Laura.troubled

Q: Late 2011 MacBook Pro is slow, backup and factory reset?

I feel my MacBook is at the end of its days. It runs so slow and I'm after a quicker more permanent solution (other than buying a brand new one).

 

My MacBook is running Yosemite version 10.10.5. I know this is pretty outdated but I'm nervous that if I update that the computer will run even slower. at it's current state anyway. If I backup using time machine, factory reset, and backup with time machine will I just reinstall the problem?

 

IS it better to back up personal files, data and photos myself, factory reset and hope for the best?

 

Laura

MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 3:18 PM

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Q: Late 2011 MacBook Pro is slow, backup and factory reset?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Laura.troubled,

    Laura.troubled Laura.troubled Sep 27, 2016 4:01 PM in response to Laura.troubled
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 27, 2016 4:01 PM in response to Laura.troubled

    I click on this Macintosh HD icon and am told I have 287GB of available space.Screen Shot 2016-09-28 at 8.57.41 am.png

    Then I click on this Macintosh HD icon and am told I have 19MB of free space.Screen Shot 2016-09-28 at 8.57.31 am.png

    I just really want my computer to be like new again with just my photos and documents back on it.

    If I backup and reinstall etc will my problem still be there? Should I try and free up space first? I'm pretty green when it comes to computers.

     

    Thanks again

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Sep 27, 2016 4:20 PM in response to Laura.troubled
    Level 9 (52,531 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 4:20 PM in response to Laura.troubled

    I have two late 2011 MBPs and both run very well, one with Mavericks installed and the other with El Capitan.  There should be no reason why your MBP should not be as fast and be as responsive as the day it came out of the box.

     

    Download and post an EtreCheck report:

     

    http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

     

    Ciao.

  • by Laura.troubled,

    Laura.troubled Laura.troubled Sep 27, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Laura.troubled
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 27, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Laura.troubled

    EtreCheck version: 3.0.5 (309)

    Report generated 2016-09-28 10:08:37

    Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

    Runtime 15:04

    Performance: Poor

     

    Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

    Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

     

    Problem: Computer is too slow

     

    Hardware Information:

        MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)

        [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

        MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1

        1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

        4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

            BANK 0/DIMM0

                2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

            BANK 1/DIMM0

                2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

        Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

        Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

        Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 521

     

    Video Information:

        Intel HD Graphics 3000

            Color LCD 1280 x 800

     

    System Software:

        OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 (14F27) - Time since boot: about 12 hours

     

    Disk Information:

        TOSHIBA MK5065GSXF disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

            EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

            Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 498.88 GB (288.06 GB free)

                Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

                Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online

     

        MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898   ()

     

    USB Information:

        Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

        Logitech USB Receiver

        Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

        Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

        Seagate BUP Slim BK 1 TB

            MAC OS Journaled (disk2s1) /Volumes/MAC OS Journaled : 900.23 GB (705.28 GB free)

            MS-DOS (FAT (disk2s2) /Volumes/MS-DOS (FAT : 99.97 GB (60.96 GB free)

        Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

     

    Thunderbolt Information:

        Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

     

    Gatekeeper:

        Mac App Store and identified developers

     

    Kernel Extensions:

            /Library/Application Support/Hotspot Shield

        [not loaded]    com.anchorfree.tun (1.1.1 - SDK 10.8 - 2016-02-03) [Support]

     

            /System/Library/Extensions

        [not loaded]    com.devguru.driver.SamsungComposite (1.4.31 - SDK 10.6 - 2016-09-27) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.nike.sportwatch (1.0.0 - 2016-09-27) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.2.6 (26913) - SDK 10.4 - 2016-09-27) [Support]

     

            /System/Library/Extensions/Seagate Storage Driver.kext/Contents/PlugIns

        [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.2.6 (26913) - SDK 10.4 - 2015-01-31) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.2.6 (26913) - SDK 10.5 - 2015-01-31) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.2.6 (26913) - SDK 10.4 - 2015-01-31) [Support]

     

            /System/Library/Extensions/ssuddrv.kext/Contents/PlugIns

        [not loaded]    com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMControl (1.4.31 - SDK 10.6 - 2015-03-02) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.devguru.driver.SamsungACMData (1.4.31 - SDK 10.6 - 2015-03-02) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.devguru.driver.SamsungMTP (1.4.31 - SDK 10.5 - 2015-03-02) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.devguru.driver.SamsungSerial (1.4.31 - SDK 10.6 - 2015-03-02) [Support]

     

    System Launch Agents:

        [not loaded]    5 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    145 Apple tasks

        [running]    50 Apple tasks

        [killed]    12 Apple tasks

        12 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

     

    System Launch Daemons:

        [running]    com.seagate.TBDecorator.plist (2013-10-12) [Support]

        [not loaded]    44 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    137 Apple tasks

        [running]    71 Apple tasks

        [killed]    11 Apple tasks

        11 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

     

    Launch Agents:

        [running]    com.nike.nikeplusconnect.plist (2015-10-10) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2014-09-11) [Support]

     

    Launch Daemons:

        [failed]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-04-16) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.anchorfree.ajaxserver.plist (2013-11-09) [Support]

        [running]    com.fitbit.galileod.plist (2015-10-30) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2011-03-10) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2014-09-11) [Support]

     

    User Launch Agents:

        [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2012-08-13) [Support]

        [failed]    com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist (2011-12-12)

        [loaded]    com.divx.agent.postinstall.plist (2011-12-14) [Support]

        [failed]    com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist (2014-08-10)

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-12) [Support]

        [running]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2016-09-27) [Support]

     

    Internet Plug-ins:

        FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-25) [Support]

        QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2015-09-16)

        AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.14 - SDK 10.6 (2016-01-19) [Support]

        AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.14 - SDK 10.6 (2016-01-19) [Support]

        Flash Player: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-25) Outdated! Update

        Default Browser: 600 - SDK 10.10 (2015-07-17)

        SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.2.4 - SDK 10.6 (2012-10-12) [Support]

        Silverlight: 5.1.41212.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-13) [Support]

        JavaAppletPlugin: Java 7 Update 67 (2014-09-11) Check version

     

    User internet Plug-ins:

        CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: 1.0.94 (2013-02-06) [Support]

        RealPlayer Plugin: Unknown (2013-02-24) [Support]

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes:

        Flash Player (2016-04-16) [Support]

        Java (2014-07-26) [Support]

        Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X (2015-01-31) [Support]

     

    Time Machine:

        Skip System Files: NO

        Mobile backups: ON

        Auto backup: YES

        Volumes being backed up:

            Macintosh HD: Disk size: 498.88 GB Disk used: 210.82 GB

        Destinations:

            MAC OS Journaled [Local]

            Total size: 900.23 GB

            Total number of backups: 9

            Oldest backup: 27/09/2016 11:53 pm

            Last backup: 28/09/2016 8:22 am

            Size of backup disk: Adequate

                Backup size 900.23 GB > (Disk used 210.82 GB X 3)

     

    Top Processes by CPU:

            21%    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(3)

            10%    kernel_task

             8%    Safari

             5%    com.apple.photos.VideoConversionService

             4%    WindowServer

     

    Top Processes by Memory:

        709 MB    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(3)

        431 MB    kernel_task

        258 MB    Photos

        217 MB    mdworker(19)

        193 MB    mds_stores

     

    Virtual Memory Information:

        57 MB    Free RAM

        3.94 GB    Used RAM (555 MB Cached)

        6 MB    Swap Used

     

    Diagnostics Information:

        Sep 27, 2016, 09:16:55 PM    Self test - passed

        Sep 27, 2016, 06:00:13 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Finder_2016-09-27-180013_[redacted].crash

            com.apple.finder - /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder

        Sep 27, 2016, 05:11:01 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Silverlight_2016-09-27-171101_[redacted].hang

            /Users/USER/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/*/Foxtel Go.app/Contents/MacOS/Silverlight

        Aug 28, 2016, 12:08:40 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Kernel_2016-08-28-120840_[redacted].panic [Details]

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Sep 28, 2016 4:23 AM in response to Laura.troubled
    Level 9 (52,531 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 4:23 AM in response to Laura.troubled

    From a hardware perspective, your MBP would benefit from additional RAM.  8 GB should be enough.  OWC and Crucial are the best sources for Mac compatible RAM.

     

    Boot into the recovery partition and select Disk Utility from the 4 option menu.  Run Disk Utility>First Aid>Repair.  Any change in performance?  (If the funds are available, replacing the HDD with an SSD would help)

     

    Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective (both free) and open them. They will show all of your files and the respective sizes.  What do these applications say regarding space on the HDD?

     

    https://www.omnigroup.com/more

     

    http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

     

    The Etrecheck report indicates that the MBP has had a kernel panic.  Use these directions to log and post it:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201753

     

    Ciao.

  • by dwb,

    dwb dwb Sep 28, 2016 5:08 AM in response to Laura.troubled
    Level 7 (24,253 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 28, 2016 5:08 AM in response to Laura.troubled

    Based on your EtreCheck I agree with Oglethorpe that much of the computer's slowness is based on too little RAM. I found that Mountain Lion (10.8) was the last OS version to run at a comfortable speed on my older MBP with 4GB. What I found odd is that a computer that my wife's 2011 MBA with 4GB of RAM felt just as snappy with Mavericks (10.9) as it had with Mt Lion.

     

    That led me to perform an experiment. Upgrading my MBP to 8 GB made a difference but I found that replacing the standard hard drive with an SSD had an even bigger impact and that both upgrades (8GB RAM and the SSD) was like having a brand new machine. This was a computer that was 2 years older than yours and I happily used it for another several years.

     

    The RAM upgrade will be the least expensive option and will make a difference. The SSD will be more expensive and the upgrade is a bit more involved but if you intend to keep the computer for a couple more years I'd consider that instead of the RAM upgrade. And as I said, the two upgrades together are awesome.

     

    You might be wondering why an SSD upgrade beats the RAM upgrade - it is all about hugely faster disk access times. An SSD obviously means programs and data load faster but what you might not realize is how much the OS and programs save and load in the background. Programs and the OS constantly update cache files and when RAM is low the OS swaps data in and out of the drive. The SSD being so much faster than a standard hard drive makes all this data swapping faster which means fewer beach balls and a generally faster computer.