My mac book pro is running slow

[fullfloridiancj]

I have a mid 2009 intel core2 duo 2.53 ghz 13 inch mac book pro it has 4 gigs of ram and 50 gigs of space left on a 250 gig hardrive.

this mac has all of my iTunes collection stored on it as well as a ****** program called missing sync to keep track of old text messages. (I hate this program, never buy it) anyhow My mac is running slow and crucial .com says I can upgrade to 8 gigs of ram. (it currently holds 4 gigs)

Do you think I should do it?
Will it really make everything open faster and be speeder?
Or is it a waste of time considering its a core 2 duo and the fact that the hardrive is pretty much crammed?

Also is there anyway to .... lets say back everything up to time machine on a portable hardrive and allow it to boot up when the hardrive is connected. But completely wipe my currently hardive and make it seemingly brand new?

also this computer is running snow leopard

Thanks

 

[-aggie-]

Snip…. anyhow My mac is running slow and crucial .com says I can upgrade to 8 gigs of ram. (it currently holds 4 gigs)

Do you think I should do it?
Will it really make everything open faster and be speeder?
Or is it a waste of time considering its a core 2 duo and the fact that the hardrive is pretty much crammed?
Snip

Installing more RAM can only help, and as cheap as it is, why not do it.

Snip

Also is there anyway to .... lets say back everything up to time machine on a portable hardrive and allow it to boot up when the hardrive is connected. But completely wipe my currently hardive and make it seemingly brand new?
Snip

Best thing to do is use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the drive to a portable and then copy the clone back to the hard drive, which will wipe the drive while doing this.

 

[fullfloridiancj]

and how is CCC better than time machine ?

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also I have a widget that tells me how much ram is being used at a given time and it says Im only using 1.5 gigs with 2.5 unused. I find this strange considering I opened up mail, safari, iphoto, and itunes at the same time. Will the extra ram cause things like safari and itunes to open quicker. And have less lag time?

 

[thinkinblue613]

I would definitely upgrade the RAM. They're very affordable these days.

 

[hakuin]

Cheap as it is, if you are only using 1.5 GB out of 4 GB of ram now then I can't see 8 GB making much difference.

Also, 50 GB out of 250 GB is enough empty space. About 15% is recommended to prevent slowing.

Upgrading the HD would definitely made software open quicker. An SSD or even just a quicker HDD (7200 rpm rather than 5400 rpm) are options there.

But, perhaps something is hogging your cpu making things run slow? Try opening Activity Monitor, selecting All Processes and keeping an eye on the numbers during regular use.

Also, there is this guide:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/13817005/

Time machine backs up files, CCC can be used to clone your whole drive intact and bootable.

 

[thinkinblue613]

I second the SSD upgrade. Might as well get the RAM too, for good measures.

 

[And1ss]

You might want to consider running Disk Warrior and re optimizing your directories.

Oh and adding more ram would help too!

 

[fullfloridiancj]

what should I look for while activity monotor is running ?
most of the "% cpu" is running at 0 except for something named loginwindow that changes from 0 ro 3.8

while the thread numbers fluctuate from 5 to 21 (i have no idea what a thread number is)

system memory (ram) confirms that 1.08 gigs with 2.92 gigs left over


as for carbon copy cloner, it sounds pretty cool. no one wants to search for files if their drive dies. It sounds better than time machine

Thanks for the help guys, its appreciated

 

[snaky69]

what should I look for while activity monotor is running ?
most of the "% cpu" is running at 0 except for something named loginwindow that changes from 0 ro 3.8

while the thread numbers fluctuate from 5 to 21 (i have no idea what a thread number is)

system memory (ram) confirms that 1.08 gigs with 2.92 gigs left over


as for carbon copy cloner, it sounds pretty cool. no one wants to search for files if their drive dies. It sounds better than time machine

Thanks for the help guys, its appreciated

According to what you say, you don't need anymore RAM, don't waste your money.

It could be a number of things that are slowing your computer down, anything from a software problem which could be fixed by an OS reinstall or something more serious like a dying hard drive.

 

[fullfloridiancj]

so if i were to use carbon copy cloner. could all programs be reinstalled exactly they way they are now after a new hardrive and a reboot?

 

[snaky69]

so if i were to use carbon copy cloner. could all programs be reinstalled exactly they way they are now after a new hardrive and a reboot?

That's exactly what carbon copy cloner is for. It makes an exact copy of your data, no matter what said data is.

 

[AlexH]

You could always grab CCleaner from the App Store too. Might help a little.