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Slow iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) with attached EtreCheckPro report. Help!

I've been dealing with a slow iMac for about 11 months now. Several chats with Apple, status reports, installs, disconnecting of devices, you name it, I tried it. I've also been reading how these iMac's having the 5400 drive are notoriously slow. On the advice of other posts, I ran EtreCheckPro, results below. Can I have Apple update anything on this computer, like to an SSD drive, or maybe the memory? I HAAAAAAAATE this thing! I have a Macbook Pro from 2019 and it blows this newer computer away.


iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019)

3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3

8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4


We don't even use it for anything heavy duty, and it's still slow even opening the simplest of apps. Any thoughts/help would be appreciated.


EtreCheckPro version: 6.4.4 (6E015) Report generated: 2021-05-10 15:15:37 Download EtreCheckPro from https://etrecheck.com Runtime: 7:19 Performance: Below Average Problem: Computer is too slow Description: Slow, apps take forever to open, lots of beachballing and app bouncing Major Issues: Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention. Time Machine backup out-of-date - The last Time Machine backup is over 10 days old. Minor Issues: These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement. Low performance - EtreCheck report took an unusually long time to run. Kernel extensions present - This computer has kernel extensions that may not work in the future. Hardware Information: iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) iMac Model: iMac19,2 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3 (i3-8100) CPU: 4-core 8 GB RAM - Upgradeable by an Apple Authorized Service Provider BANK 0/ChannelA-DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR4 2400 BANK 2/ChannelB-DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR4 2400 Video Information: Radeon Pro 555X - VRAM: 2 GB iMac (built-in) 4096 x 2304 Drives: disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E632 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM) Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB disk0s2 [APFS Container] 1000.00 GB disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 1000.00 GB (Shared by 6 volumes) disk1s1 (APFS) [APFS Container] (Shared - 15.37 GB used) disk1s1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) [APFS Snapshot] (Shared - 15.37 GB used) disk1s2 - Macintosh HD - Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 142.40 GB used) disk1s3 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared - 519 MB used) disk1s4 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 622 MB used) disk1s5 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 4.30 GB used) disk1s6 - Update (APFS) (Shared - 3 MB used) disk2 - WD My Passport 25F3 512.08 GB (Solid State - TRIM: No) External USB 10 Gbit/s+ USB disk2s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB disk2s2 - M*********t (Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)) 256.00 GB (449 MB used) disk2s3 - B****p (Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)) 255.60 GB (241.83 GB used) Mounted Volumes: disk1s1s1 - Macintosh HD [APFS Snapshot] 1000.00 GB (Shared - 15.37 GB used, 838.46 GB available, 836.59 GB free) APFS Mount point: / Read-only: Yes disk1s2 - Macintosh HD - Data [APFS Virtual drive] 1000.00 GB (Shared - 142.40 GB used, 838.46 GB available, 836.59 GB free) APFS Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data disk1s3 - Preboot [APFS Preboot] 1000.00 GB (Shared - 519 MB used, 836.59 GB free) APFS Mount point: /System/Volumes/Preboot disk1s5 - VM [APFS VM] 1000.00 GB (Shared - 4.30 GB used, 836.59 GB free) APFS Mount point: /System/Volumes/VM disk1s6 - Update 1000.00 GB (Shared - 3 MB used, 836.59 GB free) APFS Mount point: /System/Volumes/Update disk2s2 - M*********t 256.00 GB (449 MB used, 255.55 GB free) Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) Mount point: /Volumes/M*********t Owners enabled: No disk2s3 - B****p 255.60 GB (241.83 GB used, 13.77 GB free) Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) Mount point: /Volumes/B****p Network: Interface en0: Ethernet Interface en1: Wi-Fi Interface en4: Bluetooth PAN Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge iCloud Quota: 5.00 GB available System Software: macOS Big Sur 11.3.1 (20E241) Time since boot: About a day Notifications: Google Chrome.app one notification Security: Gatekeeper: App Store and identified developers System Integrity Protection: Enabled Antivirus software: Apple Kernel Extensions: /Library/Extensions [Not Loaded] DymoUsbPrinterClassDriver.kext - com.dymo.usbprinterclassdriver.kext (1.1 - SDK 10.14) [Not Loaded] BJUSBLoad.kext - jp.co.canon.bj.print.BJUSBLoad (10.75.21 - SDK 10.8) [Not Loaded] CIJUSBLoad.kext - jp.co.canon.ij.print.CIJUSBLoad (16.0.10 - SDK 10.9) System Launch Agents: [Not Loaded] 17 Apple tasks [Loaded] 176 Apple tasks [Running] 141 Apple tasks System Launch Daemons: [Not Loaded] 36 Apple tasks [Loaded] 181 Apple tasks [Running] 142 Apple tasks [Other] 2 Apple tasks Launch Agents: [Running] com.dymo.dls.webservice.plist (Sanford, L.P. - installed 2019-12-05) [Loaded] com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2021-03-08) [Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2021-04-14) Launch Daemons: [Running] com.dymo.pnpd.plist (Sanford, L.P. - installed 2019-12-05) [Running] com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdaterDaemon.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2021-03-08) [Loaded] com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdaterDaemon.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2021-03-08) [Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2021-04-14) [Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-06-15) [Loaded] com.microsoft.teams.TeamsUpdaterDaemon.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2020-06-16) User Launch Agents: [Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2021-03-04) [Loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2021-03-04) [Loaded] com.logmein.GoToMeeting.G2MAIRUploader.plist (LogMeIn, Inc. - installed 2020-10-10) [Loaded] com.logmein.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist (LogMeIn, Inc. - installed 2020-10-10) User Login Items: [Loaded] Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector EX (Canon Inc. - installed 2020-07-01) Application /Applications/Canon Utilities/IJ Network Scanner Selector EX/Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector EX.app [Not Loaded] Garmin Express Service (Garmin International - installed 2020-07-02) Modern Login Item /Applications/Garmin Express.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Garmin Express Service.app [Not Loaded] Launcher Disabler (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2021-03-08) Modern Login Item /Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Launcher Disabler.app [Not Loaded] OneDrive Launcher (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2021-03-08) Modern Login Item /Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/OneDrive Launcher.app Internet Plug-ins: DYMO Safari Addin: (Sanford, L.P. - installed 2019-12-05) DYMO NPAPI Addin: 1.0 (Sanford, L.P. - installed 2019-12-05) Backup: Skip System Files: No Auto backup: Yes Destinations: B****p [Local] (Last used) Total size: 255.60 GB Total number of backups: 61 Oldest backup: 2020-10-02 07:17:57 Last backup: 2021-03-23 13:29:52 7 local snapshots Oldest local snapshot: 2021-05-09 19:48:52 Last local snapshot: 2021-05-10 14:50:44 Performance: System Load: 1.65 (1 min ago) 1.69 (5 min ago) 1.50 (15 min ago) Nominal I/O speed: 0.99 MB/s File system: 40.13 seconds Write speed: 59 MB/s Read speed: 82 MB/s CPU Usage Snapshot: Type Overall System: 4 % User: 11 % Idle: 85 % Top Processes Snapshot by CPU: Process (count) CPU (Source - Location) backupd 77.24 % (Apple) EtreCheckPro 12.58 % (Etresoft, Inc.) WindowServer 4.62 % (Apple) kernel_task 1.46 % (Apple) Google Chrome 0.66 % (Google, Inc.) Top Processes Snapshot by Memory: Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location) Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) (13) 1.28 GB (Google, Inc.) EtreCheckPro 562 MB (Etresoft, Inc.) Google Chrome 232 MB (Google, Inc.) App Store 131 MB (Apple) Microsoft Word 129 MB (Microsoft Corporation) Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use: Process (count) Input / Output (Source - Location) mDNSResponder 4 MB / 871 KB (Apple) apsd 6 KB / 176 KB (Apple) netbiosd 18 KB / 9 KB (Apple) softwareupdated 0 B / 0 B (Apple) kernelmanagerd 0 B / 0 B (Apple) Top Processes Snapshot by Energy Use: Process (count) Energy (0-100) (Source - Location) backupd 29 (Apple) WindowServer 3 (Apple) Google Chrome 1 (Google, Inc.) Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) (13) 0 (Google, Inc.) Google Chrome Helper (3) 0 (Google, Inc.) Virtual Memory Information: Physical RAM: 8 GB Free RAM: 207 MB Used RAM: 5.37 GB Cached files: 2.43 GB Available RAM: 2.63 GB Swap Used: 0 B Software Installs (past 60 days): Install Date Name (Version) 2021-03-23 Numbers (11.0) 2021-03-23 Pages (11.0) 2021-03-29 Keynote (11.0) 2021-04-06 GarageBand (10.4.3) 2021-04-13 macOS 11.2.3 (11.2.3) 2021-04-14 Microsoft AutoUpdate (4.34.21041102) 2021-04-14 Microsoft Excel (16.48.21041102) 2021-04-14 Microsoft OneNote (16.48.21041102) 2021-04-14 Microsoft Outlook (16.48.21041102) 2021-04-14 Microsoft PowerPoint (16.48.21041102) 2021-04-14 Microsoft Word (16.48.21041102) 2021-04-28 macOS 11.3 (11.3) 2021-04-29 XProtectPlistConfigData (2145) 2021-05-05 macOS 11.3.1 (11.3.1) 2021-05-05 Zoom (5.6.4.765) 2021-05-05 MRTConfigData (1.78) Diagnostics Information (past 7-30 days): 2021-05-05 18:38:13 trustd High CPU Use Executable: /usr/libexec/trustd End of report



iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on May 10, 2021 12:40 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 10, 2021 12:46 PM

Hi there,


The reason your iMac is very slow is due to the 5400 rpm hard drive. Very slow. If you use an external SSD and run macOS from that, it will make your Mac 10 to 50 times faster for storage, depending on what external SSD you buy. For more info, instructions, and what SSD to buy, please read: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003583.


Cheers,


Jack

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 10, 2021 12:46 PM in response to poppasquat

Hi there,


The reason your iMac is very slow is due to the 5400 rpm hard drive. Very slow. If you use an external SSD and run macOS from that, it will make your Mac 10 to 50 times faster for storage, depending on what external SSD you buy. For more info, instructions, and what SSD to buy, please read: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003583.


Cheers,


Jack

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May 15, 2021 4:37 PM in response to poppasquat

If you go the external SSD route seriously consider one of these from OWC:


Envoy Pro EX with USB-C or USB 3- best from a speed vs price standpoint


OWC Envoy Pro EX with Thunderbolt 3 - fastest if you have a Thunderbolt 3 port but more expensive


To make sure you get the correct model for your Mac contact MacSales.com (OWC) support and see what they recommend. They have excellent support staff and will guide you thru the selection.




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May 10, 2021 1:49 PM in response to Jack-19

Thanks for the information and the link, Jack.


It might seem a sill follow-up, but should everything be run from the new hard drive? Or are there some things that I can continue/should continue to run from the 5400? Also, is it worth it to have Apple just install an SSD for me (is that even possible with the 5400 taking up space in there)?


Thanks in advance,


Anthony



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May 10, 2021 1:50 PM in response to poppasquat

I have the same 2019 iMac but i5 and it has a slow 1TB spinning HDD.


Recently had the 2012 iMac and took the external Thunderbolt SSD from it and moved it to the 2019 using an Apple TB3-2 adapter and now runs like a champ.


I also wiped the internal hard drive so that it will never boot to it by accident.

By booting off the external SSD, the iMac now works almost as fast as my 2019 MBP.

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Slow iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) with attached EtreCheckPro report. Help!

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