help with an imac 27'2014 toooooo slow

[shaktimage]

Hello friends, i just bought an imac retina 5k 27' late 2014 to work with my photography and it is surprisingly soooo slow while using photoshop or lightroom old version... what happen? here's the specs: big sur - process 3.5ghz quad core intel core i5 - memory 24Gb 1600mhz DDR3 - Graphic AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2GB - storage 1TB fusion drive - serial C02NGALDFY11
Any idea to make this mac run faster?

 

[TwoH]

The number one issue you’re going to experience with that machine is with the Fusion Drive. I would look at getting some external ssd storage to use in this machine

 

[shaktimage]

woao!... so the fusion drive is not reliable? I have and external ssd drive that i could try... but should i re-install the operating system on the ssd and use the fusion drive as an external drive? or just replace the fusion drive with a new internal ssd drive?

 

[ovbacon]

Download DriveDX (you can use the free version) to see what the status of the fusion drive is, specifically how the ssd portion is doing as it might be failing (see THIS thread).

 

[ovbacon]

woao!... so the fusion drive is not reliable? I have and external ssd drive that i could try... but should i re-install the operating system on the ssd and use the fusion drive as an external drive? or just replace the fusion drive with a new internal ssd drive?

Replacing the internal would be way better as it would be able to run faster while external is hampered by the speed of the usb connection.

 

[brandoman]

Yes, SSD will be your best bet. I have a 2012 iMac and installing an SSD was a game changer.

 

[pshufd]

I sold my 2014 iMac (i7, 32 GB RAM, 4 GB video, 500 GB SSD). It was a nice machine and I do regret selling it as the screen and integrated webcam were so nice. Even if there's nothing wrong with the Fusion drive, the SSD will make it feel like a new machine. I have a local shop that would probably put in the SSD for about $100.

 

[DeltaMac]

Apple's fusion drive is two devices: a spinning hard drive (for most of the storage space), and an SSD (quite small) to make up the fusion drive, which is combined by software into a virtual drive.

I suspect that the SSD in your iMac is beginning to lose touch with the real world, just not working like when new, maybe failing/failed. Best way forward, IMHO, replace both drives with an internal SSD. With the prices of new SSDs continuing downward, I think it makes economic sense, too. But, then I do that kind of upgrade quite often, the challenge of opening, then closing the iMac, is something that I am comfortable with doing. The option of simply using an external SSD is also a good idea, and can give back most of the performance that you are missing.

 

[shaktimage]

I did run the DriveDX and all seems normal...

 

[riptilian]

Mac sales will sell you an ssd with the proper tools and seals to replace the fusion drive. Sped will increase 4X. I did this by myself for my 2015 iMac 27. 32 gb kit only incrementally increased the speed.

Apple Mac Upgrades - RAM, SSD Flash, External Drives and More

Upgrade the RAM and storage of nearly any Apple computer at MacSales.com. We also provide refurbished Macs, external storage, docks, accessories, and more!

eshop.macsales.com

 

[ovbacon]

I did run the DriveDX and all seems normal...

Please do not post things that require downloading. Just post a screenshot

 

[ignatius345]

I had this exact 2014 iMac 5K up until a couple years ago. It was getting VERY slow over time.

I found that the SSD part of the Fusion Drive was dying, opened it up with a kit from iFixit and replaced the hard drive with an SSD and ran off that. It definitely helped for a while, but still it was pretty poky compared to my M1 MacBook Air. My #1 suspect was just plain old software bloat from the OS and other software I was using. When you think about it, that's a big reason computers that were lightning fast when you got them "get slow" over the years: software updates consume more and more resources every time you update.

Long story short, I retired the 5K iMac in favor of the M1 iMac and made my peace with the smaller screen. Great machine, and runs circles around the old one. I miss the extra screen real estate, but I don't miss the beachballs.

PS: @shaktimage it's not recommended to post your entire serial number online. I'm not 100% sure what people can do with it, but most people redact before posting just in case.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Hello friends, i just bought an imac retina 5k 27' late 2014 to work with my photography and it is surprisingly soooo slow while using photoshop or lightroom old version... what happen? here's the specs: big sur - process 3.5ghz quad core intel core i5 - memory 24Gb 1600mhz DDR3 - Graphic AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2GB - storage 1TB fusion drive - serial C02NGALDFY11
Any idea to make this mac run faster?

Like others said, replacing the boot drive with a fast modern SSD should give a good boost. Overfilling drives often leads to problems, so buy plenty of capacity; a good rule is to provide 2x as much space as you will use on the drive. And pay attention to scrupulously following a solid backup protocol, because tech that old may (will?) suddenly reach end-of-life at some point.

Also be aware that dealing with images takes power, and that 2014 is ancient tech for images work. Buying such old tech and intending demanding tasks is usually a bad idea, because like someone else said, apps/OS become more demanding over time.

If Apple lets Monterey (now at 12.6.6) run on that box I recommend it. Monterey helped my 2016 MBP with 16 GB RAM deal with images work fairly successfully.

 

[ignatius345]

2014 is ancient tech for images work. Buying such old tech and intending demanding tasks is usually a bad idea, because like someone else said, apps/OS become more demanding over time.

Just to put it in perspective, I'm getting better responsiveness out of my 2020 M1 Air with only 8GB of RAM than I was out of my old 2014 Intel i5 iMac which I'd put 32 GB of RAM into -- because of the 6 year gap in technology and the big jump in chip architecture.

 

[pshufd]

Just to put it in perspective, I'm getting better responsiveness out of my 2020 M1 Air with only 8GB of RAM than I was out of my old 2014 Intel i5 iMac which I'd put 32 GB of RAM into -- because of the 6 year gap in technology and the big jump in chip architecture.

My approach on buying a 2014 iMac a couple of years ago was that the screen was cheaper than a comparable monitor. I ran office stuff on mine (it had the i7 which makes a big difference), and anything that was compute intensive on my M1 mini.

 

[ovbacon]

My 2015 iMac 5K is not even of the same world as my mini M2.... the mini M2 is blazing fast and can run many heavy load applications at once while the iMac can barely run Lightroom or photoshop alone anymore.

 

[shaktimage]

sorry for my mistakes (showing my serial # and the report to open... learning curve... so this is what DriveDX said:

 

[shaktimage]

sorry for my mistakes (showing my serial # and the report to open... learning curve... so this is what DriveDX said:

but actually i am so surprised with some comments... I don't really care if my computer is not blazing fast, i just want it to run like things were running 5 or 10 years ago. My camera, my lightroom are of that age and i was happy with it. This is why i decided to go for a old used good machine... well not so good it seems...

 

[shaktimage]

Mac sales will sell you an ssd with the proper tools and seals to replace the fusion drive. Sped will increase 4X. I did this by myself for my 2015 iMac 27. 32 gb kit only incrementally increased the speed.

Apple Mac Upgrades - RAM, SSD Flash, External Drives and More

Upgrade the RAM and storage of nearly any Apple computer at MacSales.com. We also provide refurbished Macs, external storage, docks, accessories, and more!

eshop.macsales.com

woaaoo quite expensive the SSD at apple store! I was going to crucial... 100 bucks for a 2TB SSD. Probably not as strong but probably good enough..

 

[shaktimage]

sorry for my mistakes (showing my serial # and the report to open... learning curve... so this is what DriveDX said:

as you can see only the temperature is not so good. But the imac was full of dust under the screen, where the vents are, i bet inside is the same... i should open it and clean it.. but it is not the reason why it is so slow...

 

[ovbacon]

but actually i am so surprised with some comments... I don't really care if my computer is not blazing fast, i just want it to run like things were running 5 or 10 years ago. My camera, my lightroom are of that age and i was happy with it. This is why i decided to go for a old used good machine... well not so good it seems...

Why surprised? If you get a very old car that has had no work done on it and no replacement parts it is not going to run very well. Why would an old computer run like it was new 10 years ago? And as your own experience is it is not running smoothly.

A good cleaning could of course already help but if you open the iMac up to clean it I would just change out the hdd for a new ssd.

 

[ignatius345]

I don't really care if my computer is not blazing fast, i just want it to run like things were running 5 or 10 years ago.

And it might... if you were running the exact OS and software you were using 5 or 10 years ago. You haven't listed the versions of the OS you're using, and that could be a clue. Later versions of MacOS tend to be more demanding, and it could be that's bogging thing down for you.

There also might be some software behaving badly -- stuff tends to accumulate over the years. One troubleshooting step I would suggest is to create a brand new user account and try working in that to see if it's any faster:

1. Go to Settings > Users & Groups
2. Create a new user account. Call it whatever you want.
3. Restart the Mac. When it comes back up, log into ONLY that new user account you just created.
4. Don't bother signing into iCloud, even if it prompts you. You don't need to sync all your stuff just yet, and it'll slow things down if you do.
5. Try opening Photoshop or Lightroom or whatever it is that you've been experiencing slowness with. See how it goes.

If you find things in this "vanilla" new account are running more smoothly and quickly, there's likely something in your own user account that's gone funky. Could be corrupted preferences, some kind of software conflict, something like that. If you don't want to ungunk your main account, you could start using this new one. Sign into iCloud, start copying your documents, setting up the settings, etc.

If the new user account is ALSO slow, you've either got a hardware issue or something with your system itself, and now you at least know that.

 

[shaktimage]

1. Disable used login items:
   1. Open System Preferences
   2. Click the Users & Groups preference pane
   3. Click the Login Items tap on the top of the window.
   4. Remove all unnecessary items by click on the item and then clicking the minus button at the bottom.
2. Delete unnecessary launch files (Library)
   1. Open your primary hard drive (you might be able do this by clicking on the Finder icon in the dock.
   2. Double-Click to open the Library folder.
   3. Delete all unnecessary files in the following four folders:
      • Inputmanagers - delete the entire folder
      • LaunchAgents
      • LaunchDaemons
      • StartupItems
3. Delete unnecessary launch files (User Library)
   1. While in the finder, click on the Go menu tap on the top of the screen.
   2. Hold down the Option key and click on Library.
   3. Delete all unnecessary files in the following four folders:

• Inputmanagers - delete the entire folder
• LaunchAgents

1. Run Disk Utility on your start up drive:
   1. Choose Apple menu > Restart. After your Mac restarts (some Mac computers play a startup sound), press and hold the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears, then release the keys.
   2. Click Disk Utility, then click Continue.
   3. Choose View > Show All Devices.
   4. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to repair.
   5. Click the First Aid button .
      If Disk Utility tells you the disk is about to fail, back up your data and replace the disk. You can’t repair it. Otherwise, continue to the next step.
   6. Click Run.
      If Disk Utility reports that the disk appears to be OK or has been repaired, you’re done. You can click Show Details to see more information about the repairs. Otherwise, you may need to do one of the following.
   7. If Disk Utility reports “overlapped extent allocation” errors, two or more files occupy the same space on your disk, and at least one of them is likely to be corrupted. You need to check each file in the list of affected files. Most of the files in the list have aliases in a DamagedFiles folder at the top level of your disk.
   8. If you can replace a file or re-create it, delete it.
   9. If it contains information you need, open it and examine its data to make sure it hasn’t been corrupted.
   10. If Disk Utility can’t repair your disk or it reports “The underlying task reported failure,” try to repair the disk or partition again. If that doesn’t work, back up as much of your data as possible, reformat the disk, reinstall macOS, then restore your backed-up data.
2. Reset the SMC (System Management Controller):
   1. For a desktop:
      1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
      2. After your Mac shuts down, unplug the power cord.
      3. Wait 15 seconds.
      4. Plug the power cord back in.
      5. Wait 5 seconds, then press the power button again to turn on your Mac.
   2. For a Laptop:
      1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
      2. After your Mac shuts down, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds. If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power button.
      3. Release all keys.
      4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.
3. Reset the NVRAM (nonvolatile random-access memory) & PRAM (Parameter RAM):
   1. Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. You can release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart.

• On Mac computers that play a startup sound, you can release the keys after the second startup sound.
• On Mac computers that have the Apple T2 Security Chip, you can release the keys after the Apple logo appears and disappears for the second time.
• If your Mac is using a firmware password, this key combination does nothing or causes your Mac to start up from macOS Recovery. To reset NVRAM, first turn off the firmware password.
• When your Mac finishes starting up, you might want to open System Preferences and adjust any settings that were reset, such as sound volume, display resolution, startup disk selection, or time zone.

1. Start up in safe mode:
   1. Start or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key. The Apple logo appears on your display. If you don't see the Apple logo, learn what to do.
   2. Release the Shift key when you see the login window. If your startup disk is encrypted with FileVault, you might be asked to log in twice: once to unlock the startup disk, and again to log in to the Finder.
   3. To leave safe mode, restart your Mac without pressing any keys during startup.

Great stuff! thanks a lot, i will try all. I am using big sur OS version, cannot upgrade to Monterey witch is normally supported by my machine (late 2014) but ok no problem. FYI i have run Drive DX and all seems normal except ventilation. I will open it and clean it. Based on all the comments i have received, i feel it is my fusion drive that is getting old... so i might try to replace the drive also, crucial offers very good prices

 

[arw]

Could someone please explain to me how (per OPs screenshot) DriveDX concludes 100% health for an 121 GB SSD with 141 TB written? So not even 1% of its TBW is reached? Even for SLC flash, that seems off.
What am I missing?

 

[Allen_Wentz]

but actually i am so surprised with some comments... I don't really care if my computer is not blazing fast, i just want it to run like things were running 5 or 10 years ago. My camera, my lightroom are of that age and i was happy with it. This is why i decided to go for a old used good machine... well not so good it seems...

The problem is that it is almost impossible to have a true ceteris paribus scenario with 9-yo computer gear. To stay with the 2014 OS, for security reasons you would need to have the box fully isolated from the internet for one thing. That usually is not feasible, and once you upgrade anything things change.

That said, you may well find your 2014 setup quite adequate once you put in a large enough, fast enough SSD as a boot drive and using the best available OS version. The folks at OWC can give you good advice on the upgrade.