My iMac 27" (2015) and running OS 10.15.7 and until recently I have had very few issues. Recently I'm experiencing very slow executions when clicking on difference apps. For some days, I get the classic Beachball spinning for ever. I'm Lost! I have downloaded the app "etrecheck" but do not know how to understand the outcome dialogistic. Would appreciate help... Thanks, Tim
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iMac 27″, macOS 10.15
Good job posting this report. 👍🏽
I've given it a look and to be honest nothing jumps out at me as being of particular interest as a potential culprit of the slowdown. There are a few things that are noted such as application crashes and hangs, but I don't identify what might be the cause, as far as software goes.
18:57 is a long time for EtreCheck to take to generate a report. That is definitely off the mark. 3-5 minutes would be more like it.
I see software from Western Digital (WD) SmartwareDriveService. That probably came with a drive that you've used in the iMac. Typically, any software that comes with a drive for the Mac can be safely ignored. Installation of these apps can at times cause some performance issues. But it's been in your Mac for many months, so I don't think it's suspect.
The write/read speeds of your 7200 rpm mechanical HDD aren't great at 97MB/s and 122MB/s. Often the HDD can be identified as a problem, especially the slower 5400 rpm drives. You could take advantage of the speed increase that an external SSD would provide, with write/read speeds likely in the 400-500MB/s range.
Nothing else seems unusual.
I do wonder if maybe there's a problem underlying the drive performance.
How old is the startup drive? There is the potential that it is struggling to read and write data and that may be part of the problem.
Have you run the First Aid routines in Apple's Disk Utility app? Give that a shot and see what the response is.
Also, many veterans here will advise using the DriveDX app to check and diagnose the health of the startup drive. This app takes a deeper look that Disk Utility.
I do know that the APFS format that Apple uses since Mojave (?) is optimized for SSD storage and there have been reports of it causing issues on HDDs, but I can't really speak on that. You might look into it.
Otherwise, maybe other's will post up about what they might see here that is of concern.
Good job posting this report. 👍🏽
I've given it a look and to be honest nothing jumps out at me as being of particular interest as a potential culprit of the slowdown. There are a few things that are noted such as application crashes and hangs, but I don't identify what might be the cause, as far as software goes.
18:57 is a long time for EtreCheck to take to generate a report. That is definitely off the mark. 3-5 minutes would be more like it.
I see software from Western Digital (WD) SmartwareDriveService. That probably came with a drive that you've used in the iMac. Typically, any software that comes with a drive for the Mac can be safely ignored. Installation of these apps can at times cause some performance issues. But it's been in your Mac for many months, so I don't think it's suspect.
The write/read speeds of your 7200 rpm mechanical HDD aren't great at 97MB/s and 122MB/s. Often the HDD can be identified as a problem, especially the slower 5400 rpm drives. You could take advantage of the speed increase that an external SSD would provide, with write/read speeds likely in the 400-500MB/s range.
Nothing else seems unusual.
I do wonder if maybe there's a problem underlying the drive performance.
How old is the startup drive? There is the potential that it is struggling to read and write data and that may be part of the problem.
Have you run the First Aid routines in Apple's Disk Utility app? Give that a shot and see what the response is.
Also, many veterans here will advise using the DriveDX app to check and diagnose the health of the startup drive. This app takes a deeper look that Disk Utility.
I do know that the APFS format that Apple uses since Mojave (?) is optimized for SSD storage and there have been reports of it causing issues on HDDs, but I can't really speak on that. You might look into it.
Otherwise, maybe other's will post up about what they might see here that is of concern.
Once you’ve run the app and created your EtreCheck report please post it with your reply to this message.
You must upload the full report.
Follow these instructions: How to use Add Text when posting… EtreCheck Report.
We can use the EtreCheck report to look for the things that may be causing your problem and advise how to correct them.
Thank you so much. I will "try" to digest all of your information and see of some of the suggestions will help. If it's my 27" internal HD, my only solution will be to have a replacement via a tech person. If I backup again, can I migrate the info back on the new HD?
Thanks again for you help thus far,
Tim
The report shows “ 2023-02-14 macOS Monterey (12.6.3)”
I don’t know if that is significant.
I don't understand what you mean. My iMac is running on 10.15.7
Thanks, Tim
macOS Catalina is running slowly on my iMac 27″
