do what I needed it to do anymore so I desperately needed a new computer for my project. I was going to go Apple's London store and move a new Alu iMac home immediately, but before I did that I came to this forum ... And that's how thing started to become very complicated.
At first, I was shocked by the number of people complaining about this 'new iMac issues' - the faulty display and the freezing problem ... mostly, the freezing issue. Quite a few people believed it was caused by the 1.1 update and the ATI card. After a few days of my intense reading on this iMac forum, Apple issued a statement acknowledging the freezing issue.
I knew it would only be sensible if I waited until Apple solve the problem. The thing is: I just cannot afford to wait - I have to finish my project.
I stared looking at other options: Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mini .... and ... what I have found on this Apple forum, based on what other Mac owner's posts, none of these models is clear of the same problem - unexpected, continuios freezing problem!
Based on what I have read so far, the freezing problem is not exclusive of the
1: new Alu iMAc - some white iMAc, MacPro, MBP, Mini owners have reported the same issue.
2: Macs with ATI graphic card.
3: Macs have been updated to OS X 1.1
4: Macs have games installed
It's a large, wide spread issue than some people would believe, isn't it? To be honest, I have started looking at Dell desk top these two days ... but I just cannot imagine to spend any money for another PC - it should be my last solution.
I desperately needed an Mac for my project - it's a very important one. I am depressed by the situation I am facing now and don't really know what to do. Can anyone kindly offer me some advice?
Some of you might say: get a grip - it's only a computer ... and the freezing issue is not that serious ...
However, if you rely on the computer to get your work done, would you really go ahead and buy an iMac regardless what is going on. Otherwise, what else can I do? If I buy an iMac and only work under bootcam with Windows until Apple fix the freezing problem - will it be a solution?
If you were me, what would you do?
I will appreciate any input!

David,
I posted the same thing and was taken to task by some posters for stating it also. The truth is that gamers were the first to report this issue and did so in far larger numbers than other users. In fact, those who are or were reporting issues with Aperture or iTunes or other applications really didn't start posting in significant numbers about the issue until a few days after it surfaced.
I think many people didn't get a chance to read some of the first posts on the subject as many of them were removed, for cause, and some of them are a few pages back now and forgotten.
I too have had the problem but in my case I was able to solve it by removing the game that was causing it all the time, reformatting the drive, reinstalling, and then updating. That was a week ago and I have not had any freezes since, but I have had video artifacts a couple of times. When it does that I just save my work and restart. I have even managed to get through some iPhoto sessions without issue.
*To the Original poster:*
No one can tell you what you should or should not do but if you want a Mac, buy one. This problem is not as widespread as some would have you believe. If you base your opinion on what you read here you would come to the conclusion that everyone's iMac is sick, but that is not true. In my case of the three Intel iMacs that I have, only my 24" has the problem, the other two are just fine.
Even if 30% of them were/are bad, which is an absurdly high figure, you would still have a 70% chance of getting one with no issues!!
I also trust that Apple will find and solve the problem. After dealing with them for 20+ years that is what I have come to expect based on my past experiences with them.
Message was edited by: Al Van Malsen
Message was edited by: Al Van Malsen

Mac Pro or Imac

I have been thinking of getting a desktop but i dont know if i should get an imac or mac pro. I already have a macbook with 2 gigs of ram.

you really need to tell us what you are going to use it for. If you aren't using pro apps or are not manipulating large images in Photoshop, etc, then an iMac may be all you need. If you don't feel the need to upgrade your computer, then an iMac maybe all you need. I know a lot of people who purchased a Power Mac/ Mac Pro, thinking they were going to upgrade the computer, but never did.
Glor

Mail - MBP works, iMac doesn't with identical settings

I recently purchased a new retina iMac, and I've spent about 5.5 hours trying to get ONE email account to work on it. It's a workspace email, from GoDaddy.com that is connected to my website hosted by them. The settings are identical to my Late 2011 Macbook Pro, iPad, and iPhone, which send and receive mail fine using this account. I've deleted and added it as a new account 3 times, verified and re-verified the POP and SMTP server settings and usernames/passwords for the account. POP is working (mostly), occasionally connecting and disconnecting randomly without any changes when looking at the Connection Doctor. SMTP is always red and hasn't worked at all yet, so that's my main issue. My Gmail, and iCloud accounts work fine on the iMac, so it's just this one account that's having issues. I've done all I know to do, as it seems like it "should" be working, since I've set this same account up on 3 other apple devices with the same settings and they have no issues. Is there anywhere else to check and see what's going on, or what the problem may be? I did notice one weird thing, the "check again" button is greyed out on my iMac's Connection Doctor, but it's not on my MBP. Both the iMac and MBP are running OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite and Mail 8.2 (2070.6).

Okay, so I checked their support site and it seems Go Daddy is having server issues this morning, so maybe that has something to do with it. It's still odd that 3 of my 4 devices work with the same settings, although they were set up prior to this morning.
Is there a way to copy a mail account's settings from one Mac to another? If I could just copy what's working on my MBP to the iMac, maybe that would work.
I don't want to copy the entire mail folder, if possible, b/c I've done that before and it causes other issues that I don't really want to deal with (you can't delete your email accounts from Mail and they're not listed under Internet Accounts in settings, for instance).

I need recommendations in purchasing an external hard drive, to back up everything in my computer. What brand and Size?

I have a mid 2010 iMac, version 10.8.2, memory 4GB, 1TB sata disk.
Apple sent me an e-mail last year stating that my imac maybe affected to a recall. They said I have to back up my computer before sending it in to them. So its a great excuse to purchase an external hard drive.
But I am clueless. I would like to know what brand and size of memory is recommened for my imac and my needs. I will be mostly be backing up homevideos and alot of pictures, music, and some documents.
If someone could also explain about time machine? I guess its a whole separte thing from your media. I also would like to keep it affordable. I just purchased an external hard drive from www.macmall.com Seagate Backup Plus 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Drive - Black (STBU1000100).
But I don't know if that was a really great choice because for it to work with time machine I have to reformat certain things, and Im not sure if I would like to have that hassle.
I also wanted to know whats the difference between usb 3.0 and firewire. I read some forums saying that if you are to transfer videos you need to use firewire, and some agreed disagreed. Is that true?
Please help!?
I definitely would like to know what brands of external hard drives are highly recommended and good at price. The one I purchased is it any good?
Thank you!
-wjrlelidepaula

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10554
http://www.newertech.com/storage/

My iMac maybe sick?

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