I'm in shock, a little skeptical, but relieved!

[19SK91]

If you can, try to check the condition of the hard drive with Windows.
I remember when my iMac started to do weird things, I checked the disk in OS X Disk Utility and it told me everything's fine. Same results during the next few weeks. One day I wanted to install Windows via Bootcamp and the first thing Windows did, when it booted to the desktop for the first time, was telling me that my drive is in bad condition and that I should do a backup ASAP and change the hard drive. I ran some diagnostic software to confirm the Windows message and indeed, the condition was terrible. So terrible that some of my data was already damaged. Disk Utility still telling me everything's fine even though SMART-Status was also broken.

 

[treekram]

I meant that the black magic test never settled... Does it settle?

After you press the button, the needles go up and down for a while and then they stop. If you run it again right after the test is done, you may get different numbers, although they shouldn't be that much different. For the HDD you have, the needles shouldn't go up and down a lot after the first second or so (maybe 10MB/sec.). If they do, let us know.

If you can, try to check the condition of the hard drive with Windows.
I remember when my iMac started to do weird things, I checked the disk in OS X Disk Utility and it told me everything's fine. Same results during the next few weeks. One day I wanted to install Windows via Bootcamp and the first thing Windows did, when it booted to the desktop for the first time, was telling me that my drive is in bad condition and that I should do a backup ASAP and change the hard drive. I ran some diagnostic software to confirm the Windows message and indeed, the condition was terrible. So terrible that some of my data was already damaged. Disk Utility still telling me everything's fine even though SMART-Status was also broken.

There is software to better test hard disks, but considering the events that have happened in the past to the OP's MBP and the current performance, I don't know that it's worth the time, effort and possible cost to the OP to run these programs, considering the cost of a HDD replacement.

 

[a-m-k]

If you know which end of a screwdriver goes where, you have all the necessary skill.

I think I saw what you were talking about, are you talking about the bottom of the keyboard? I don't have access to a screwdriver that small right now. Those screws are tiny.

 

[a-m-k]

My MBP is back to being snail slow.

 

[a-m-k]

Honestly I'm not convinced there's anything wrong with it. If you don't run it for a very long time, it gets super busy for a while sorting itself out.

I'd let it run overnight (after disabling sleep) and see if that helps.

Realistically, an SSD would make it feel better than new.

I'm currently charging my MBP. I had to close it up, though. (There was an option not to shut down things.... I do t remember what it said.) As of a few minutes ago, it went faster. Should I go ahead and try to do something and see how fast it goes?

 

[treekram]

There may be something in the Safari settings or some other software issue. However, you really do need to get your hardware issues resolved first.

As I mentioned earlier, it would help if you have information on your memory situation. An easier way than what I suggested earlier is to do the following:
1) Press Spotlight icon in the upper right of the screen - it looks like a magnifying glass.
2) Enter in "activity monitor" and press the return key.
3) A window will come up and at the top will be a set of tabs. Press the "Memory" tab.
4) Post the numbers you see at the bottom for: "Physical Memory", "Memory Used" and "Swap Used".

You should do this after you've opened up Safari and done the things you usually do when you use Safari.

When your system is slow, run both the Blackmagic test and do the steps above and the results. A comparison between what happens when the system is running "normally" (your HDD is certainly not normal now) and when it slows down would be helpful. But post the memory information now - that would be helpful.

 

[MacInTO]

Buy this, http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Force...TF8&qid=1463337152&sr=8-11&keywords=480gb+ssd

Read this, https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...skeptical-but-relieved.1970270/#post-22855169

 

[a-m-k]

There may be something in the Safari settings or some other software issue. However, you really do need to get your hardware issues resolved first.

As I mentioned earlier, it would help if you have information on your memory situation. An easier way than what I suggested earlier is to do the following:
1) Press Spotlight icon in the upper right of the screen - it looks like a magnifying glass.
2) Enter in "activity monitor" and press the return key.
3) A window will come up and at the top will be a set of tabs. Press the "Memory" tab.
4) Post the numbers you see at the bottom for: "Physical Memory", "Memory Used" and "Swap Used".

You should do this after you've opened up Safari and done the things you usually do when you use Safari.

When your system is slow, run both the Blackmagic test and do the steps above and the results. A comparison between what happens when the system is running "normally" (your HDD is certainly not normal now) and when it slows down would be helpful. But post the memory information now - that would be helpful.

Memory:
Physical Memory:4.00 GB
Memory Used: 2.73 GB
App Memory: 1.42 MB
Wired Memory: 950.3 MB
Compressed 404.7 MB

 

[treekram]

You didn't post the Swap figure but that's probably 0. It's good that you posted the Compressed figure.

If the memory usage you posted is typical of how you're using the computer, it is not at the point where it would cause a critical performance issue. However, it is showing that the OS is a bit concerned about the memory usage, that's why you have 404MB of compressed memory. It also takes some computer resources to do the memory compression and if you're browsing while it's doing the memory compression, you might have a performance hit (it shouldn't be a big one). Right now, on my two Macs that I'm currently have running, I have 0 compressed memory.

In the Activity Monitor, there is an "Memory Pressure" graph. If it's green, everything is OK. Red means you are taking a serious performance hit because of (in your case) a lack of memory. Yellow is something in-between.

So, in an either-or case, your HDD needs replacement, the memory situation is OK, but not optimal. 8GB memory, which would be nice, would be in the $30-$40 range.

 

[treekram]

My advice in the previous post may not be valid. I hadn't done this before - what I did is I tracked the memory usage as I went through typical web browsing that I do. I opened up Firefox and Safari and opened up tabs to the websites as I usually do. Going through a typical cycle I used up to 5GB more of memory. I'm back to pretty much the original websites I had and I'm still up 2GB of memory.

So - the moral of my tale is that you probably need to watch your memory usage over a period of time as you do your web browsing instead of just opening the browser to the web sites you typically visit. In the Activity Monitor, you can watch the "Memory Pressure" graph and see if it goes to yellow/red - you don't need to record the numbers. Certain websites will take a lot of memory. If your usage was similar to mine (using 5GB more memory as web browsing progressed), your computer would become very slow because you would run out of memory and then the OS would start to use your very slow disk to augment the memory pool.

There are things that you can do to reduce memory usage - don't use multiple browsers - you probably don't but that's something one shouldn't do if one has 4GB of memory. Safari seems pretty good about freeing memory if you close the tab/window (if you use separate windows instead of tabs) that was consuming a lot of memory.

 

[a-m-k]

don't use multiple browsers

Did you mean don't have an additional browser besides Safari, or don't have more than one tab open on whatever browser you are using?

 

[treekram]

Did you mean don't have an additional browser besides Safari, or don't have more than one tab open on whatever browser you are using?

If you only have 4GB (like you do) or are otherwise memory-constrained, it's best not to use multiple browsers (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc.). I want to do more testing on memory usage in browsers.

It used to be that people felt safe in recommending relatively low-end systems if a user's main use of a computer was web browsing. But a lot of websites now do require more in the way of computer resources. Whether or not you have enough memory can best be answered by checking the memory usage (the Memory Pressure graph), especially when you feel system response is slow.

 

[a-m-k]

Everything was fine. I just have to reset system caches and once in awhile shut off my MBP COMPLELY after use in the morning.

 

[treekram]

I'm glad things are working out for you. You have a less than optimal situation with your memory (4GB) and slower-than-usual HDD. The good news is that those issues can be fixed. If you decide to upgrade or if the HDD fails and you need advice, you can come back here but it'll probably be better to start a new thread at that point.

 

[a-m-k]

I just spent a very long time talking with applecare got problems fixed and I need to either reformat my external hard drive or get a new one. I don't know how to reformat, so we'll see.
[doublepost=1467149179][/doublepost]My MBP is pretty close (if not exactly) to factory perfection. I was talking to apple for nearly two hours today and all I have to now is either reformat a full external hard drive or get a new one.

is AWSOME! I wish I bought their products years ago. (When I was a teenager.) My problem took less than 24 hours to correct. I had to have a call back today because I called so late yesterday.)

 

[treekram]

I just spent a very long time talking with applecare got problems fixed and I need to either reformat my external hard drive or get a new one. I don't know how to reformat, so we'll see.
[doublepost=1467149179][/doublepost]My MBP is pretty close (if not exactly) to factory perfection. I was talking to apple for nearly two hours today and all I have to now is either reformat a full external hard drive or get a new one.

is AWSOME! I wish I bought their products years ago. (When I was a teenager.) My problem took less than 24 hours to correct. I had to have a call back today because I called so late yesterday.)

Good to hear. Well, you know the drill. If you need advice on what to do, we're here to help. I think a reformat won't help much, if at all. If you don't want to open up your computer to replace the drive and don't want to pay somebody to do it and don't mind having an external drive, that's a good option. 1TB external drives are about $60, 2TB are about $90. They will be about 4-5x faster than your existing drive. I think you should go through your list of acquaintances to see if there's anybody that can do the replacement for free or help you in doing the replacement. Internal HDD's actually usually aren't cheaper than external drives but it's much more convenient than the external drive.

 

[a-m-k]

Good to hear. Well, you know the drill. If you need advice on what to do, we're here to help. I think a reformat won't help much, if at all. If you don't want to open up your computer to replace the drive and don't want to pay somebody to do it and don't mind having an external drive, that's a good option. 1TB external drives are about $60, 2TB are about $90. They will be about 4-5x faster than your existing drive. I think you should go through your list of acquaintances to see if there's anybody that can do the replacement for free or help you in doing the replacement. Internal HDD's actually usually aren't cheaper than external drives but it's much more convenient than the external drive.

I was trying to set up my external hard drive on my own. I couldn't do it. (It's my first one from my first MBP.) I had it set up before on this MBP, but I don't know how to set it up right with the current OS X I have. (OS X El Capitan 10.11.5) I think I am getting a new external hard drive anyway. We'll see.

 

[treekram]

I was trying to set up my external hard drive on my own. I couldn't do it. (It's my first one from my first MBP.) I had it set up before on this MBP, but I don't know how to set it up right with the current OS X I have. (OS X El Capitan 10.11.5) I think I am getting a new external hard drive anyway. We'll see.

When/if you get the external drive, format it for the Mac OS (most drives will be formatted for Windows or a DOS variant that works sub-optimally with either Windows or OSX). Then I would suggest using CCC to clone the disk. I don't use it but many people on the forums here do and swear by it. You should be able to just choose an option or two and let the software do the work. This is easier than doing an OSX install and migration (presuming your new drive has the same or larger capacity than your existing drive - 500MB, correct?). There's a free trial period so you can use it do clone the disk without having to pay for it. If you think you'll need it the future, you can purchase the software. https://bombich.com/

 

[a-m-k]

When/if you get the external drive, format it for the Mac OS (most drives will be formatted for Windows or a DOS variant that works sub-optimally with either Windows or OSX). Then I would suggest using CCC to clone the disk. I don't use it but many people on the forums here do and swear by it. You should be able to just choose an option or two and let the software do the work. This is easier than doing an OSX install and migration (presuming your new drive has the same or larger capacity than your existing drive - 500MB, correct?). There's a free trial period so you can use it do clone the disk without having to pay for it. If you think you'll need it the future, you can purchase the software. https://bombich.com/

I just got TimeMachine to work right. I had to reformat my external hard drive. I guess I work better when I am not distracted. It was the perfect atmosphere to do something that I never really did on my own before. No distractions.

 

[a-m-k]

I ran the black magic test again after cleaning out things with CleanMyMac3 and Macbooster3. Things aren't perfect but they seem a little better. I know I am going to get the new drive someday, but when is the answer.... I want to make sure I have someone who knows a things or two about quality of the product. I have seen a few nice SSD's.

 

[treekram]

That latest Blackmagic results show your disk running at the speed I would expect it to - it's much better than the earlier results you had. The original 1TB HDD in my 2012 Mini (I have both an SSD and HDD) runs at about the same speed. I haven't read much of the huge thread on SSD's but what I find is that once the SSD is up and running, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the name-brand SSD's in terms of longevity. Part of that is the SSD use is still relatively new so the jury's still out. However, Samsung offers the longest warranties. There are big differences in performances between different models but it's not clear how much the user will notice these in everyday use. If you're willing to spend the money for a Samsung 850 Evo, that's the product you should get. If want to save some money, there are trade-offs in cost, performance and warranty. For my 2012 MBP, I got a couple of 250GB 850 Evo's back in December when they were about $15 cheaper than they are now. Recently, I bought a 480GB Crucial/Micron M500 for a Mini I use as a DVR which was about $45 cheaper than an 850 Evo would have been. The M500 isn't a current model and the warranty comes from the seller, not Crucial. As I said - tradeoffs.

 

[a-m-k]

I'm posting this question here since it might actually be related to my previous problems. Apparently my iTunes is all screwed up. I choose one song and it plays something different. I don't know what happened. Any advice?

Thank you.

 

[a-m-k]

I'm posting this question here since it might actually be related to my previous problems. Apparently my iTunes is all screwed up. I choose one song and it plays something different. I don't know what happened. Any advice?

Thank you.

Apparently, it's just where I originally have my iTunes library stored on iTunes. I made a new playlist to exclude certain songs I didn't want and I'm playing a song right now. It is correctly titled. Not that it matters because I didn't want to stop what I was doing to change the song that I never wanted. Anyone else notice this?

 

[mildocjr]

Seems a bit weird. Try closing (cmd + q) iTunes and reopening it to see if it fixes the library. If that doesn't work, you could try deleting your iTunes library file, not the music folder, then reimporting all of your files. It could just be a corrupt database. The easiest way to do this is to grab all of your music files, move them to your desktop, delete the iTunes library file, then drop them all into automatically add to iTunes folder inside of the iTunes directory. It will take some time depending on how many files you have but it should fix any of these issues.

About replacing your hard drive, I strongly suggest getting an SSD, it will make the migration go a bit faster and will speed up your computer so much it will be faster than it was brand new. If it isn't you probably have a much more serious hardware issue than a hard drive.

If the drive crashes on you, a good way to try and recover it is to pull it out, put it in a plastic ziplock bag, pull the air out of it and as much moisture as possible then put it in the freezer for about an hour. It's a temporary fix for dire situations. I'd only copy back the stuff that you absolutely want such as the desktop, documents, and media folders, nothing else.

 

[a-m-k]

Apparently I can't go to my iTunes play list no matter what one I have up, I have two...the one that has all the bought albums or songs and one that I created excluding certain songs, and select what song I want to play first. What I don't understand is why it jumps to a new song rather than just staying on the song I happen to choose first.