Reinstalling Clean OSX Question

[harleymhs]

Good Morning Guys,. My wife has an Imac that is running ..Yosemite Late 2013 21.5 Imac. System is running slow, safari running slow etc.. I tried reinstalling the OSX without formatting and erasing.. the HD.. Got a bit better but still sluggish.

Question .. If I format and erase and start OVER with NEW OSX.. If I restore from the TM back up will it put crap on top of the fresh install.. ( if the problem was in the old back up ) will it put it back on the fresh install?

thanks in advance..

 

[G4DPII]

If you do a complete restore from time machine the HD will just be exactly the same as the last time it backed up.

Safest way to try and solve the issue, is erase the HD and re-install. Create a time machine back up of the completely fresh install.

Then slowly start to re-install all the software and transfer the files. Do time machine back ups as you go. It is slightly long winded and does take time, at least if it slows down again. You don't have to go through the whole erase and install process again, just restore from the last known point before the slow down took place.

 

[komatsu]

when you say NEW OS X I'm unsure of what you mean?

It is important to check the capacity of your HDD also, a HDD reaching full capacity will cause drastic slowness
regardless of OS.

 

[NoBoMac]

I'd pull up Activity Monitor first to see if any process is runnng away re: processor, memory before wiping. Just might find the culprit that way and uninstall/disable just that.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Yosemite Late 2013 21.5 Imac. System is running slow, safari running slow etc.. I tried reinstalling the OSX without formatting and erasing.. the HD.. Got a bit better but still sluggish."

VERY important questions:
What kind of DRIVE is inside the iMac?
Is it just a platter-based hard drive?
Or something else?

IF the answer is "platter based hard drive", then THAT is "your problem".
Reinstalling the OS isn't going to help much.

Fastest, easiest, cheapest, safest way to TRANSFORM the iMac into a much better performer:
Buy an external USB3 SSD, plug it in, initialize to HFS+, and install the OS on it.
(or use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone over" your existing install to it).

Something like this would do fine:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZTRY532?tag=delt-20
Either 500gb or 250gb, both would do the job.

Just use velcro and attach it to the back of the iMac's stand, out of the way.

Again, this will TRANSFORM an iMac with a platter-based drive.

 

[harleymhs]

OP wrote:
"Yosemite Late 2013 21.5 Imac. System is running slow, safari running slow etc.. I tried reinstalling the OSX without formatting and erasing.. the HD.. Got a bit better but still sluggish."

VERY important questions:
What kind of DRIVE is inside the iMac?
Is it just a platter-based hard drive?
Or something else?

IF the answer is "platter based hard drive", then THAT is "your problem".
Reinstalling the OS isn't going to help much.

Fastest, easiest, cheapest, safest way to TRANSFORM the iMac into a much better performer:
Buy an external USB3 SSD, plug it in, initialize to HFS+, and install the OS on it.
(or use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone over" your existing install to it).

Something like this would do fine:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZTRY532?tag=delt-20
Either 500gb or 250gb, both would do the job.

Just use velcro and attach it to the back of the iMac's stand, out of the way.

Again, this will TRANSFORM an iMac with a platter-based drive.

It does have a regular HD in it.. not SSD ! I hear whatbunare saying but if I install the OS on an external SSD USB3 Drive won't that be slow as well being its using USB 3 to run the OS ?
I do have a USB3 SSD what's the best way to get the OS installed onto that ? Can I use my internal HD for storage ?

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

No it will be much, much faster than the molasses like internal platter drive. Like all fisherman, the fisho might stretch his arms showing how big the fish are, but never misleads with Macs..

See if you can update the operating system to El Capitan OS X.11, or even Sierra OS X.12. Yosemite is no longer supported by Apple.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"if I install the OS on an external SSD USB3 Drive won't that be slow as well being its using USB 3 to run the OS ?"

Download BlackMagic Speed Test (free from the Apple Store).
Then, run it on your iMac as it is now.
What kind of read/write speeds do you get?

With a USB3 SSD (like the one I linked to above), you should see reads of 420-420mbps and writes at 300mbps or better.

Will that be enough of a difference for you?

 

[harleymhs]

OP wrote:
"if I install the OS on an external SSD USB3 Drive won't that be slow as well being its using USB 3 to run the OS ?"

Download BlackMagic Speed Test (free from the Apple Store).
Then, run it on your iMac as it is now.
What kind of read/write speeds do you get?

With a USB3 SSD (like the one I linked to above), you should see reads of 420-420mbps and writes at 300mbps or better.

Will that be enough of a difference for you?

[doublepost=1515365983][/doublepost]
This is a Problem! LOL

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Try an external USB3 SSD as a boot drive.
I predict you will be very VERY happy with the results.
If you DO try it, post back here with your impressions, ok...?

 

[harleymhs]

OP:

Try an external USB3 SSD as a boot drive.
I predict you will be very VERY happy with the results.
If you DO try it, post back here with your impressions, ok...?

Making the CCC clone now.. Installing it on a Samsung 500GB T3 SSD USB 3.0 . Ill report back when complete!

 

[harleymhs]

OP:

Try an external USB3 SSD as a boot drive.
I predict you will be very VERY happy with the results.
If you DO try it, post back here with your impressions, ok...?

Good Morning ! Ok, Cloned the HD with CCC onto the Samsung T3 SSD.. Booted from that drive and now the SYSTEM is LIGHTNING FAST! Amazing how responsive it is! Now.. If I hook up my external Time Machine Back up will TM back up the External SSD for the back up?

Thanks for ALL your Replies!

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Ok, Cloned the HD with CCC onto the Samsung T3 SSD.. Booted from that drive and now the SYSTEM is LIGHTNING FAST! Amazing how responsive it is! Now.. If I hook up my external Time Machine Back up will TM back up the External SSD for the back up?"

Here's one more example of the improvement that "moving to an external USB3 SSD" can make for someone.

And... yes... you can re-designate the SSD to become your source drive for Time Machine.

However... I suggest CCC as the better backup strategy.
You've already seen how well it works.

Here's what I'd suggest:
- Partition the internal drive into 2 partitions
- Make the FIRST partition the same size as the t3
- Let the second partition use whatever space is left.
- NOW... use CCC to create and keep a backup of the SSD on the first partition.
- Use the other partition for whatever you desire.

WHY this is desirable:
The old internal HDD now becomes "your bootable cloned backup".
It's both a backup AND a "second boot source" if you need one (and eventually we ALL need one).
Just update the cloned backup at regular intervals. Once daily will probably do fine.
Or even once or twice a week.

 

[harleymhs]

OP wrote:
"Ok, Cloned the HD with CCC onto the Samsung T3 SSD.. Booted from that drive and now the SYSTEM is LIGHTNING FAST! Amazing how responsive it is! Now.. If I hook up my external Time Machine Back up will TM back up the External SSD for the back up?"

Here's one more example of the improvement that "moving to an external USB3 SSD" can make for someone.

And... yes... you can re-designate the SSD to become your source drive for Time Machine.

However... I suggest CCC as the better backup strategy.
You've already seen how well it works.

Here's what I'd suggest:
- Partition the internal drive into 2 partitions
- Make the FIRST partition the same size as the t3
- Let the second partition use whatever space is left.
- NOW... use CCC to create and keep a backup of the SSD on the first partition.
- Use the other partition for whatever you desire.

WHY this is desirable:
The old internal HDD now becomes "your bootable cloned backup".
It's both a backup AND a "second boot source" if you need one (and eventually we ALL need one).
Just update the cloned backup at regular intervals. Once daily will probably do fine.
Or even once or twice a week.

[doublepost=1515517164][/doublepost]
Sounds like a PLAN to me...USE the internal drive for the CCC back up and the other 1/2 of the partition as storage.. So do not use the time machine as the back up? Will CCC do increment back ups? Ill have to play with that! Thank you for ALL your advise!