Catalina Upgrade = Poor functionality for my iMac late 13 model

P. Phillips,

Thank you for your advice, and I see that the poster right after you suggested some ideas that you also agree with; between the both of you, plus 2 others on this thread, I have a great start to try to solve this problem. I have never posted like this before, and I won't be able to follow through on your suggestions tonight, so I hope I can find this page again so that I can paste the report for all of you to look at; and of course, I would want to report back to you all on the other suggestions. I will make sure to get back to this late-late tonight, or early in the morning.

I appreciate the help, and I have heard about the Etrecheck option all over these discussions.

I will be back soon!

Yes, as I said in my first response to you, that I agree with you on the previous poster for sure.

I'm definitely going to be applying everything I have learned from all of the responders.

I will return within the next 24 hours, and thank you again for your time and help!

Thank you so much for all of your easy to follow instructions! I have responded to all of you who answered my SOS, and I will be back here within the next 24 hours to post the report and to let everyone know how some of the other suggestions went. I appreciate the detailed responses from everyone, and I just need a little time to do some other chores before I sit back down in front of the computer; for me, it seems that these things never take only a few minutes, and I definitely want to get this done as soon as possible without interruptions, etc.

I am hopeful that with everything I have learned from these posts, I will be able to get passed this congested phase I've been stuck in for weeks!

Thanks again, and I'll be back very soon!

Steve,

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the extra definitions. I normally check my facts online and do my homework and I do have a few notebooks I keep for things like this, but this past year has been extremely chaotic and my time is constantly being interrupted with pretty serious and important emergencies--things that you can't ignore or just put aside until you finish your work/projects. So, I've been busy reviewing all of the changes that have been made with the creative apps, and I've been working on my content for sites I'm developing, and I just keep putting off the technical/mechanical issues of the computer. Of course, I realized about a month ago that this problem is going to be another "unforeseen event" that interrupts my creative and productive flow, so I just haven't been refreshing myself with the definitions and the technical parts of this computer.

I have learned a lot on the discussion boards as well, but it's been mostly on the Adobe Discussions where I'm trying to update myself with all the Creative Cloud issues. Adobe has many unnecessary files and extra "stuff" that they could probably work on--it becomes overwhelming with all of the folders and the installers and the many files that they pile on and bury in your system. So, I thought that most of my computer issues had to do with Adobe, to be honest. Finally, I came across a discussion in which they were talking about things that you have mentioned, and that's what led me to go back to looking at the computer's compatibility and upgrade, etc.

I think you have made a lot of sense and I thank you! You refreshed my memory concerning the SSD's and the hard drives, etc. I have a good friend that I've known for years, and he's an "IT" guy at Henry Ford Hospital, here in Michigan. I am sharing with him these conversations, and he's going to come by in the next day or 2 and he'll be guiding me to implement the suggestions...just in case I really screw things up. When it comes to this stuff, anything creative is easy and flows right. I think, the bottom line is that I never really learned the parts and components of any computer the way I should have when I first started working with them some 20 years ago. I just operated the computers for a few different processes, and that's all I had brain space for. Now, I wish I had done the homework!

I'm going to use all of your ideas, and I'm definitely going to go through all of the categories in the "About This Mac" section, as you suggested. I'll start the research and download that link, Etrecheck, too. Between you and the first poster, I do believe I can get this computer to start responding better--at least for another 6 months, I hope! 2 years would be excellent, but I really think I'm going to need to bite the bullet and just pay the money for the right equipment.

It's like music--your sound is what you pay for; microphones, instruments, mixers, and amps--if you buy cheap, you sound cheap! Sometimes, there's no way around the cost if you want a product that is professional and can compare to other companies that have tons of money to throw on a project. Nevertheless, if these suggestions on this thread will buy me some time so that I can back to some kind of normal work flow, I'll take that over having to cough up another $2500 before Christmas! I just wish the developers would stop doing 4 and 5 versions within a 12 month period of time because that is just too much to try to keep up with (for me anyways!) haha...I'm old school and I was almost 30 years old when the technology switched from analog to digital. I'm always lagging on my learning curve!

Thank you, again! I'll be getting back to you within a few days (now that I have my friend to guide me through your suggestions; he just can't get here until Monday/Tuesday. ) In the meantime, I'll look at all of your suggestions , and I'll start that research you mentioned. At least, now I know when I go to purchase my next Apple Desktop, I'm going to make them open the box and check the dates of the Mac-- I will not be fooled again--- : )

I'll jump back on in a few days to update you. Thanks so much! Your explanations really helped!

Grr..I just edited and re-edited this response, only to deleting it by accident!

That's a good thing for you since I usually am way too long-winded on these threads, and now, I'm out of time.

So, I am going to try to make this really short and to the point.

I apologize for disappearing the last 2 weeks; we had some sad news in the family, and so I was unable to respond to everyone. Nevertheless, I did my homework, and yes, you were right! I do have a mechanical drive, and it makes total sense to replace it with an SSD. Your post and another person's post made the most sense to me; however, I shied away from doing the Etrecheck scan. I don't know why, but I just felt that I didn't like posting the information on the public space, but also, I wasn't sure if I would be fooled into a fake version of the app. Does that make sense? So, I went back to long hours of combing through my activity monitor, the utility disk, and I am not sure where I was, but I was able to see all the older apps that I downloaded from 2015 - 2019. That's when I noticed that ever since a few months ago, when I started to try to resume my video work and graphics work, when I downloaded Adobe Cloud this time, I was also downloading up to 4 versions, sometimes 5, of every app that comes with the desktop cloud! I started to remove all of those except the ones that I knew worked with Catalina.

I also went through and deleted a ton of duplicates of personal videos of my daughter and the family---tons of material that ended up on my computer through my phone; that took hours; but guess what?

I'm now working on the computer, writing this while both, Premiere Pro and After Effects, are open, and I can easily switch back and forth without any issues; I can't believe it, really!

However, I do think it means it's all about space, and doing what you suggested is really a smart move for me if I want to try to save the money for another year or two before having to upgrade everything.

So, I thank you, and I wanted to let you know. Also, I'm not sure if you are rated for the answers you give here; however, when I started to write this response, I started with the poster before you, and I went ahead and clicked on "Problem Solved." So, to save time, I really didn't write to that poster; however, when I scrolled down to you and to one other person, the choice of "Problem Solved" is removed---I mean, everyone really did have the same sort of answers, and 3 of you really made me see things clearly, but am I supposed to clarify these things for the community? I mean, if I don't click on "problem solved" under your post, does that cost you a lower review of some kind?

I NEVER ask a a question like this to any public community, so I'm not sure if there are any guidelines or etiquette I'm supposed to follow...if you need me to come back and do something, please let me know because as I said before, you really helped me to visualize and understand the way my computer is made, and that's helped me to navigate how to keep me moving along faster right now. I'd hate to not have your answer reviewed properly!

I'm sorry if this does cost you any kind of lower rating.

Have a great day, and happy holidays to you! Thanks again!

Mr. Hoffman,

Well, you said it! I had to laugh out loud when P. Phillips described my computer as a "vintage machine!" hahaha..I have never thought of it that way, but over the last 5 years, so much as been changing in my life, and time flies, yet I don't even realize it's happening! I can see now how all of the digital programs are like iPhones---every year, there's upgrades and improved graphics, or super fast execution of demands--it's extremely hard to just settle into anything because everyone jumps to upgrade and programs that seemed to be just fine suddenly become obsolete, or "vintage!"

What's really frustrating is that I purchased this computer in 2015. I hadn't had an Apple computer for a while; although, I used to work on only Apple for a long time, but my place of employment purchased another contract through Dell and replaced all of our Apple technology with Dell. So for a long time, I was using Dell and when I decided to change some things in my life, I went back to Apple. By then, digital technology was finding its way in every kind of occupation and business; so when I purchased this computer, I had no idea that I should be asking what year the actual components of the hard drive/computer was! I assumed that because this was being advertised as the "latest and new iMac," and that it was in a brand new, unopened box, that everything in that box was all made in 2015, or at least late 14. I never even realized that this computer was considered a "late 13" model until I was trying to use the Adobe programs for the first time back in 2019. I was shocked because technically, the computer is much older than I ever thought and with how fast everything upgrades, I can see (now) why I'm operating like a dinosaur over here! They never really teach these kinds of details in any digital media class--at least none that I've been involved with. This is the most important stuff to understand, I think.

You have given me great ideas, along with P. Phillips, and the post after that, so I am going to need a little time to address these suggestions, and I may not be able to get to this page until tomorrow morning or afternoon, at the latest. I have fallen severely behind on many things, and now, I have to get to those tasks.

I appreciate the great advice and I will be back to post the Etrecheck report; I'm guessing that the report may reveal a lot of what you said in your post. I think I may be needing to do the Thunderbolt alternative. Again, when it comes to everything you all have mentioned here--when you start talking the components and the drives, I start to get fuzzy in my head--hard for me to conceptualize the way memory or storage looks whenever we are talking about GB or T and I have never really been taught anything about the drives---all I have ever really understood is that the hard drive of the computer holds all the info and we don't want that to ever get ruined or destroyed; and I do know that there are drivers for specific functions, but that's all I really understand.

My external hard drive that I was referring to is brand new, but it's also about a year old only because I saved it to use now since I was in the middle of moving and there was Covid, etc. I just wanted to start using it when I was ready to start working with the creative apps again, but I had trouble formatting it at first, and my friend helped me with it. I was able to save a lot of my graphic files and other photos and video footage, etc, but like I said, suddenly, after Catalina, this external drive shows absolutely nothing when I open it.

Again, there are things you have mentioned here that has been brought up before when my friend was helping with the formatting; I will need time to start on these suggestions.

I appreciate your details and your time in answering my questions.

I think, moreover, it's going to be impossible for me to expect too much with the age of these components; eventually, I'll have to just spend the money again. I will know better next time, though for sure!

Thanks again, and I'll be back within the next 24 hours!

Steve626,

I feel like you have given me a little hope here--at least so that I can get passed a few projects that I must get done soon; and I understand most of what you are saying; again, I get a little lost whenever people talk about "SSD" and the mechanical drive at "5400 rpm." I feel so stupid when this happens, but it is what it is. I will look it up and I'll make sure to review what all this means so that I can apply your suggestions correctly and report back. I did go back to my apple icon as I was reading your post because I wondered if I missed some of the computer's specifications. Here's what it says in the "About This Mac" section:

Processor: 2.9 GHz, Quad-Core Intel Core i5

Memory: 8 GB/1600 MHz - DDR3

Start-Up Disk-Macintosh HD

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce, GT 750 M, 1GB

When I first started to work with the Adobe programs (Premiere Pro, Illustrator, After Effects, Media Encoder, etc.) on this computer, I almost thought it wasn't going to work because there was a problem with the NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Someone talked me through how to get around that, and everything was fine. However, these are the things that make me feel really handicapped when working with these programs. I just don't know--never been taught what it all means, really. From everything you have suggested, along with the other 3 posts here, I do think I can get started on how to get passed this, if at least, for the next few months.

I can't continue on the computer now, at this time, because it's just taken all of the day and night from me and I have to get to some other things before morning. I'll be back within the next 24 hours to post the report of the Etrecheck and to let you all know how it went. Thanks so much for your detailed advice and time responding to me!