Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Late 2009 iMac suddenly crazy slow

M

ManuelGnR

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 4, 2008
164
0
Netherlands
I've got a 27'' iMac, late 2009 model. A few days ago, I suddenly experienced a slowness that is really extreme. I'm writing this from my MBA as the iMac has become unusable. For example: I'm trying to open system preferences right now, which is already taking a couple of minutes, I expect it to take 10 mins.

Just for clearness: this is not a ''my five year old iMac has gotten slower, how can I speed it up'' kind of thing. Sure I noticed some aging but this happened ''overnight''. It's also not heavy use, just opening basic programs like Safari or Mail can take multiple minutes, and ain't usable after that.

Specs:
27'', 1 TB, 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo, 16 GB ram (upgraded myself, the cheap kind), running Yosemite (which was working fine before).

What I've tried:
- I obviously have enough RAM
- I have enough free disk space (around 50 GB)
- Did a SMC reset
- Did a PRAM reset
- also deleted some stuff according to second source, will try more but takes ages to do as well.

atm I'm trying to edit start-up programs, also planning Verify Disk and reset printer system.

Sources used, a.o.:
http://machmachines.com/imac-running-slow-easy-common-fixes/ (aging iMacs kind of thing)
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3698221 (this seems to be my situation too)

If anyone has any good ideas or theories, they're much appreciated!
 
ManuelGnR said:
For example: I'm trying to open system preferences right now, which is already taking a couple of minutes, I expect it to take 10 mins.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you have not installed any hardware or software recently that may have caused this and it just started on its own?

What you are describing is the classic symptoms of a bad hard drive.
 
As the poster above said, these are classic symptoms of a dying spinning disk hard drive. If you haven't backed the computer up recently, do so now. If you can't do it with Time Machine because the machine is so slow, you can use a Linux live CD to copy individual folders to an external drive. Out of an abundance of caution, I'd avoid having it turned on unnecessarily.

You can also get a copy of DiskWarrior, which is really a great program for dealing with a dying hard drive. It can help copy stuff off of a failing drive. You can also use DW to test to see if your drive is actually failing, or if it's simply a seriously corrupt HFS situation (which DW would then be able to repair).
 
Weaselboy said:
I'm assuming you have not installed any hardware or software recently that may have caused this and it just started on its own?

What you are describing is the classic symptoms of a bad hard drive.
Click to expand...

I did install a program a few weeks ago, which I've deleted after this. All was fine after using that program.

So it seems I need a new HDD then.. It's also this model and generation that got a free HDD replacement 1 or 2 years back, but I was stupid enough not to do so, 'cause getting it to a store and back was quite a hassle. Luckily I have a Time Machine backup from 3 days ago, I haven't been able to use it since then anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back