Macbook Pro extremely slow since Yosemite update. Spinning wheel of death is constantly up.

Number one issue is that your Mac's hard drive is encrypted.

Encrypted drives will slow overall OS X performance down.

If you really do not need data encryption, turn this feature off in File Vault located in the OS X System Preferences Panel

See if this speeds things up.

Make sure to update all of your third party software if there are OS X Mavericks updates that can be applied. You may need to go the third party developers' websites if there are no updates through the Mac App Store.

Update all of your Web browser Internet plugins, also.

Also, if you have any third party devices, like keyboards, mice, drawing tablets, hubs, card readers, etc, you need to update the drivers for these devices to OS X Yosemite compatible versions by visiting the support/downloads section of the third party device makers' websites.

Encryption on a retina MBP should not be a problem. It certainly isn't on mine.

@stefan: Have you tried a SMC reset and booting in Safe Mode?

I have run into a about a dozen cases or so where drive encryption has been problematic on both Mavericks and on Yosemite.

Have done the rest I have advised, like update all software and connected device drivers?

You need to do this to make sure ALL software on your Mac is compatible with Yosemite.

You need to go to each connected third party device maker websites and check their respective support and downloads areas to do this.

For updates of third party applications, check the Mac App Store and, also, the ACTUAL website of the app developer for app updates.

I had the same problem on my MBPro2007 after installing Yosemite, the darn thing would not shut down, and the "Wheel of Death" would rotate indefinitely, or at least until I would turn it off the hard way (5s-off), which then results in a lot of time-consuming repairing during the next boot-up.

After I tried all the usual stuff that you find here in the forums (including resetting SMC and PRAM), I consulted a genius and was told that I had a "Vintage Mac"... but he also told me to try a "clean install" of Yosemite from an external boot disk, e.g. a USB stick or HD.

He pointed me to two links:

Create a bootable installer for OS X Mavericks or Yosemite - Apple Support

http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/16/make-os-x-yosemite-boot-install-drive/

Although he had told me that an 8 GB stick would be sufficient, it turned out it isn't; you will need a 16GB.

This did the trick for me, I even didn't have to erase my startup disk, but just installed Yosemite once more, which is probably not a real "clean" install. If it hadn't worked, I would have erased and formatted my disk before installing Yosemite again.

Needless to say that you need a (time machine) backup before you do that, but y'all are seasoned users and do that anyway, right? 😉

HELP!!!! i think i have the same problem... what do i do??

Problem description:

Spinning wheel of death- slow unresponsive computer

EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)

Report generated March 10, 2015 at 3:47:01 AM WAT

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Hardware Information: ℹ️

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) (Technical Specifications)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro9,2

1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 117

Video Information: ℹ️

Intel HD Graphics 4000

Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.2 (14C109) - Time since boot: 0:15:15

Disk Information: ℹ️

APPLE HDD HTS545050A7E362 disk0 : (500.11 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 498.88 GB (305.14 GB free)

Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS41N

USB Information: ℹ️

CME Xkey

Akai Professional AMX

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.rane.driver.sl2.10.6 (1.0.0f3) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.rane.driver.sl4.10.6 (1.0.1f3 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]

[loaded] com.serato.usb.kext (2.3.0) [Click for support]

[not loaded] jp.co.pioneer.driver.DDJ-SZAudio (1.0.0 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]

[not loaded] jp.co.pioneer.driver.DJM-900SRTAudio (1.0.1 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.intego.backupassistant.agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.fitbit.galileod.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.intego.BackupAssistant.daemon.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.rane.sl2.daemon.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.rane.sl4.daemon.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Android File Transfer Agent Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)

DDJ-SZ AutoLauncher Application (/Applications/Pioneer/DDJ-SZ/DDJ-SZ Setup.app/Contents/Resources/DDJ-SZ AutoLauncher.app)

Fitbit Connect Menubar Helper Application (/Applications/Fitbit Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/Fitbit Connect Menubar Helper.app)

DJM-900SRT AutoLauncher Application (/Applications/Pioneer/DJM-900SRT/DJM-900SRT Setup.app/Contents/Resources/DJM-900SRT AutoLauncher.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 31 Check version

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

Audio Plug-ins: ℹ️

DVCPROHDAudio: Version: 1.3.2

SeratoVirtualAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0.11 [Click for support]

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player [Click for support]

FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) [Click for support]

Java [Click for support]

SL 2 Audio Control Panel [Click for support]

SL 4 Audio Control Panel [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

13% coreaudiod

10% Live

6% WindowServer

1% loginwindow

0% fontd

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

228 MB Live

94 MB Finder

73 MB Safari

73 MB bird

73 MB ocspd

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

121 MB Free RAM

1.79 GB Active RAM

1.62 GB Inactive RAM

713 MB Wired RAM

5.87 GB Page-ins

44 MB Page-outs

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Mar 10, 2015, 03:32:52 AM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/cloudd_2015-03-10-033252_[reda cted].crash [Click for details]

Mar 10, 2015, 03:30:24 AM Self test - passed

Mar 10, 2015, 02:20:27 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Soundtrack Pro_2015-03-10-022027_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Click for details]

Mar 10, 2015, 12:26:28 AM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Serato DJ_2015-03-10-002628_[redacted].crash

Mar 10, 2015, 12:24:07 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/blued_2015-03-10-002407_[redacted].crash