MacBook Pro suddenly running slow

[anouka]

Hi all,
A few weeks ago, my MBP seemed like it really slowed down - at the time I attributed it to adding a lot of music at once from an old external drive (from an older mac, so I don't think there could have been anything sketchy about it) and coming close to filling up the memory, but since then I've freed up about 15GB of space. I shut it down about every other night, and repair disk permissions often (maybe once a week). Is there anything else I should be doing? Will updating the OS help or hurt most likely? Is there some chance this could be a virus? It seems to run normally when restarted, but by the end of the day really slow... I know this Mac is a little out of date, but I'd still really love to make it last a while longer.

Thanks for any advice!

MacBook Pro
Intel Core 2 Duo
2.53 GHz
OS X 10.6.8

 

[patsfreak1281]

i was kind of having the same issue up until yesterday when i went to an apple store near me. He plugged it in because i thought my HD was failing again. Said HD was good. Something wrong in one of the OS files. He just had to basically rewrite the HD and boot up like it was a brand new comp. Took 10 min and now it's running fast like the day i bought it

I like you was repairing permissions every other day ect. Mine was getting pretty sluggish

 

[aquilc]

If FileVault is turned on, turn it off. It doesn't work well with Yosemite. Forums are full up with FileVault issues, performance is one of them.

 

[MrGimper]

If FileVault is turned on, turn it off. It doesn't work well with Yosemite. Forums are full up with FileVault issues, performance is one of them.

On this model machine or in general? I've had no issues with it on my new rMBP.

 

[aquilc]

On this model machine or in general? I've had no issues with it on my new rMBP.

In forums, where I read about the issues, it wasn't mentioned any particular model.

Apperently the issue comes from a conflict between MAC OS X Yosemite and FileVault. Many of the users stated that they had issues with their computers after upgrading to Yosemite, and having FileVault turned on. After turning FileVault off, the issues were resolved.

My issue was that my Macbook Pro wasn't turning off whilst having less than 30% battery charge. The screen turns blank black, with the keyboard staying lid.

After a forced reboot, I turned off FileVault and the MAC started to shut down properly even with 30% battery charge and less.

 

[simonsi]

...since then I've freed up about 15GB of space....

Your HDD is still nearly full with 15GB of space, I'd guess you have a 300GB or larger drive? The reommendation is 10-15% free space minimum.

Go to Activity Monitor when it is running slow and see what is using CPU or Disk, either of those can make the machine seem slow or unresponsive.

 

[cjmillsnun]

If FileVault is turned on, turn it off. It doesn't work well with Yosemite. Forums are full up with FileVault issues, performance is one of them.

Please stop giving this crap advice.

Snow Leopard comes with FileVault 1. This doesn't offer whole disk encryption. Ergo it is very unlikely the OP is using it at all.

Looking at the age of the machine, it is quite likely that the hard drive is on its way out.