I ran EtreCheck and it reported my hard drive is too slow
My iMac takes ages to do anything this is why I ran EtreCheck. Any help would be appreciated since installing BigSur it got really really slow.
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Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.
It appears that you do not have a Time Machine backup. If this is the case, you should create one. To start, you need an external hard drive. Here’s an excellent choice sold by Apple: G-Technology 4TB G-DRIVE mobile USB-C Portable Hard Drive - Apple. You can then follow the steps in this Apple Support article to setup your Time Machine backup: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. Also, moving forward, I recommend that you use iCloud in addition to Time Machine to sync all your files and photos to all your Apple devices. Although iCloud is not a "true" backup service, iCloud can also act as an emergency off-site backup, but this is why iCloud should be used in addition to Time Machine. Here are some resources on setting up iCloud for Mac:
- Upgrade to iCloud+ - Apple Support
- Set up iCloud Drive - Apple Support
- Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
However, the reason your iMac is slow is due to the 5400-rpm hard drive. While this hard drive found in your Mac is perfectly suited to light tasks, such as email, web browsing, etc., for more advanced tasks, and for users who want the maximum performance from their Mac, this hard drive does have its limitations. Luckily, you can use an external SSD as your startup disk to run macOS and all your data from that. It will make your Mac 10 to 30 times faster for storage, and in turn, make your entire Mac system much faster. For more info, instructions, and what external SSD to buy, please see: How to Setup and Use an External SSD as your Startup Disk on a Desktop Mac - Apple Community.
Jack