2013 pro with icloud storage issues/poor performance

[Yogibearmofo]

Hi guys,

So I have a 2013 ssd Macbook Pro running High Sierra which has performed quite poorly for a long time. For as long as I can remember simple tasks seem to make it chug and the fans are constantly going crazy.
It was pretty full so I've been attempting to store as much as I can in icloud, however I'm not sure if it's working as it should. It says 262gb out of 500gb is available but it looks to me as if the 378gb I have on icloud is actually being stored locally? Nothing happens when i click the 'store in icloud' button shown in the screenshot and the spinning wheel is always present next to system in the left hand menu.
My photos library which is responsible for the bulk of the data is located in the icloud drive folder and is showing as ineligible however works, albeit quite slow. I think technically it should be stored inside the "pictures" folder but it is so large it is impossible for me to move it without freezing my machine.
Any advice much appreciated!

Cheers

 

[chrfr]

Hi guys,

So I have a 2013 ssd Macbook Pro running High Sierra which has performed quite poorly for a long time. For as long as I can remember simple tasks seem to make it chug and the fans are constantly going crazy.

It would be useful to look in Activity Monitor to see what processes are running, and which are using the CPU most.
Make sure to select "All Processes" from the View menu.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201464#cpu

 

[pshufd]

Files can be stored in iCloud and cached locally for fast access I think.
[doublepost=1559402988][/doublepost]

It would be useful to look in Activity Monitor to see what processes are running, and which are using the CPU most.
Make sure to select "All Processes" from the View menu.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201464#cpu

Debugging performance and storage issues can be a lot of work.

You need to find the resource or resources that are limiting and those can be CPU, memory and a few other things. CPU is a good place to start. Storage is a good thing to look at as is memory.

 

[chrfr]

Files can be stored in iCloud and cached locally for fast access I think.
[doublepost=1559402988][/doublepost]

Debugging performance and storage issues can be a lot of work.

You need to find the resource or resources that are limiting and those can be CPU, memory and a few other things. CPU is a good place to start. Storage is a good thing to look at as is memory.

Memory and storage issues generally do not cause the fans to race, however.

 

[pshufd]

Memory and storage issues generally do not cause the fans to race, however.

Memory issues can result in additional CPU load due to paging and swapping. In the old days with an HDD, applications would just slow down. Sometimes a lot. With SSDs for page and swap, it should be faster but there is overhead moving things back and forth with storage.

You may also have some applications which implement spin locks inefficiently that could drive up CPU use waiting for resources that normally consume minuscule cycles.

 

[Yogibearmofo]

Thanks for the input guys. Here are some screenshots of my activity monitor. icloud drive seems to be sporadically using a lot of memory. up to 100% of CPU at times.

 

[pshufd]

It looks like iCloud Drive. What happens when you turn it off, say by disconnecting from the network?

 

[chrfr]

I'd suggest uninstalling "MacBooster." You may need to use a tool like Malwarebytes to do this. https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/
The free version will work fine, and may find other sketchy software at the same time.
Also, if you run a tool called EtreCheck, and post the output here, we may be able to find something else that looks amiss.
https://etrecheck.com
Be aware that the site above looks a little suspect as well, but be assured the software is legitimate.

 

[Yogibearmofo]

I did a bit of research before installing macbooster and thought it was safe and reputable

 

[chrfr]

I did a bit of research before installing macbooster and thought it was safe and reputable

At best, it’s junk software that doesn’t do anything useful.

 

[duervo]

I’d try an SMC reset before doing any of that other stuff. It’s quick to do, and easy, and can fix a lot of things, including the symptoms you appear to have (marginal CPU usage and really slow system, and fans on high.)

 

[pshufd]

The 2013 MacBook Pro should have an SD slot and I think that you can get a 512 GB SD card for about $100. This is what I have done on my 2014 MacBook Pro to get additional local storage.