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Level 1

0 points

Why Would My Mac Suddenly Run Slow?

For two days now my Mac is just "crawling." I haven't added anything.
Everything was OK before about 2 days ago.
Is this common? Is it a temporary issue? I hope so.

Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Feb 24, 2011 8:10 PM

27 replies

Nokomis Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 25, 2011 3:51 PM in response to CT

OK, but how do I do that??

Level 7

23,987 points

Feb 25, 2011 4:03 PM in response to Nokomis

The short version is: find files you don't need, move them to the trash, then empty the trash.

Video, music and unneeded applications are often the biggest space eaters.

Also, if you're up to it, you could move rarely used files to other storage media.

Here are some good things to read which explain it all in much more detail.

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html

Others will probably contribute more info.

charlie

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Feb 25, 2011 4:08 PM in response to Nokomis

Disk Utility->select your boot volume, not the disk, and report back with the details. On my machine, I get:

Mount Point : /
Capacity : 100.00 GB (100,000,002,048 Bytes)
Available : 56.84 GB (56,843,698,176 Bytes)
Used : 43.16 GB (43,156,303,872 Bytes)

Nokomis Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 25, 2011 4:15 PM in response to baltwo

*Total Capacity : 320.07 GB (320,072,933,376 Bytes)*
(I don't see the other headings you have shown.)

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Feb 25, 2011 4:25 PM in response to Nokomis

Again. *Select the boot volume, not the disk*, which, unless you've changed its name will be Macintosh HD.

Nokomis Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 25, 2011 4:35 PM in response to baltwo

I don't see any "boot volume."
By the way....for some strange reason, my Mac is running nicely again.
Maybe I did a few things that all of you suggested and those things did the trick!
Many thanks to all of you who took the time to assist an "senior."

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Feb 25, 2011 4:50 PM in response to Nokomis

The boot volume is that which is running your machine. Either the one that's displaying on your Desktop or the one that shows when you select Finder->About this Mac. For a picture, open http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/5.html and look at the first one. The HD is 640.14 GB made by Western Digital and the boot volume on that disk is named Macintosh HD. Sorry for the unfamiliar nomenclature.

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Feb 25, 2011 7:04 PM in response to Nokomis

It's the second one listed, _indented below_ the one you already found.

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Feb 25, 2011 7:52 PM in response to Nokomis

Nokomis --

Single click on your Hard Drive icon on your desktop screen. It's usually on the upper right hand corner of your screen. After selecting / highlighting the icon, press the Apple/Command key along with the letter " i " key. There you will see a new pane, and it will tell you the stats for:
1. Capacity
2. Used
3. Available