Slow Computer
Ok...so my MacBook is less than six months old, and it started becoming increasingly slow. It would take over 30 seconds to start an application, and the F12 button would take atleast 1 minute to actually start. So I took it to the Apple store, and they told me that rather than upgrading my hardrive and ram, that I should just buy an external drive to put everything I don't use all the time onto...So I spent $150 for 250 GB of space, and I put all my pictures, videos, music I don't listen to all the time, and my documents onto my drive...and guess what...my computer is still running slow!!! What should I do? Do I still need a larger hardrive? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
How much of your internal drive is free? OS X like to have 10-15% of the HD free to run maintenance and perform general system tasks.
If you transferred your songs and pictures to the external drive, remove them from the internal and empty the trash.
Also, download and install OnyX and run the scripts. It is possible that your system logs have grown very large and that you need to repair permissions and such.
Once you do that, you should see a boost in performance.
Similar Messages
-
Slow computer after logicboard replacement/ any way to retrieve 18 month old receipts
I purchased a Macbook Pro in August of 2008 and have been generally pleased with it. About a month ago it stopped turning on so I brought it in to the Apple store. They claimed that the video card was fried and that they would need to replace the entire logic board. The computer has been out of warranty for a little while now so I was seriously debating shelling out the $330 to replace the logic board. The genius guy assured me that it would run like new once it was replaced so I went ahead and did it. When I got it back, I soon noticed that everything was running slower. Over the last month, the computer has gotten so slow its almost unusable, so I started snooping into the computer a little bit. I noticed that I had 2 gb of memory. I think I originally installed 4 gb of memory but I cant be sure. I checked for the receipt but its nowhere to be found. Not too surprising considering how long its been sicne I originally bought the computer. I looked up the standard specs on everymac.com and found that 2 gb was the baseline. I am pretty sure Ive upgraded the memory on every computer I've ever gotten which further deepens my suspicion. Now, I dont know for sure if I actually had 4 gb of memory and I dont want to start ranting and raving at the apple store about how the evil repairmen stole 2 gb of memory from me if I am not sure. Does anyone know of a way to check what was originally in my computer? If it turns out im simply forgetful, does anyone have any ideas about the slow computer following logicboard replacement? A quick google search let me know that I am not the only one with this problem but didnt turn up much in the way of help. Thanks so much.
I purchased a Macbook Pro in August of 2008 and have been generally pleased with it. About a month ago it stopped turning on so I brought it in to the Apple store. They claimed that the video card was fried and that they would need to replace the entire logic board. The computer has been out of warranty for a little while now so I was seriously debating shelling out the $330 to replace the logic board. The genius guy assured me that it would run like new once it was replaced so I went ahead and did it. When I got it back, I soon noticed that everything was running slower. Over the last month, the computer has gotten so slow its almost unusable, so I started snooping into the computer a little bit. I noticed that I had 2 gb of memory. I think I originally installed 4 gb of memory but I cant be sure. I checked for the receipt but its nowhere to be found. Not too surprising considering how long its been sicne I originally bought the computer. I looked up the standard specs on everymac.com and found that 2 gb was the baseline. I am pretty sure Ive upgraded the memory on every computer I've ever gotten which further deepens my suspicion. Now, I dont know for sure if I actually had 4 gb of memory and I dont want to start ranting and raving at the apple store about how the evil repairmen stole 2 gb of memory from me if I am not sure. Does anyone know of a way to check what was originally in my computer? If it turns out im simply forgetful, does anyone have any ideas about the slow computer following logicboard replacement? A quick google search let me know that I am not the only one with this problem but didnt turn up much in the way of help. Thanks so much.
-
When TM does its hourly thing the computer slows dramatically for abut 5 minutes. Is it supposed to?
If this is correct, is there a way I can ask TM to forget the hourly back up and do a daily only?
Geoffon an older and slower computer like yours (your profile indicates 1GHz iMac G4) this will happen, yes. I had this problem with my powerbook. Try [TimeMachineEditor|http://timesoftware.free.fr/timemachineeditor> to change the backup intervals.
-
Slow computer and Prebinding Woes
Greetings.
I have been experiencing slow overall system performance as of late on my Dual 2.0GHZ G5. Normally, a repair permissions and prebind will solve this problem. I tried this last night, however when I ran prebinding from the terminal, it asked for my password, and after I entered it, the terminal hung for about 15 seconds and the next line I get reads c-67-161-216-202:~"my user name"$
Then I get the little rectangle cursor as if the terminal is waiting for a new command.
The lines of text I would expect to follow after I enter my password no longer apear.
I don't know if it makes any diference, but I did experience a kernal panic a few weeks ago.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Dave.First, there's no need to ever do prebinding unless you are using OS X 10.1.x or earlier. Repairing permissions also won't make a slowing computer run faster. Your computer may be running slower because you need more RAM or maybe just need to do an occasional restart. It could also slow down due to large cache and log files that need clearing (use TinkerTool System.) If the problem is due to hard drive corruption then use Disk Utility to repair the hard drive. Unless you are having permissions related problems there's no need to repair permissions.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on maintenance and optimization. Following is my suggestions on maintenance:
Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility called Macaroni that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.
OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Deja Vu (Shareware)
4. SuperDuper (Commercial)
5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - not universal binary.)
6. LaCie SilverKeeper (Freeware)
7. MimMac (Shareware)
8. RsynchX 2.1 and PsyncX 2.2.1 (Freeware)
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. -
What's the best fix for a slow computer?
What's the best fix for a slow computer?
What model computer? What are your primary uses and apps?
First thing anyone can do is replace or upgrade the system boot drive to SSD. Makes a very nice improvement.
How new or old is it? What version of OS X is it running?
Maybe it won't run faster but could run better with more RAM.
Take a look at all the tabs in Activity Monitor. If not on the Dock, go into Applications/Utilities and open it and keep it on the dock. Can tell you what is using your processor the most, RAM usage, disk and network I/O.
Don't install things that aren't needed. That can be counter intuitive to some but 'less is more' and some just really pull a computer system down. Security programs, "clean up programs" and others.
General purpose Mac troubleshooting guide:
Isolating issues in Mac OS X
Creating a temporary user to isolate user-specific problems:
Isolating an issue by using another user account
Identifying resource hogs and other tips:
Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used
Starting the computer in "safe mode":
Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
To identify potential hardware problems:
Apple Hardware Test
General Mac maintenance:
Tips to keep your Mac in top form -
Slow computer after sleep, this is my console log
2/15/13 11:19:15.772 AM ReportCrash[551]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 5-111551_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
2/15/13 11:19:25.870 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[144]: (com.zte.mcserver[552]) Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
2/15/13 11:19:25.870 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[144]: (com.zte.mcserver) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
2/15/13 11:19:25.936 AM ReportCrash[551]: Saved crash report for mcserver[552] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-15-111925_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
2/15/13 11:19:25.938 AM ReportCrash[551]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 5-111601_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
2/15/13 11:19:36.064 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[144]: (com.zte.mcserver[553]) Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
2/15/13 11:19:36.064 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[144]: (com.zte.mcserver) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
2/15/13 11:19:36.133 AM ReportCrash[551]: Saved crash report for mcserver[553] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-15-111936_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
2/15/13 11:19:36.135 AM ReportCrash[551]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 5-111612_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
2/15/13 11:19:46.260 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[144]: (com.zte.mcserver[554]) Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
I am assuming that this is related to my slow computer after waking from sleep. Every click has delayed reaction up to spinning beach ball in length. Went to console log and see this same message repeating over and over and over. What does it mean? How do I fix it? Is it related to the slowdown?
ThanksOk... Sometimes Mail will abort the restart that I am trying to do to get the system back to normal speed so I was wondering about that "plug-in" which appears to be more than a plug in. It put a bundle in my Library/Mail folder that can't be deleted...
Here is my log now which starts showing errors as soon as I reboot... I am backing up now. It seems that there should be something that I could remove without a clean install, but I can't figure it out from this....Thanks for the insight...
Feb 18 11:13:14 --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Feb 18 11:13:14 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver[23461]): Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Feb 18 11:13:14 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Feb 18 11:13:14 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Saved crash report for mcserver[23461] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-18-111314_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:14 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 8-110950_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:16 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local sandboxd[23109] ([594]): Mail(594) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Feb 18 11:13:24 --- last message repeated 9 times ---
Feb 18 11:13:24 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver[23463]): Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Feb 18 11:13:24 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Feb 18 11:13:24 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Saved crash report for mcserver[23463] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-18-111324_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:24 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 8-111000_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:26 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local sandboxd[23109] ([594]): Mail(594) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Feb 18 11:13:35 --- last message repeated 9 times ---
Feb 18 11:13:35 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver[23464]): Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Feb 18 11:13:35 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Feb 18 11:13:35 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Saved crash report for mcserver[23464] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-18-111335_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:35 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 8-111011_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:38 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local sandboxd[23109] ([594]): Mail(594) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Feb 18 11:13:45 --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Feb 18 11:13:45 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver[23465]): Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Feb 18 11:13:45 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Feb 18 11:13:45 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Saved crash report for mcserver[23465] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-18-111345_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:45 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 8-111021_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:47 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local sandboxd[23109] ([594]): Mail(594) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Feb 18 11:13:55 --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Feb 18 11:13:55 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver[23466]): Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Feb 18 11:13:55 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Feb 18 11:13:55 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Saved crash report for mcserver[23466] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-18-111355_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:55 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 8-111031_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:13:56 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local sandboxd[23109] ([594]): Mail(594) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Feb 18 11:14:05 --- last message repeated 9 times ---
Feb 18 11:14:05 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver[23467]): Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Feb 18 11:14:05 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[147] (com.zte.mcserver): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Feb 18 11:14:05 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Saved crash report for mcserver[23467] version ??? to /Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-18-111405_Lawrenc e-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:14:05 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local ReportCrash[23462]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/carguy/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mcserver_2013-02-1 8-111041_Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.crash
Feb 18 11:14:08 Lawrence-Achrams-MacBook-Pro-Orange.local sandboxd[23109] ([594]): Mail(594) deny file-read-data /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist -
My Apple TV 2 is slow when trying to move through different menu selections. It is like a slow computer trying to catch up to mouse clicks. It eventually remembers the buttons that were pushed on the remote, but it freezes and takes a minute to catch up.
I had something similar a couple of week ago, it would scroll then stop, scroll then stop.
At some point the porblem went away.
Try unpowering and restarting your AppleTV. Rsetart iTunes too. -
HP Network Software causing SLOW computer.....need help
I am in the hurt locker. I have an an Office Pro 8600 that is wirelessly conncted. This software is causing significant slow computer issues.
Under the windows task manager, there is a file that keeps replicating itself called HPNetworkCo.... and it will replicate itself a few thousand times to the point where I have about 2,000 of these processes running and all my CPU usage is taken up. It will add one process about every few seconds rendering the PC useless in about 1 to 2 hours and requiring a re-boot to scrub them.....then it starts over.
Any ideas?What other error messages and oddities is your operating system showing to you?
The description you have given sounds more like an operating system issue rather than a printer software issue.
Best regards,
erico
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer -
Slow computer with spinning rainbow for long periods
slow computer with spinning rainbow for long periods, how do I correct this ?
Do you have any experience with hardware upgrades? Even a beginner could install some RAM in a Macbook, that is a very simple process and can often give you a major, noticable speed boost. For a more advanced upgrade, you can also replace your harddrive with a newer, faster one. I recomment ifixit.com for all the parts you might need to upgrade your machine. I have upgraded my White Mid-2010 Unibody macbook to 8GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD and it runs like a champ.
-
was told by friend something about an addon or a way when ya have muptable downloads in download area that they can be stored and then cut on or set up somehow where ya can turn on where all the downloads that are on pause mode can be down loaded one at a time have old and slow computer cant down load two or more at one time thonkssssssss
Hi Magsrobby,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting. I'm really sorry to hear you've had so many problems. I can look into this for you if you wish. Drop me an email with the details. You'll find the "contact us" form in the about me section of my profile. Once I have the details we'll take it from there.
Cheers
David
BTCare Community Mod
If we have asked you to email us with your details, please make sure you are logged in to the forum, otherwise you will not be able to see our ‘Contact Us’ link within our profiles.
We are sorry but we are unable to deal with service/account queries via the private message(PM) function so please don't PM your account info, we need to deal with this via our email account :-) -
Super slow computer and doesn't shut down
Hi all,
I think it is only fair to come and share with you an issue I had with my 2011 Mac Pro runing on Lion 10.7.3. The computer is just a few months old. For a month or so I started experiencing a SUPER slow computer. To illustrate, it would slow down suddently and would take 10 minutes to give me the About this Mac info. After hard shutdown it would get normal again for a few hours. This happen usually while using Google Docs, and after trouble shooting and not getting anywhere... reseting power management (SMC), etc... Just to test I de-activated the Kaspersky Anti-Virus software for Mac, thinking that it may have been the cause while working on Google Docs... and it work!
One problem solve... but I run into another one. The computer would freeze after shuting down, and the screen would be gray with the little turning wheel... Every day from there I had to do the hard shutdown... not healthy for the computer of course... After re-installing the operating system, going back and forth with Apple Care Specialist (very helpful and nice people), and spending hours figuring the problem out... I decided to un-install completely the Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac, but downloading the 'free' version and using the un-installer from the package... After this my computer shuts down everytime and goes to sleep normally. This saved me from formatting the HD and doing a clean installation of Lion - which was my next step if things didn't work according to Mac support.
I still have the Kaspersky for the parallels side of the computer and that doesn't seem to be an issue. I hope this saves some people the trouble, the frustration and the MANY hours of trying to figure it what's wrong with the computer.
I have read many blogs, and articles and none of them pointed at Kaspersky... I found issues with Parallels, Office for Mac, etc but I guess after the last Lion update thing went south with the anti virus software... and of course my computer! Now we're all happy again!Something is causing it to not shut down, more than likely some process that refuses to quit. Do all of your applications quit when you shut down or do you have to force quit any of them? You also should look in your console messages and see if perhaps there is a clue there.
When you ran Disk Utility did you get the message that the "drive appears to be o.k." or did you get some other message?
Do you have problems with freezing in general or just when you are installing applications? When you say freezes do you mean you get the spinning beachball or does it freeze and you can't do anything including moving the cursor?
Do you use a lot of widgets in Dashboard? Sometimes they will cause problems. If you have loaded any of them recently you might try removing them and see if that helps with the shutdown issue. -
Constant "unresponsive script" warnings - no particular site - slows computer for considerable time. Now using Explorer (not a fan) but computer running smoothly. I believe the problem is with Firefox. What can be done so I can go back to Firefox?
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened
== User Agent ==
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)I noted Dino had the same problem..many things crossed my mind..could it be my computer, could it be two other browsers parked in my computer but not be using as a default, or is it Firefox...I have not received any specific answers without spending a lot of bucks for professional help..any suggestions would be beneficial..Rob [email protected].Firefox Default user
-
Western Digital External Drive and a VERY slow computer. Is my HD failing?
Hello, thank you for looking at my question.
First off, I am NOT very tech-savvy, but I'm willing to research and learn, I'm just afraid to make a mistake and blow up my computer.
I have had my Macbook for 2 years. I have not backed up my hard drive during that time. Bad, I know.
Recently I've noticed my Mac getting slow with the "spinning beach ball" showing up more often and everything getting slower. Usually a reboot will help. Yesterday, for the first time, the reboot took about 8-10 minutes! I figured that wasn't a good sign, so I headed down and picked up an external hard drive (Western Digital Essential model, 1TB) and figured I'd back everything up. I formatted the drive according to the Mac partition model (tech support from WD helped over the phone) and got it going. From 1530 to 0800 this morning, of 52 GB it had only backed up 15.3 GB. The fan was running at high speed the entire afternoon and night. That's about one GB per hour. Is that normal?? Then, it froze and wouldn't respond, or back up at all. Just nothing. I held the power button down and restarted it.
At this point, I am concerned that perhaps the hard drive is failing (hence the speed and fan issues) and that maybe I should be taking it in to a repair shop (we don't live anywhere near an Apple store)
Do you think this may be the case? Is there any way to back up my hard drive faster - before it dies? I have two years worth of photos and papers, etc on there, music and such and it would be a tremendous loss if it all crashed.carroteye wrote:
Hello, thank you for looking at my question.
First off, I am NOT very tech-savvy, but I'm willing to research and learn, I'm just afraid to make a mistake and blow up my computer.
Good! Better to inquire than leap!
I have had my Macbook for 2 years. I have not backed up my hard drive during that time. Bad, I know.
Yup.
That's about one GB per hour. Is that normal?? Then, it froze and wouldn't respond, or back up at all. Just nothing. I held the power button down and restarted it.
No, not normal at all.
At this point, I am concerned that perhaps the hard drive is failing (hence the speed and fan issues) and that maybe I should be taking it in to a repair shop (we don't live anywhere near an Apple store)
Do you think this may be the case? Is there any way to back up my hard drive faster - before it dies? I have two years worth of photos and papers, etc on there, music and such and it would be a tremendous loss if it all crashed.
As slow as that backup was, anything else will be nearly as bad.
There are four common causes of this:
Your startup drive is nearly full (less than a couple of GBs of free space). If that's the case, find something big you can "archive" to CD/DVD or copy to the external HD and delete.
The drive is failing.
Corrupted directores, etc., in the file system
One or more "runaway" processes, usually from incompletely-installed or partially-deleted apps
|
It's a toss-up; try to diagnose what's wrong, or try to get a backup.
The fastest way to back up, with the least "thrashing" of your hard drive, would be to start up from your Leopard Install disc and use the Restore tab to make a copy of your internal HD on the external.
That will copy any file system problems "as is," but if your internal HD is beginning to fail, at least you'll have a full copy of the data (corrupted or not) on the external HD.
Check this to be sure your WD drive will boot your Mac: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787 If not, do all the steps below except #4.
Here's what I'd recommend:
1. Start up from your Install disc, per the yellow box in #1 of [Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html]
2. Reformat the external HD, with a single partition, per the blue box there. You'll want the +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+ Format and either the GUID or +Apple Partition Map+ *Partition Map Scheme* as detailed there.
3. Use the Restore tab to copy your internal HD (almost certainly named +Macintosh HD)+ to the external HD, per #7 in the link above. Note that will copy the name of the internal HD to the external.
4. When that's done, quit Disk Utility, then select +Startup Disk+ from the Utilities menu in the menubar (per the yellow box above). Select the external HD and start up from it.
|
The copy may take a very long time. There will be a progress bar, but they're notoriously inaccurate under the best of circumstances. If it completes, and you can start up from the external, post back and we'll see if we can find the problem, and either fix it or confirm that you need to take it to Apple. -
Hard drive noise -- slow computer
Hi folks. If anyone can give some advice that would be great.
My hard drive seems to be acting up. Every so often (probably 4 five-minute periods in 3 hours of use per day) I'll hear loud noises coming from the hard drive (a series of "grrrrs," "beeps," and "clicks") and when that happens, the computer will freeze, pinwheel/beachball will appear and I won't be able to do anything on the computer for a couple minutes.
I took my issue to the genius bar, they ran some tests, said it wasn't a hardware problem (therefore hard drive is ok physically) and did something to fix some problems in the hard drive. For a few days after, everything seemed to be working fine but now the problem has returned.
The only programs I have run since then are Safari, Firefox (which is always slow), MSN Messenger, iChat and MS Word.
When I go to the Disk Utility, the "Repair Disk" button is not clickable.
Any ideas?
Thanks.First, in order to run repair disk, you need to boot from your OS X disc, since you can't repair a drive you've booted from. Insert the first OS X disk that came with your system, and holding the C key down, reboot (boots from the OS X disc). Choose disk utility from the menu bar, and you can run repair disk.
When you bring up disk utility, does the S.M.A.R.T. status say verified? I use a utility called smartreporter which provides a SMART status on the menu bar. This may give you warning before a hard drive failure. It's at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/smartreporter.html
You can use a utility like OnyX to clean things up on your hard drive. It's available from http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html . Use the cleaning and maintenance tabs.
Difficult to say if you're hard drive is in fact on it's last legs, or if there is a fundamental issue with the data or indices on the hard drive. A utility like TechTool Pro or Disk Warrior can do things that Apple's Disk Utility can't do, in terms of analyzing and fixing issues on the hard drive. That might be worthwhile also. -
Slow computer after installing Mavericks
As required, starting new thread:
b.Leev
Re: Mavericks slow down whole computer
Oct 30, 2013 4:21 PM (in response to Tatsushige.Edo)
Hardware Information:
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores
4 GB RAM
Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
Audio Plug-ins:
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0
AirPlay: Version: 1.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3
System Software:
OS X 10.9 (13A603) - Uptime: 2 days 16:56:55
Disk Information:
Hitachi HTS545032B9A302 disk0 : (320.07 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 319.21 GB (149.25 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8
USB Information:
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Iomega Iomega Select HDD 500.11 GB
EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Vlad Lee - TM (disk1s2) /Volumes/Vlad Lee - TM: 499.76 GB (57.38 GB free)
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. iPhone
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Kernel Extensions:
Problem System Launch Daemons:
[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
Launch Agents:
User Launch Agents:
[failed] [email protected]st
[failed] com.eltima.Folx.Agent.plist
[loaded] com.facebook.videochat.vladlee.plist
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.helperTool.plist
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.trashSizeWatcher.plist
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.volumeWatcher.plist
[not loaded] com.zeobit.MacKeeper.Helper
User Login Items:
Dropbox
TotalFinder
3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player
Internet Plug-ins:
Default Browser.plugin
Flash Player.plugin
FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin
FolxNetscapePlugIn.plugin
iPhotoPhotocast.plugin
JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
QuickTime Plugin.plugin
SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin
User Internet Plug-ins:
FolxNetscapePlugIn.plugin
Bad Fonts:
None
Time Machine:
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: ON
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 319.21 GB Disk used: 169.97 GB
Destinations:
Iomega_HDD [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 499.76 GB
Total number of backups: 71
Oldest backup: 2011-08-04 20:14:24 +0000
Last backup: 2013-10-30 14:13:00 +0000
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 499.76 GB<(Disk used 169.97 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU:
7% coreaudiod
1% EtreCheck
1% PluginProcess
0% WindowServer
0% SystemUIServer
0% Safari
0% fontd
0% aosnotifyd
Top Processes by Memory:
266 MB Safari
90 MB Mail
41 MB Finder
41 MB WindowServer
37 MB PluginProcess
37 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
33 MB Dropbox
33 MB com.apple.WebKit.Networking
29 MB mds_stores
29 MB Google Chrome
Virtual Memory Statistics:
40 MB Free RAM
994 MB Active RAM
956 MB Inactive RAM
1002 MB Wired RAM
1.62 GB Page-ins
54 MB Page-outs
Slow, Spotlight sometimes not clickable and makes "ding" sound...
Like (0) Reply
- I do not remember I installed Mac cleaning tools or other
How I getting rid if them?
- reinstalling MacericksHardware Information:
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores
4 GB RAM
Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
Audio Plug-ins:
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0
AirPlay: Version: 1.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3
System Software:
OS X 10.9 (13A603) - Uptime: 0 days 0:15:24
Disk Information:
Hitachi HTS545032B9A302 disk0 : (320.07 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 319.21 GB (274.97 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8
USB Information:
Apple Inc. iPhone
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Iomega Iomega Select HDD 500.11 GB
EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Vlad Lee - TM (disk1s2) /Volumes/Vlad Lee - TM: 499.76 GB (62.44 GB free)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Kernel Extensions:
Problem System Launch Daemons:
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
Launch Agents:
User Launch Agents:
User Login Items:
iTunesHelper
Dropbox
3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player
Internet Plug-ins:
Default Browser.plugin
Flash Player.plugin
FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin
QuickTime Plugin.plugin
User Internet Plug-ins:
Bad Fonts:
None
Time Machine:
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 319.21 GB Disk used: 44.25 GB
Destinations:
Vlad Lee - TM [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 499.76 GB
Total number of backups: 45
Oldest backup: 2012-06-15 07:50:16 +0000
Last backup: 2013-11-10 20:43:41 +0000
Size of backup disk: Adequate
Backup size 499.76 GB > (Disk used 44.25 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU:
2% EtreCheck
1% fontd
0% WindowServer
0% Finder
0% Dropbox
0% fseventsd
0% aosnotifyd
Top Processes by Memory:
238 MB mds_stores
213 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
135 MB Safari
70 MB Dropbox
66 MB Mail
57 MB Finder
53 MB WindowServer
33 MB com.apple.WebKit.Networking
33 MB Dock
29 MB mds
Virtual Memory Statistics:
1.36 GB Free RAM
1.49 GB Active RAM
209 MB Inactive RAM
969 MB Wired RAM
509 MB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs
Its better after clean install....
only one "probem" so far, eventhough old mac was removed from cloud, both browsers on New installed and Iphone, see "old" device...
cant find how to fix it..tried to reset cloud.. -
Aging and slowing computer, time to replace RAM?
I have a late 2008 Black MacBook with 4gb 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM and about 45gb (of 250gb) of free space on my HD. Lately, my poor MacBook has been getting extremely slow even with the most mundane of tasks like checking my email. I notice that my memory usage fluxuates a lot more and the computer gets significantly hotter lately than it did in the past, so I'm thinking that the problem is related mostly to that more than anything else. What I'm trying to figure out is whether replacing the RAM would solve this problem, or if this problem may be related to something else. Please let me know your thoughts, or if other diagnostic material is needed to help further troubleshoot.
If the computer is working, then the RAM is fine. RAM doesn't slow down with age. You have other problems - maybe not enough RAM.
Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs
If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:
Start with a visit to: OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney.
Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:
Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or Lion and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems. For more about malware see Macintosh Virus Guide.
I would also recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. There is no confirmation that this version also works with Lion.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Data Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. SyncTwoFolders
6. Synk Pro
7. Synk Standard
8. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
Additional Hints
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file.
Maybe you are looking for
-
HT3819 Can I share my music with my wife who has a seperate Apple ID?
I just bought my wife an iPad Mini and she decided she wanted her own Apple ID so she can start managing her own music and such. Previously, she has been using my account to load her iPod with music. The problem is that I can't figure out how to ge
-
+i have latest Ver that opens BUT will not maximise onscreen
ff opens to taskbar. but wont display maximised. i have the latest Ver.
-
Rz20 - CCMS alert Hi Experts, We have problem with RZ20 where the belw mentined status are not updated and instead it is giving system name (PME). Please help me DB Backups R/3 DB Status This database was last backed up successfully PME d
-
Premiere CC crash with XDCAM MXF
I work in a Project for a few days with many MXF Files (XDCAM HD422). Everything worked fine until today: When I click on a MXF File I already used the last days in a sequence - Premiere CC crashes with this on my display: I've resettet Premiere Pref
-
Transferring money between checking accounts when using Numbers
I have multiple checking accounts. I have set them up so each account has it's own page within a workbook. I frequently transfer money between accounts. How do I set it up so transfers don't appear as income/expenses?