my iMac hard drive is too slow

In fact, the 5400 RPM HDD routinely shows up as being the performance bottleneck for this iMac.

You can best boost the performance by replacing the internal drive with an SSD of just about any flavor, or you could use an external SSD connected by USB as the startup drive.

Many here will recommend drives purchased at OWC/macsales.

Internal Hard Drives and SSDs for Macs

You only posted a snippet of the EtreCheck report so there may be other things in software that are contributing to the poor performance. But surely, the slow rotational drive is the biggest culprit.

Get a backup.

Now.

Right now.

No repair attempts, no diagnostics, no running apps, or any other activities until after a complete and current backup is available.

Got that backup? Good. Okay, now some background information follows.

Here is why hard disks are slow: Why is my hard disk drive iMac so slow? - Apple Community

You have a configuration known as Fusion, which uses a small SSD as a cache for a large and slow and cheap hard disk. This means that the access is a little quicker while the data is in the SSD cache, but Fusion runs at hard disk speeds otherwise. Fusion can sprint, but will quickly drop to hard disk speeds for what’s not on that SSD.

This iMac is fairly well loaded, with Office and Adobe Creative Cloud and Battle.net, none of which are lightweight app suites.

The I/O speed is atrocious here, even for a hard disk drive, which can be a symptom of a failing hard disk drive.

Here is a diagnostic tool that can — when aimed specifically and solely at the hard disk within the Fusion, and only after the backup — report errors or issues with the hard disk drive, and that report can then be posted here:

https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

But again, get a backup while you still can. Your Fusion appears to be going Fission. 💥

Once you have the backup, and pending a newer or new Mac: Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community

1) Get rid of the WD drive software.

https://support-in.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/51137/~/steps-to-uninstall-wd-drive-utilities-or-wd-security-software-on-macos

2) Make sure that you have a good Time Machine backup even if it means getting and using a new external drive.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

3) Get and run DriveDX on your Mac's 1T Apple HDD.

https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

Then if you decide to go with an external SSD as your startup drive..?

follow Jack-19's advise at > Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community

I have one of those 2019 iMacs, pretty much same specs as yours. The internal hard drive was terribly slow right from 2019 when I purchased it. In 2022 I purchased an external SSD (Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q 1TB USB3/USB 3.2/Thunderbolt 3 External SSD). I also have the M1 iMac with the silicon chip. Takes about 20 seconds to start up. That 2019 iMac took about 3 minutes just to start up. Using the above external SSD as the startup disk it takes around 40 seconds to start up all the way, including the login, almost as fast as my M1. Get a Thunderbolt SSD, a little more in cost but way faster then a standard external SSD.

Please post your entire EtreCheckPro report,

as per > How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

You're welcome.