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After upgrading to Mojave 10.14 my computer suddenly took 3-4 minutes to start. I have an iMac 21.5" late 2013 machine, 2.9 GHz i5 processor. First Aid on Disk Utility didn't help. Ran Etrecheck, took 5 minutes which is slow, report shows I have 22 apps that are 32 bit and won't work any longer because of the upgrade. Performance is low at 9.61 MB/s. No major issues reported. Any ideas how I can speed things up?
iMac 21.5", macOS 10.14
The 32 bit apps work fine with Mojave. It's the next MacOS, 10.15, that they won't work with.
Copy the report
and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report
Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:
It's not the next version of Mojave that will affect the 32 bit apps, it the full OS upgrade to 10.15 that will. It does not have a name as yet. As long as you run Mojave or any new update to Mojave your 32 bit apps will be fine.
I ran Etrecheck again after enabling full disk access, however, the report still won't run with full access. No box appears in Etrecheck to all Full Drive Access on my version. I am posting the full report anyway and hoping you might see something in it. Thank you for your help Old Toad, I appreciate it. Trying not to have to get a new computer.
I don't see any of the usual suspects in the report. That being said there is one bottleneck in your system and that's the very slow (5400 rpm) hard drive. It's been know to be a big hindrance to adequate performance in the 21.5" iMacs.
What would help in the boot time would be an external SSD drive to boot from connected by USB 3. It would also help in launching apps.
I would try a couple of things:
1) Disconnect the WD external drive.
2) remove the Verizon updater from User Login Items
Do both, then restart and test for a while. See if a new EtreCheck report shows any changes.
I mention the WD My Passport because they seem to appear a bit too often in problem reports here. WD bare drives are excellent but their external enclosures seem like they were designed not for performance but to go on sale at the office superstores every other weekend. It is easy to check and then reattach if nothing changes.
The Verison software may be "phoning home" to check for updates; removing it for testing is easy and you can add it back to Login items if it does not proove to be the issue.
Those are long shots. Like my esteemed colleague Old Toad, I've seen plenty of reports on 21.5-inch iMacs where all signs point to the slow hard drive. In addition to being 5400-rpm, it is rated at SATA 3GBps speeds on a computer whose hard drive bus is double that rating--6GBps. I was with a similar situation with a 2012 MacBook Pro with similar specs to your iMac but a slower processor. I pulled the 3GBps 5400-rpm drive and replaced it with a solid state drive rated at 6GBps. These are its EtreCheck drive performance numbers today; compare them to yours:
Performance:
System Load: 1.61 (1 min ago) 1.60 (5 min ago) 2.94 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 0.15 MB/s
File system: 28.20 seconds
Write speed: 487 MB/s
Read speed: 482 MB/s
It boots in under 20 seconds but the big difference was PhotoShop Elements. Before the SSD it took 15-18 seconds to launch; today it is ready to edit in 3-4 seconds.
Unfortunately the design of your iMac puts a DYI install of a faster drive internally beyond most consumers. That's why the external drive option works for your iMac. To pull this off, the external enclosure must be rated USB3 and the SSD you put inside must be rated at an SATA speed of 6GBps.
Ok, I tried removing the hard drive and the Verizon Support from Login. When I reran Etrecheck the differences were nominal but the start up time decreased from 3 min to almost 2 min. I could try an external SSD drive as suggested, by no means could I install an internal one as I am not that computer savvy, but even if I did, what is going to happen with the next version of Mojave? You suggested that my 32 bit apps most likely won't function with that update. Would I be wasting money for the new hard drive?
Ok, now I see. Judging by the way Apple puts out new systems I could make this one last another year before I'd have to worry about a full system upgrade.
Thank you, Old Toad (what a moniker!), I appreciate your help.
Thanks, Allen. My questions in my reply to Old Toad are to you as well. I appreciate the input from you both.
Unless the next operating system has something you just gotta have you can stay with Mojave for several years until it is no longer supported by Apple with security updates.
iMAC slow to start
