System running slow, not sure where to look next

[Mal]

I should preface this by saying that I have quite a bit of experience in troubleshooting Apple computers, but somehow I'm at a loss on my own computer. Certain operations are running extremely slow, primarily involving disk access. I most often notice this when browsing folders in the Finder, or in Open/Save dialog boxes. I'd think my drive was beginning to fail, but this has actually been going on for a long time, and I'm just now getting around to asking the forum for help. I've run DiskWarrior, I've done reinstalls and clean installs, I've repaired permissions a hundred times, and nothing seems to have any affect. I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this when I first got this drive, though.

Some specs for reference:
MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E53)
500GB WD5000BEVT Hard Drive (36.5GB free currently, but usually 75-100GB free)

GGJstudios, I've already run through every single step in the tutorial you usually post in these threads, which were helpful for some parts of this, but didn't solve the issue I mentioned above.

jW

 

[simsaladimbamba]

You can use the following applications to benchmark the speed of your HDD / SSD, to see, if it is the culprit:

• AJA System Test
• Blackmagic Disk Speed Test
• Xbench

 

[ezramoore]

Might be worth checking the SMART parameters of the disk. Could be a controller error, among other things. SMART is nice because it provides a sort of trend analysis.

 

[Mal]

Thanks. Tried the first two apps there, they both gave me an average of 50-60MB/s for both read and write (write was generally a bit slower, but not much). That should be acceptable, especially for simply browsing files in the Finder. I did the first test normally, then the second test with all other applications quit, including some of my background applications that might be accessing the disk, and it didn't make much difference (~10MB/s difference, but that just made it hit the lower end of the range I mentioned).

jW

 

[AFPoster]

Mal I have the same issues except mines the 15" early 2011 macbook pro. Had my hard drive dongle (connects the drive to logic board) replaced and next will be the logic board and hard drive. From what I understand a lot of early 2011 mbp's that had snow leopard pre-installed are having these issues.

 

[Mal]

Mal I have the same issues except mines the 15" early 2011 macbook pro. Had my hard drive dongle (connects the drive to logic board) replaced and next will be the logic board and hard drive. From what I understand a lot of early 2011 mbp's that had snow leopard pre-installed are having these issues.

Hmm, perhaps I could do that. I work for an Apple Authorized Service Center so it'd be an easy thing to do (I can order the parts under warranty myself and do the work whenever I like). I'll probably do just that unless something else solves it before I get the chance.

jW

 

[Mal]

Mal I have the same issues except mines the 15" early 2011 macbook pro. Had my hard drive dongle (connects the drive to logic board) replaced and next will be the logic board and hard drive. From what I understand a lot of early 2011 mbp's that had snow leopard pre-installed are having these issues.

OK... so I replaced the cable and ran the test again... and hit 2.1MB/s this time max. Since that seemed absurdly slow, I ran it again a minute later, and got back up to about 39MB/s that time, which is still slower than I had seen before. I'm not sure what to make of this... (may swap back in the original cable and check again just to see). I think I should be easily able to swap in another drive and test as well, will report back if I get the chance to try that.

jW

 

[simsaladimbamba]

50 to 60 MB/s is not absurdly slow, but most modern 2.5" 5.400 RPM S-ATA HDDs offer 75 to 85 MB/s.

 

[Mal]

50 to 60 MB/s is not absurdly slow, but most modern 2.5" 5.400 RPM S-ATA HDDs offer 75 to 85 MB/s.

Yeah, like I said, I don't think the transfer rates that are being reported are bad. What is bad is that my system is running so absurdly slow at what seems to be disk read activities. Just a few minutes ago, when I opened my Applications folder, it took about 2 minutes before it listed any of the contents of the folder. While I have 297 applications, it shouldn't take anywhere near that long to display the items in the folder.

jW

 

[AFPoster]

OK... so I replaced the cable and ran the test again... and hit 2.1MB/s this time max. Since that seemed absurdly slow, I ran it again a minute later, and got back up to about 39MB/s that time, which is still slower than I had seen before. I'm not sure what to make of this... (may swap back in the original cable and check again just to see). I think I should be easily able to swap in another drive and test as well, will report back if I get the chance to try that.

jW

What app are you using to test those speeds? The one I use keeps me around 15-20mbps and I have the 750gb 5400rpm drive

 

[Mal]

What app are you using to test those speeds? The one I use keeps me around 15-20mbps and I have the 750gb 5400rpm drive

That seems quite slow. I'm using the Blackmagic Disk Speed test linked earlier in this thread. I also tried the AJA System Test in that same post, which yielded similar results.

jW