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HDD performance on late 2013 21.5-inch iMac

D

dnavarro

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2015
5
0
Hi Guys,

This is my first post, so Hello everyone!

I bought my first mac a couple a month ago, a refurbished model (late 2013 21.5-inch 2.7 i5 1TB HDD) and since I bought I feel like the HDD is not performing well... It takes a couple of minutes to start and to switch between users, so I installed an app called "Disk Speed Test" from Blackmagicdesign and those are the results:

Write: ~60MB/s
Read: ~60MB/s

So, my question is, are those results the expected for this kind of HDD? is it underperforming? should I go to the apple store?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!
 
dnavarro said:
Hi Guys,

This is my first post, so Hello everyone!

I bought my first mac a couple a month ago, a refurbished model (late 2013 21.5-inch 2.7 i5 1TB HDD) and since I bought I feel like the HDD is not performing well... It takes a couple of minutes to start and to switch between users, so I installed an app called "Disk Speed Test" from Blackmagicdesign and those are the results:

Write: ~60MB/s
Read: ~60MB/s

So, my question is, are those results the expected for this kind of HDD? is it underperforming? should I go to the apple store?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Click to expand...
It's normal and slow. Just like any 5400rpm drive.

This is what happens if you don't get at least a Fusion Drive.

I've a 256GB SSD in my 21.5" and it only starts up in 9 seconds.

Read speeds are 720MB/s and writes are 670MB/s.
 
dnavarro said:
Hi Guys,

This is my first post, so Hello everyone!

I bought my first mac a couple a month ago, a refurbished model (late 2013 21.5-inch 2.7 i5 1TB HDD) and since I bought I feel like the HDD is not performing well... It takes a couple of minutes to start and to switch between users, so I installed an app called "Disk Speed Test" from Blackmagicdesign and those are the results:

Write: ~60MB/s
Read: ~60MB/s

So, my question is, are those results the expected for this kind of HDD? is it underperforming? should I go to the apple store?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Click to expand...

Seems just a tad slow, but not too far off for a 5400 RPM drive (keep in mind these are not 7200 drives).

For a quick fix you can run OS X from an external SSD connected via Thunderbolt or USB 3.0. That would get you somewhere in the 300MB/s speeds (if not more). You could also try a fresh install and see if that boosts your speeds.
 
martinm0 said:
Seems just a tad slow, but not too far off for a 5400 RPM drive (keep in mind these are not 7200 drives).

For a quick fix you can run OS X from an external SSD connected via Thunderbolt or USB 3.0. That would get you somewhere in the 300MB/s speeds (if not more). You could also try a fresh install and see if that boosts your speeds.
Click to expand...

I know that it´s an 5400 RPM, but it´s almost unusable when you try to do something that uses the HDD like iPhoto or even just backing it up meanwhile you are doing something else...

I already added an SSD drive (USB 3.0) that performs like a charm and after booting from the SSD, this computer is way way faster, but I just was wondering it that was just my problem or if the out of the box model is as bad as I felt it.

Thank you a lot guys!
 
yjchua95 said:
It's normal and slow. Just like any 5400rpm drive.
Click to expand...

Defiantly not normal and not like my internal 5400RPM HDD, or external 5400RPM HDD that both get 100MBps Read and Write.

----------
dnavarro said:
Hi Guys,

This is my first post, so Hello everyone!

I bought my first mac a couple a month ago, a refurbished model (late 2013 21.5-inch 2.7 i5 1TB HDD) and since I bought I feel like the HDD is not performing well... It takes a couple of minutes to start and to switch between users, so I installed an app called "Disk Speed Test" from Blackmagicdesign and those are the results:

Write: ~60MB/s
Read: ~60MB/s

So, my question is, are those results the expected for this kind of HDD? is it underperforming? should I go to the apple store?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Click to expand...


My 21.5" iMac for Late 2013/14 has a 1TB 5400RPM HDD and I get 100MBps Read and Write. Almost double that that of yours. Try reinstalling the app just to see if that makes a difference, but it appears that your HDD is under-performing by a massive margin. Call Apple up and speak to them on the phone about it, and ask if they can pick it up for you if you feel like you'd struggle in getting it to the Apple store.
 
MartinAppleGuy said:
Defiantly not normal and not like my internal 5400RPM HDD, or external 5400RPM HDD that both get 100MBps Read and Write.

----------




My 21.5" iMac for Late 2013/14 has a 1TB 5400RPM HDD and I get 100MBps Read and Write. Almost double that that of yours. Try reinstalling the app just to see if that makes a difference, but it appears that your HDD is under-performing by a massive margin. Call Apple up and speak to them on the phone about it, and ask if they can pick it up for you if you feel like you'd struggle in getting it to the Apple store.
Click to expand...


Hi, Thank you for your help.

I did an other test this morning and it got ~80MB/s for read and write, maybe yesterday I had some process doing something meanwhile the test... I don't know... Anyway, do you guys think that if I go to the apple store they are going to do something or they are going to tell me that's normal?
 
dnavarro said:
Hi, Thank you for your help.

I did an other test this morning and it got ~80MB/s for read and write, maybe yesterday I had some process doing something meanwhile the test... I don't know... Anyway, do you guys think that if I go to the apple store they are going to do something or they are going to tell me that's normal?
Click to expand...

They will tell you it's normal, because it IS normal.
 
dnavarro said:
Hi, Thank you for your help.

I did an other test this morning and it got ~80MB/s for read and write, maybe yesterday I had some process doing something meanwhile the test... I don't know... Anyway, do you guys think that if I go to the apple store they are going to do something or they are going to tell me that's normal?
Click to expand...

Its much better but still under-performing slightly. Try restarting before you do the test, I have found the Chrome uses some disk activity even after you close it. You should still be looking at speeds of 100MBps or there about's which you are not. How much data do you have stored on your Hard Drive? Do you have a Bootcamp partition that may be getting the best sectors of the drive for performance?

Personally, if I were already booting externally from SSD, I would just leave it for now and see if it gets worse. If it doesn't, good enough. If it does, its clearly a bad drive and you will have an easier time explaining it to Apple if it gets worse (just make sure you keep it with in the warranty).

Hope all this helps!
 
dnavarro said:
Hi Guys,

This is my first post, so Hello everyone!

I bought my first mac a couple a month ago, a refurbished model (late 2013 21.5-inch 2.7 i5 1TB HDD) and since I bought I feel like the HDD is not performing well... It takes a couple of minutes to start and to switch between users, so I installed an app called "Disk Speed Test" from Blackmagicdesign and those are the results:

Write: ~60MB/s
Read: ~60MB/s

So, my question is, are those results the expected for this kind of HDD? is it underperforming? should I go to the apple store?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Click to expand...

You may have FileVault turned on. Also select your Home Folder Desktop as Target to run the test.
 
I got the first year of the slim in the 21.5" flavor and I'm glade I ponied up the extra for fusion.
 
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