Macbook's ground to a halt

Question

Level 1

8 points

Macbook's ground to a halt

A few days ago my Macbook started to move very slowly- out of no where. I have a 2012-mid Macbook Pro running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 with over 200GB free storage space and the memory was upgraded a few years ago to 16GB RAM.

It takes about 10mins to boot up, then every action or click causes a colour spinning wheel. I can't do a Time Machine back up to wipe everything because it takes ages to copy files and then it crashes after a while. I have been trying to download Catalina as an software upgrade is due but again during download it gets stuck.

Any tips or help would be much appreciated.

MacBook Pro 13", OS X 10.11

Posted on Apr 3, 2020 6:45 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

etresoft

Level 9

56,656 points

Apr 7, 2020 9:03 AM in response to Sicario85

It is probably a failing hard drive. The 2.5" mechanical hard drives only tend to last 2-3 years. You are on year 6-8. You can buy a replacement SSD very cheaply and it is very easy to install in that machine. If you don't already have a Time Machine backup, you should do this now. It doesn't matter how long it takes. You will soon lose all of your files if you don't.

Reply

Answer 2

i_rina

Community Specialist

Apr 6, 2020 9:42 AM in response to Sicario85

Hello Sicario85,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. It sounds like you’re having trouble with your MacBook Pro running slow. I’m happy to help.

To start, I suggest restarting in safe mode to see if the issue persists. Safe mode clears system caches and prevents login items, which may help to isolate the issue:

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

If it does, try resetting your SMC and NVRAM/PRAM to see if that helps:

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

Let me know if that helps.

Have a great day!

Reply