HS and boot help needed....what is wrong :(

[Dgtlduck]

Hi guys, I am in need of some big help, here is what happened: (This is a 27" 2011 Imac). Regular 1TB hard drive, non-SSD.

1. Accidentally updated HS OS two days ago, after a few mins i restarted and the system hung on the loading progress bar....
   
   
2. Decided to reinstall... used a HS boot usb and eventually it allowed me to reinstall. I then restarted and used the boot to restore from a time machine (few days prior to the update)
   
   
3. It worked for a day...went to restart it and now its doing the same thing...although this time now it cant find the internal HD at all...well, it finds it maybe 1 out of every 8 attempts. I either have to sit and wiait for 5 mins before Disk Utilities will even show it When I click on it I can reformat it, but then the "install HS" option wont show the newly formatted disk (journaled)
   
   
4. Also, when i click on this like Disk Utility or Install MacOS...it is sooo slow moving to that next screen..

Also, my Timemachine backup is on a 4TB extrenal WD drive...I partitioned the drive into an addle 1.5TB and installed HS on it, however, I can never boot from it? When I try to restart with option to select boot, it just takes me to disk utilities and never to HS...

Im at a loss at this point... I tried again was able to boot HS but it is SO slow!! I downloaded Firefox and just the copy portion of the install to my applications took over a minute.

Thoughts? Just trying this now the backspace takes a while to kick in

It worries me that I can't boot from the brand new WD Time-machine backup partition. Can I even install MacOS on it? Why can't I select it when I install? The install process completes, but it doesnt restart to the select language screen etc... it just boots to the internal Mac OS... and if I erase that one, then it boots to disk utilities.

 

[cwanja]

To me, it sounds like your internal drive is failing.

Are you sure the external drive is getting power to be a bootable drive?

 

[Dgtlduck]

To me, it sounds like your internal drive is failing.

Are you sure the external drive is getting power to be a bootable drive?

Thank you Cwanja and now that you say that, actually I cant select the partitioned WD (My Passport) drive in system prefs/startup disk. However it is there in disk utilities.

 

[DeltaMac]

A really slow response from the internal is likely a failing drive. It can be bad enough to affect other drives, too, as it either fails to mount completely, or just takes a long time to do most anything that you try to do.
Open 'er up, and replace the internal drive. You can choose to replace that with an SSD.

 

[wardie]

+1 agree with above sound familiar. If you do get it booted off the internal drive then look at the drive’s SMART statistics using the built in system report or free tools. That will likely tell you with loads of errors e.g. reallocated sectors and various others.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Do you have an EXTERNAL drive that is completely bootable?
By that, I mean "bootable right to the finder".

If not, you should consider making one.
If you don't have a "hard drive", you can make one on a USB flash drive that is 16gb or larger (larger is better).

The idea is to be able to boot "to the finder" and into a user account -- "separate and apart" from the hard drive.
This will give you a better sense of how the Mac is actually working than will booting to a "copy of the installer" on a flash drive.

 

[Dgtlduck]

Fisherman...hello and thank yuo. I do have an external drive. a WD passport 4TB, but I dont believe its bootable. HS will install, but it doesn't restart to HS options, just goes back to disk utilities. If i could make the WD Passport bootable I would consider that too since Ive already partitioned 2TB of it aside for HS (when i thought it would boot)

I only have a USB HS boot 8gb, not one to install and boot from. (I do have a 16GB but coincidently it wont appear in Finder, must be bad) keeps disappearing.

I can boot into the internal, slow drive after a clean reformat and HS reinstall. Disk Utility comes back with nothing and Drive Genius 4 says SMART verified and no errors. Downloads are still super fast, but random things will make it stall ridiculously slow.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I can boot into the internal, slow drive after a clean reformat and HS reinstall. Disk Utility comes back with nothing and Drive Genius 4 says SMART verified and no errors. Downloads are still super fast, but random things will make it stall ridiculously slow."

Then, I suggest that you DO THAT.
Walk down the pathway THAT WORKS for you.
Hmmm... it might be something in your account that is slowing you down. You can create a "new, test" account, log into that, and see if things speed up. If they do, it's something in your account (not "in the OS").

Actually, with a 2011, you might consider "going back" to Low Sierra.
Did you have that running previously? If so, how did it run?

I shake my head when I see users who had a formerly-smooth-running Mac, then "upgraded" to a newer version of the OS, and have everything start going wrong.
They'll try all sorts of stuff to "fix it", but it never occurs to them to go back to the previous version of the OS that WAS working. Sometimes "newer" ain't "better".

About "accidentally" upgrading...
I keep automatic updates in Software Update TURNED OFF.
I DON'T WANT SU "fooling with my computer behind my back".
Yes, tell me when an update becomes available.
But... I want to make the decision as to when and if it gets installed.

One last thought:
A 2011 iMac is definitely becoming dated and has some drawbacks that cannot be overcome (such as the lack of native USB3).
I don't know your financial situation, but if the speed of the 2011 no longer satisfies you, it might be time to start considering a new or perhaps Apple-refurbished iMac...

 

[Dgtlduck]

Thank you Fishrrman! Actually I've had HS on for months (as soon as it came out actually) It worked fine, few hiccups here and there.

ill try a new account...
Also, if I were to downgrade to low sierra, how would that affect my Time machine backup which was on HS? I thought I read somewhere you cant restore TM on a lower OS then it was created on?

I agree that the 2011 is dated. We are closing on a house in a couple weeks so, at least right now, it's not an option :/ I agree about the auto updates idea. My wife had accidentally hit try later a few months back and ended up losing everything. Didn't have a backup option at the time and bought the WD drive...(which is wish was bootable) Took months to get all of the photos back with recovery software and was a huge PIA...

 

[Fishrrman]

"Didn't have a backup option at the time and bought the WD drive...(which is wish was bootable) Took months to get all of the photos back with recovery software and was a huge PIA..."

My recommendation:
Give either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper a try.
Both are FREE to download and use for 30 days.

Either one will serve you far FAR better than TM.

A CCC/SD cloned backup IS "bootable to the finder".

 

[Dgtlduck]

Hi Fishrrman, I took a look at CCC, it looks nice, thank you.

I have a question I’m going to look at a new internal drive but I have a Seagate ST31000528AS. I was able to get high sierra to work for a day but after a restart now it just shuts down completely during the boot start up progress bar I know I have to either replace with the exact drive or I can use a third-party drive and there is either an app online which will let me regulate individual fans in case they spin out of control due to the temperature gauge sensor.

If I replace the drive with the exact same version I’ll still be missing the apple firmware for the temperature gaige correct

 

[Fishrrman]

There are one or more "software solutions" for the fan issue.
One is called "Macs fan control" (not sure of the exact name):
https://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control.

Frankly, I'd "go back" to Low Sierra.

 

[Dgtlduck]

Thank you! I am going to try that this morning... if not, any chance you would recommend that Thermal temp sensor cable thats like $40 to help get a 3rd party or a software solution more?

Thank you!

 

[Dgtlduck]

Fishrrman... I wanted to update you. I installed "Low Sierra" today and please tell me why is it working so much better then HS (Not HS of months and months ago, just recently) It is a nigh and difference in speed and there has been no hiccups or signs of any kind that my hard drive is failing. however, (if) it wasn't the HD then what could have caused such catastrophic symptoms recently? I already manually copied all of my backup files back so i will see how it runs now. Even coping things over was blazing fast. What took 2hrs for 10 GBs on HS last week took 18 mins on Sierra.... So far I am extremely surprised and i thank you for the suggestion!!

 

[Fishrrman]

"I installed "Low Sierra" today and please tell me why is it working so much better then HS"

Can be hard to say.
Sometimes, some things work, but other things don't.

In that case, my advice is:
Go with what works for you, and ignore that which doesn't.

It's better than banging your head against the wall...