How to speed things up

Hi

What type Mac do you have? Also what is its age? I have a friend that had a Macbook Pro that was 15 years old that had issues we took it to an Best Buy and spoke with the Apple Rep. After the he and I got a good laugh at it ( My friend did not find it very funny) he tried to help us he said there was no hope for it. So if your Mac is very old it may just be the age that is causing it to be slow and if you have updated the OS on an older Mac to the new OS it could be that is taking up most of the space. Now I am no computer pro here so do not think I am telling you the answer to your question. Just trying to be another Apple user trying to help another Apple user

Best of luck

Well lets first diagnose what the issue is that is causing it to be slow. Please do the following:

Please navigate to the Mac App Store and download the free version of EtreCheck OR please click www.EtreCheck.com where you will find the app. Once you downloaded the free app and created the report please post it as your reply to this message. In order to post it, please use the following link for more detailed instructions on how to correctly include the results: 

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211

We can then look for obvious issues that may be causing your problem.

EtreCheck was developed by a very trusted member of these communities and is sometimes recommended by Apple. It is commonly recommended on these forums, in addition EtreCheck does not show ANY confidential information nor does it "clog" up your system. It simply advised what has been installed on the system and helps open the door to see what may be causing the problem.

I'd recommend at least visiting EtreCheck.com and then you can learn more about. If you decide you do not want to use, then I'm afraid there isn't a thing we can do to help you.

If you do not weant to go through the hassle of installing an internal drive...

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB

Carbon Copy Cloner...

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

BDA's suggestion would be your best route given the age the Mac. External SSDs are pretty inexpensive and since your Mac is a desktop, portability isn't an issue. Plus when you do upgrade to a new Mac the external drive can move with you for backup.

OWC is n excellent source for external drives.

https://www.macsales.com

FWIW, unless you do the work yourself, the repair will literally

cost more than it is worth. It is like a 9 year old car that needs

a new transmission that cost $4000 to replace when the car itself is only

worth $2000.

The suggestions given for a temporary stopgap solution will

help until you find the means to get a new machine.

Your hard drive is failing, you'll need to replace it. Be sure to back up all your stuff now.

Even worse is buying a New Car & finding it needs $1,000s of repairs every year, can't haul as much, goes through tires faster, & gets worse mileage ! ;)