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Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13" Awfully Slow
- Thread starter mr99
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Because components fail and you may have just happened to get a bad HDD. Doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it's a Mac. Apple doesn't make HDDs, they use the same OEMs as the PC manufacturers.
Although after reading your original post again, the fact that your experience improves when you're logged in to a different user account makes me think you've got a software problem.
I am sorry but re-installing and even reformatting is a common approach by the Genius bar.
Get an external drive if you do not have one. Back everything up. Do not use timemachine, manually get the files you need. If I were you, and what I did was, I had 2 external hard drives. 1 for manual back ups, and 1 for time machine. I say do the manual one first because it is easier IMO to get the files you want back.
Format the computer and re-install from scratch what you want.
Once formatted and OSX is installed, the computer should be lightning fast. Re-install all your programs. Restart a couple times. The computer should still be fast. Install the programs 1 at a time and test the computer out. This will help determine if one of the apps you install is causing issues. Lastly, put all your files you want back on.
Now your computer should be very snappy.
Post back with the results.
I really want to avoid doing the manual process in fear of losing valuable data/pictures/etc. I can think of one thing that may be slowing down my computer - at one time I installed a photoshop suite of products to run a trial, the trial expired and i'm kind of confused as how to delete all of that software.
But this s/w is located on the computer and not a specific profile so wouldn't it slow down my profile and the "guest" profile as well?
But this s/w is located on the computer and not a specific profile so wouldn't it slow down my profile and the "guest" profile as well?
Fresh install the OS. Don't believe other posters here stating that its not necessary, doesn't work, or only applies to Windows. I've done it to multiple Macs and the machine is like new again.
What you do is:
1. Clone to external disk
2. USB boot Mavericks
3. Delete internal drive via disk utility
4. Install Mavericks
5. Use migration assistant to transfer files only. Do not transfer other files, settings, or apps.
6. Reinstall your apps manually and set up all of your network settings.
If you want to uninstall photoshop, you have to use its uninstall utility. Afterwards you can use the Adobe CS cleaner app to find any remaining files.
What you do is:
1. Clone to external disk
2. USB boot Mavericks
3. Delete internal drive via disk utility
4. Install Mavericks
5. Use migration assistant to transfer files only. Do not transfer other files, settings, or apps.
6. Reinstall your apps manually and set up all of your network settings.
If you want to uninstall photoshop, you have to use its uninstall utility. Afterwards you can use the Adobe CS cleaner app to find any remaining files.
This was pretty light usage for me, most of the time i'm running iTunes, Safari, multiple safari tabs, sometimes iPhoto, Mail
No, it does not. But it seems to be the easiest way of doing it. I am pretty use to it now and it is quick for me to do.
initial it is a headache. after the third time, it is second nature.
I'm going to agree with the others and say get the SSD. But you could also have a faulty SATA cable. It's not unknown for people to install an SSD and find performance as bad or worse than before, yet the same SSD works well enough in an external enclosure. SATA cable replacement often fixes those problems.
But I'm getting so used to the responsiveness of an SSD equipped notebook, I hate using anything with a spinning disk drive these days, so even if your SATA cable was faulty I'd say replace the cable and get the SSD.
But I'm getting so used to the responsiveness of an SSD equipped notebook, I hate using anything with a spinning disk drive these days, so even if your SATA cable was faulty I'd say replace the cable and get the SSD.
Those tasks should give you zero issues with 4GB of ram. I have a 4GB rMBP and with Safari(10 or more tabs), Spotify, iphoto, Word, Excel, and sometimes iMovie, I still have less memory pressure than your graph showed.
Upgrade to an SSD. Everything will be better.
Ok, i'm pretty convinced I'm going to get an SSD. Now to figure out the details. I'm using around 250GB of my HDD right now, there are lots of photos in folders, wedding photos, etc, among my big iPhoto library.
Do I get an SSD and add it to the disc drive slot and run certain things off of it (if so, which things and how do I do that and also does time machine back up 2 drives?). Or do I get a 256 or 512GB SSD and keep all of my stuff on the one SSD with my time machine external backing it up?
What is the best deal on an SSD that's not junk? Preferably something I can buy on Amazon as I have points and Amex offers right now.
Do I get an SSD and add it to the disc drive slot and run certain things off of it (if so, which things and how do I do that and also does time machine back up 2 drives?). Or do I get a 256 or 512GB SSD and keep all of my stuff on the one SSD with my time machine external backing it up?
What is the best deal on an SSD that's not junk? Preferably something I can buy on Amazon as I have points and Amex offers right now.
Have you taken a look in Console (found in the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder)? Look for long strings of error type messages from an application or process. This can help point you to some software issues.
Because your machine works well on a different user account, I'm inclined to think that it is a software related issue, but tracking it down does require time. By doing a backup and reinstalling a clone on a new drive, the SSD may operate fast enough to hide the issue, but if it is truly a software issue, it may still be there and still have a less significant impact on performance.
As far as configuration is concerned, I would keep all data on the SSD, if possible, as it's the simplest solution. If an SSD with a large enough capacity is out of the budget, I would try to keep data that you don't need regular access to on an external drive. If that doesn't work, there is always the option of moving your internal drive to the optical bay and having dual internal drives.
The drive that I'm eying at the moment is the Crucial MX100 256GB SSD. It seems to be a great balance between performance and price.
Based on your usage, I don't really see a need to upgrade your RAM.
Because your machine works well on a different user account, I'm inclined to think that it is a software related issue, but tracking it down does require time. By doing a backup and reinstalling a clone on a new drive, the SSD may operate fast enough to hide the issue, but if it is truly a software issue, it may still be there and still have a less significant impact on performance.
As far as configuration is concerned, I would keep all data on the SSD, if possible, as it's the simplest solution. If an SSD with a large enough capacity is out of the budget, I would try to keep data that you don't need regular access to on an external drive. If that doesn't work, there is always the option of moving your internal drive to the optical bay and having dual internal drives.
The drive that I'm eying at the moment is the Crucial MX100 256GB SSD. It seems to be a great balance between performance and price.
Based on your usage, I don't really see a need to upgrade your RAM.
If cost isn't a concern, just get a SSD large enough to hold all of your data. It's much easier that way.
But am also thinking that maybe before buying the SSD to try the fresh install.
I have a 1TB external that contains all of my time machine backups, i'm thinking of wiping that external drive and cloning my internal HDD to the external then going through the wipe of the internal drive and re-install then ultimately bring over my folders with pictures. Is it easy to bring over an iTunes library and iPhoto library? THose 3 things are of the utmost importance to me - my picture folders that contain important pics from my DSLR & wedding photos, then my iPhoto library containing all of my iPhone photos then lastly my iTunes library of music.
Help please, if I can go the easy route without buying anything first, i'd like to try that and see how it goes. SSD will be #2.
I have a 1TB external that contains all of my time machine backups, i'm thinking of wiping that external drive and cloning my internal HDD to the external then going through the wipe of the internal drive and re-install then ultimately bring over my folders with pictures. Is it easy to bring over an iTunes library and iPhoto library? THose 3 things are of the utmost importance to me - my picture folders that contain important pics from my DSLR & wedding photos, then my iPhoto library containing all of my iPhone photos then lastly my iTunes library of music.
Help please, if I can go the easy route without buying anything first, i'd like to try that and see how it goes. SSD will be #2.
Will the clone make a copy of both of my user profiles? I use iPhoto on my wifes profile to backup her iPhone photos and I use iPhoto on my profile to backup my iPhone photos. I'm cloning my HDD to my external right now and also making a time machine backup to a different partition on the external with the 3rd partition holding my backup photos and music folders.
Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13" Awfully Slow
I use CCC to clone and it should clone both users. After you're done cloning, USB boot the drive and log into each profile to check that they're both working. You can also check iPhoto on both accounts.
Forgot to mention that you don't have to uninstall photoshop if you're doing a fresh install of Mavericks.
I use CCC to clone and it should clone both users. After you're done cloning, USB boot the drive and log into each profile to check that they're both working. You can also check iPhoto on both accounts.
Forgot to mention that you don't have to uninstall photoshop if you're doing a fresh install of Mavericks.
USB boot the computer off of the cloned copy on my external? I set it up as apple partition map and I don't think I can boot off of that?
I'm very very close to pulling the trigger on the samsung 840 EVO 500GB SSD in which i'm going to install and follow this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1696272/
My computer seems to be running better now since I started tinkering with stuff but I think in order to future proof it, I should get this larger SSD even though i'm only using 250GB on my current HDD. I want to keep this macbook for awhile.
Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13" Awfully Slow
If you cloned it via CCC you can boot it via USB even if it's a partition. To usb boot the external clone, restart your Mac with the clone attached, hold the command key until the optional bootable drives pop up. Select the clone drive.
Remember that you're usb booting the clone to verify everything is working before you wipe the original drive. If you're buying an SSD to replace the internal drive, there's no need to clone because the drive you pull out is your copy to move over to the SSD.
If you cloned it via CCC you can boot it via USB even if it's a partition. To usb boot the external clone, restart your Mac with the clone attached, hold the command key until the optional bootable drives pop up. Select the clone drive.
Remember that you're usb booting the clone to verify everything is working before you wipe the original drive. If you're buying an SSD to replace the internal drive, there's no need to clone because the drive you pull out is your copy to move over to the SSD.
You have to use GUID Partition Table. Intel-based Macs can only boot off GPT, while PowerPC-based Macs can only boot off APM.
I ordered the SSD last night and will have it tomorrow night. I bought an enclosure so I can keep my current HDD as a backup and will store it away.
I need to not only transfer over my folders with photos and music but also the iPhoto library, is there a how-to somewhere or how can I move that over? Is it held inside of a folder somewhere?