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Macbook still slow after erase and reinstall

S

SicksWun9

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2014
4
0
So my macbook started running slow after I nearly filled the hd with tons of files from my external. I ended up erasing everything and reinstalling the OS through the internal recovery partition but my mac is still running slow.
I ran an extended test with AHT and it found zero problems.
I also used disk utility to repair the disk but it found no problems. It corrected a couple of things when i repaired the permissions but it didn't help speed up my computer at all.
I also cleared log files and cache.
I did a PRAM reset and I think I did an SMC reset but I wasn't sure if it worked because the MagSafe light didn't blink but the mac did restart when I pressed the keys.
Does anyone have any idea what is wrong? I don't know what else to try and really need some help. I think I may have already made things worse. I copied the files from the mac back onto an external then zeroed out the mac hd. Afterwards I realized the files might be corrupted because the all of the songs can't play without pausing. I'm not sure if that can be fixed but I'm mainly worried about how my mac performs.
Is there any way to fix it? Or do I have to get my hard drive replaced?

Here's more info:
-Macbook Pro Early 2011
-OS X Lion 10.7.5
-4GB DDR3
-2GHz Intel i7

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
 
simon48

simon48

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,315
88
SicksWun9 said:
So my macbook started running slow after I nearly filled the hd with tons of files from my external. I ended up erasing everything and reinstalling the OS through the internal recovery partition but my mac is still running slow.
I ran an extended test with AHT and it found zero problems.
I also used disk utility to repair the disk but it found no problems. It corrected a couple of things when i repaired the permissions but it didn't help speed up my computer at all.
I also cleared log files and cache.
I did a PRAM reset and I think I did an SMC reset but I wasn't sure if it worked because the MagSafe light didn't blink but the mac did restart when I pressed the keys.
Does anyone have any idea what is wrong? I don't know what else to try and really need some help. I think I may have already made things worse. I copied the files from the mac back onto an external then zeroed out the mac hd. Afterwards I realized the files might be corrupted because the all of the songs can't play without pausing. I'm not sure if that can be fixed but I'm mainly worried about how my mac performs.
Is there any way to fix it? Or do I have to get my hard drive replaced?

Here's more info:
-Macbook Pro Early 2011
-OS X Lion 10.7.5
-4GB DDR3
-2GHz Intel i7

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Do you have an SSD? What do you use your computer for?

An SSD and more RAM could help a lot.

I would upgrade to Mavericks (it's free!). Mavericks has much better RAM usage and you don't have a lot of RAM so it should give you a boost.
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
SicksWun9 said:
So my macbook started running slow after I nearly filled the hd with tons of files from my external. I ended up erasing everything and reinstalling the OS through the internal recovery partition but my mac is still running slow.
I ran an extended test with AHT and it found zero problems.
I also used disk utility to repair the disk but it found no problems. It corrected a couple of things when i repaired the permissions but it didn't help speed up my computer at all.
I also cleared log files and cache.
I did a PRAM reset and I think I did an SMC reset but I wasn't sure if it worked because the MagSafe light didn't blink but the mac did restart when I pressed the keys.
Does anyone have any idea what is wrong? I don't know what else to try and really need some help. I think I may have already made things worse. I copied the files from the mac back onto an external then zeroed out the mac hd. Afterwards I realized the files might be corrupted because the all of the songs can't play without pausing. I'm not sure if that can be fixed but I'm mainly worried about how my mac performs.
Is there any way to fix it? Or do I have to get my hard drive replaced?

Here's more info:
-Macbook Pro Early 2011
-OS X Lion 10.7.5
-4GB DDR3
-2GHz Intel i7

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Get an SSD. If you're using a HDD, it's only natural and normal that it's very slow.

And upgrade your RAM too if you have the cash to do so.

I noticed that you're running Lion. Lion is a horrible resource hog. You should get Mavericks, which is free and way better than Lion.
 
M

MarvinHC

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2014
834
293
Belgium
+1 for Mavericks

My late 2008 15" Pro (also with 4GB RAM) runs so much faster, cooler and longer since I upgraded to Mavericks.
 
S

SicksWun9

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2014
4
0
I have an HDD and would like to upgrade to an SSD but I just don't have the money right now.

Are you guys pretty much saying that there's no hope for my HD?

I was hoping that there could be a way to get my mac to perform like it did before I copied all those files to it. I had no problems with it before that but now it takes forever just to do simple tasks like typing this out.
 
simonsi

simonsi

Contributor
Jan 3, 2014
4,851
735
Auckland
Here is what I would do (it assumes you have some kind of backup):

You need to reinstall again so you may as well download the Mavericks installer and make a bootable USB (I use Diskmaker X). This makes a bootable installer drive.

Boot from it, Re-partition your HDD (even if to the same single partition you had before), install Mavericks to it. Boot off your HDD. You should have restored your performance back to what it was. Re-install your apps and data but only up to a max of 60% of the HDD capacity (to allow for OS operational space and some growth.

Leave the rest of your data on your external. See if the music plays properly now the system is running properly, come up with a data backup solution as appropriate...

Edited to add I doubt you have damaged the HDD in any way so it should be recoverable by the above. A full disk will be slow so you need to rule that out - which you can do for no $$ and just some time...

HTH...
 
Last edited:
M

MarvinHC

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2014
834
293
Belgium
SicksWun9 said:
I have an HDD and would like to upgrade to an SSD but I just don't have the money right now.

Are you guys pretty much saying that there's no hope for my HD?

I was hoping that there could be a way to get my mac to perform like it did before I copied all those files to it. I had no problems with it before that but now it takes forever just to do simple tasks like typing this out.
Click to expand...

The two times hard disks have failed on me started with them becoming very very slow (I guess due to the constant error correction), so I would be very cautious going forward. If you don't have the cash for an SDD, get a cheap HDD, they are dirt cheap anyway these days.
 
S

SicksWun9

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2014
4
0
I know you all want me to install Mavericks but I'm hesitant to because I use Ableton Live and have heard of some issues involving Mavericks.

Should I reinstall Lion again or would that be unnecessary?

Also, what decent programs are there for performing a thorough HD diagnostic test?

edit:
Want to add that I have not installed any apps or anything since erasing and reinstalling. My drive is cleared up. I have 488GB free out of 500GB and I'm still seeing too many beach balls.
 
Last edited:
simonsi

simonsi

Contributor
Jan 3, 2014
4,851
735
Auckland
SicksWun9 said:
I know you all want me to install Mavericks but I'm hesitant to because I use Ableton Live and have heard of some issues involving Mavericks.

Should I reinstall Lion again or would that be unnecessary?

Also, what decent programs are there for performing a thorough HD diagnostic test?
Click to expand...

You currently have an issue preventing you from using your Mac at all. Ableton's website lists 9.1 and 8.4.2 as compatible with OSX 10.9

Load Maveriscks, upgrade/install a compatible Ableton and use Disk Utility to verify the disk, if all good, all good.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
SicksWun9 said:
Should I reinstall Lion again or would that be unnecessary?
Click to expand...
I don't see the value in reinstalling Lion again since you already did a clean install.

The performance issue is not related to the software. It could be the Disk is nearing its end of life. What does the Smart status say (As reported in the Disk Utility).

I'd look to maybe get an SSD if you want to invest in upgrading the laptop and an additional 4gb of ram (for a total of 8)
 
simonsi

simonsi

Contributor
Jan 3, 2014
4,851
735
Auckland
494 free of 500 sounds too much, the OS installed would take up more than 6GB.... Something wrong there I think
 
T

thekb

macrumors 6502a
May 8, 2010
629
23
I have late 2012 MBP, 2.9 ghz I7, 8GB RAM and I have similar problems. Spinning beachballs ... very slow load up of apps like iTunes, Aperture, and -- heaven help me -- Excel and Word.

I am still running Mountain Lion. Would I benefit from upgrading to Mavericks? Also, I find it hard to believe that the only option to improve performance is upgrading to SSD. What did people do before SSD? Not everyone had slow as molasses MBPs after 18 months did they? I have just over 100 GB of a 750 GB drive open -- is that too full?
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
thekb said:
I have late 2012 MBP, 2.9 ghz I7, 8GB RAM and I have similar problems. Spinning beachballs ... very slow load up of apps like iTunes, Aperture, and -- heaven help me -- Excel and Word.

I am still running Mountain Lion. Would I benefit from upgrading to Mavericks? Also, I find it hard to believe that the only option to improve performance is upgrading to SSD. What did people do before SSD? Not everyone had slow as molasses MBPs after 18 months did they? I have just over 100 GB of a 750 GB drive open -- is that too full?
Click to expand...

Actually, HDDs do slow down. Physically they do not. They still spin at the same speed and such, but as the hdd becomes more and more fragmented from writes and deletes, the read head will have to search over more and more area to find/extract the files being called for.

That doesn't matter whether the drive is empty or not. The only way to solve the fragmentation problem is to either defrag or reformat (which is better, because it removes all sorts of system junk too).

But I find a fresh, brand new HDD (be it 7200rpm or 5400rpm) too slow for my needs. If you can tolerate 2-3 minutes for your Mac to get into a usable state from startup, go ahead and continue using a HDD.

Mine (512GB 840 Pro) boots up in just 11 seconds.
 
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