iMac mid 2011 going slow sometimes...

Download and run Etrecheck. Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here (and recommended by Apple Support personnel) in the ASC to help identify the more obvious culprits.

When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.

Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.

Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.

The test works on OS X 10.7 ("Lion") and later. I don't recommend running it on older versions of OS X. It will do no harm, but it won't do much good either.

Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.

2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.

There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.

You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.

In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.

You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of it have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message. See, for example, this discussion.

Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.

4. Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:

☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.

☞ Paste into the window of another application.

☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.

☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.

The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.

5. Try to test under conditions that reproduce the problem, as far as possible. For example, if the computer is sometimes, but not always, slow, run the test during a slowdown.

You may have started up in "safe" mode. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.

6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.

7. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.

Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/libexec;clear;cd;p=(1295 ' 0.5 0.25 50 1000 15 5120 1000 25000 6 6 5 1 0 100 ' 51 25600 4 10 25 5120 102400 1000 25 1536 450 40 500 300 85 25 20480 262144 20 2000 524288 604800 5 1024 25 );k=({Soft,Hard}ware Memory Diagnostics Power FireWire Thunderbolt USB Bluetooth SerialATA Extensions Applications Frameworks PrefPane Fonts Displays PCI UniversalAccess InstallHistory ConfigurationProfile AirPort 'com\.apple\.' -\\t N\\/A 'AES|atr|udit|msa|dnse|ax|ensh|fami|FileS|fing|ft[pw]|gedC|kdu|etS|is\.|alk|ODSA|otp|htt|pace|pcas|ps-lp|rexe|rlo|rsh|smb|snm|teln|upd-[aw]|uuc|vix|webf' OSBundle{Require,AllowUserLoa}d 'Mb/s:Mb/s:ms/s:KiB/s:%:total:MB:total:lifetime:sampled:per sec' 'Net in:Net out:I/O wait time:I/O requests:CPU usage:Open files:Memory:Mach ports:Energy:Energy:File opens:Forks:Failed forks:System errors' 'tsA|[ST]M[HL]' PlistBuddy{,' 2>&1'}' -c Print' 'Info\.plist' CFBundleIdentifier );f=('\n%s'{': ','\n\n'}'%s\n' '\nRAM details\n%s\n' %s{' ','\n'{"${k[22]}",}}'%s\n' '%.1f GiB: %s\n' '\n ...and %s more line(s)\n' '\nContents of %s\n '"${k[22]}"'mod date: %s\n '"${k[22]}"'checksum: %s\n%s\n' );c=(879294308 4071182229 461455494 216630318 3627668074 1083382502 1274181950 1855907737 2758863019 1848501757 464843899 2636415542 3694147963 1233118628 2456546649 2806998573 2778718105 842973933 1383871077 1591517921 676087606 1445213025 2051385900 3301885676 891055588 998894468 695903914 1443423563 4136085286 3374894509 1051159591 892310726 1707497389 523110921 2883943871 3873345487 );s=(' s/[0-9A-Za-z._]+@[0-9A-Za-z.]+\.[0-9A-Za-z]{2,4}/EMAIL/g;/faceb/s/(at\.)[^.]+/\1NAME/g;/\/Shared/!s/(\/Users\/)[^ /]+/\1USER/g;s/[-0-9A-Fa-f]{22,}/UUID/g;' ' s/^ +//;/de: S|[nst]:/p;' ' {sub(/^ +/,"")};/er:/;/y:/&&$2<'${p[4]} ' s/:$//;3,6d;/[my].+:/d;s/^ {4}//;H;${ g;s/\n$//;/s: (E[^m]|[^EO])|x([^08]|02[^F]|8[^0])/p;} ' ' 5h;6{ H;g;/P/!p;} ' ' ($1~/^Cy/&&$3>'${p[9]}')||($1~/^Cond/&&$2!~/^N/) ' ' /:$/{ N;/:.+:/d;s/ *://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ *(V.+ [0N]|Man).+ /{ s/ 0x.... //;s/[()]//g;s/(.+: )(.+)/ (\2)/;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;s/\n\n//;/Apple[ ,]|Genesy|Intel|SMSC/d;s/\n.*//;/\)$/p;' ' s/^.*C/C/;H;${ g;/No th|pms/!p;} ' '/= [^GO]/p' '{$1=""};1' ' /Of|yc/!{ s/^.+is |\.//g;p;q;} ' ' BEGIN { FS="\f";if(system("A1 42 83 114")) d="^'"${k[21]}"'launch(d\.peruser\.[0-9]+|ctl\.(Aqua|Background|System))$";} { if($2~/[1-9]/) { $2="status: "$2;printf("'"${f[4]}"'",$1,$2);} else if(!d||$1!~d) print $1;} ' ' $1>1{$NF=$NF" x"$1} /\*/{if(!f)f="\n\t* Code injection"} {$1=""} 1;END{print f} ' ' NR==2&&$4<='${p[7]}'{print $4} ' ' BEGIN{FS=":"} ($1~"wir"&&$2>'${p[22]}') {printf("wired %.1f\n",$2/2^18)} ($1~/P.+ts/&&$2>'${p[19]}') {printf("paged %.1f\n",$2/2^18)} ' '/YLD/s/=/ /p' ' { q=$1;$1="";u=$NF;$NF="";gsub(/ +$/,"");print q"\f"$0"\f"u;} ' ' /^ {6}[^ ]/d;s/:$//;/([^ey]|[^n]e):/d;/e: Y/d;s/: Y.+//g;H;${ g;s/ \n (\n)/\1/g;s/\n +(M[^ ]+)[ -~]+/ (\1)/;s/\n$//;/( {8}[^ ].*){2,}/p;} ' 's:^:/:p;' ' !/, .+:/ { print;n++;} 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system "$4"%";next;} $2~/^disk/&&$4>M2 { o[$2]=$2": "$3" ops/s, "$4" blocks/s";next;} $2~/^(en[0-9]|bridg)/ { if(o[$2]) { e=$3+$4+$5+$6;if(e) o[$2]=o[$2]"; errors "e"/s";next;};if($4>M3||$6>M4) o[$2]=$2": in "int($4/1024)", out "int($6/1024)" (KiB/s)";} END { for(i in o) print o[i];} ' ' /r\[0\] /&&$NF!~/^1(0|72\.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1])|92\.168)\./ { print $NF;exit;} ' ' !/^T/ { printf "(static)";exit;} ' '/apsd|BKAg|OpenD/!s/:.+//p' ' (/k:/&&$3!~/(255\.){3}0/)||(/v6:/&&$2!~/A/) ' ' BEGIN{FS=": "} /^ {10}O/ {exit} /^ {0,12}[^ ]/ {next} $1~"Ne"&&$2!~/^In/{print} $1~"Si" { split($2,a," ");if(a[1]-a[4]<'${p[5]}') print;};$1~"T"&&$2<'${p[20]}'{print};$1~"Se"&&$2!~"2"{print};' ' BEGIN { FS="\f";} { n=split($3,a,".");sub(/_2[01].+/,"",$3);print $2" "$3" "a[n]$1;} ' ' BEGIN { split("'"${p[1]}"'",m);FS="\f";} $2<=m[$1]{next} $1==9||$1==10 { "ps -c -ouid -p"$4"|sed 1d"|getline $4;} $1<11 { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n "$3" (UID "int($4)"): "$2;} $1==11&&$5!~"^/dev" { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n "$3" (UID "$4") => "$5" (status "$6"): "$2;} $1==12&&$5 { "ps -c -ocomm -p"$5"|sed 1d"|getline n;if(n) $5=n;o[$1]=o[$1]"\n "$5" => "$3" (UID "$4"): "$2;} $1~/1[34]/ { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n "$3" (UID "$4", error "$5"): "$2;} END { n=split("'"${k[27]}"'",u,":");for(i=n+1;i<n+4;i++)u[i]=u[n];split("'"${k[28]}"'",l,":");for(i=1;i<15;i++) if(o[i])print "\n"l[i]" ("u[i]")\n"o[i];} ' ' /^ {8}[^ ]/{print} ' ' BEGIN { L='${p[17]}';} !/^[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$/ { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n "$0;} END { F=FILENAME;if(!F) exit;if(!f) f="\n [N/A]";"cksum "F|getline C;split(C, A);C=A[1];"stat -f%Sm "F|getline D;"file -b "F|getline T;if(T~/^Apple b/) { f="";l=0;while("'"${k[30]}"' "F|getline g) { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n "g;};};if(T!~/^(AS.+ (En.+ )?text(, with v.+)?$|(Bo|PO).+ sh.+ text ex|XM)/) F=F"\n '"${k[22]}"'"T;printf("'"${f[8]}"'",F,D,C,f);if(l>L) printf("'"${f[7]}"'",l-L);} ' ' s/^ ?n...://p;s/^ ?p...:/-'$'\t''/p;' 's/0/Off/p' 's/^.{52}(.+) <.+/\1/p' ' /id: N|te: Y/{i++} END{print i} ' ' /kext:/ { split($0,a,":");p=a[1];k[S]='${k[25]}';k[U]='${k[26]}';v[S]="Safe";v[U]="true";for(i in k) { s=system("'"${k[30]}"'\\ :"k[i]" \""p"\"/*/I*|grep -qw "v[i]);if(!s) a[1]=a[1]" "i;};if(!a[2]) a[2]="'"${k[23]}"'";printf("'"${f[4]}"'",a[1],a[2]);next;} !/^ *$/ { p="'"${k[31]}"'\\ :'"${k[33]}"' \""$0"\"/*/'${k[32]}'";p|getline b;close(p);if(b~/, .+:/||b=="") b="'"${k[23]}"'";printf("'"${f[4]}"'",$0,b);} ' '/ en/!s/\.//p' ' NR>=13 { gsub(/[^0-9]/,"",$1);print;} ' ' $10~/\(L/&&$9!~"localhost" { sub(/.+:/,"",$9);print $1": "$9|"sort|uniq";} ' '/^ +r/s/.+"(.+)".+/\1/p' 's/(.+\.wdgt)\/(Contents\/)?'${k[32]}'$/\1/p' 's/^.+\/(.+)\.wdgt$/\1/p' ' /l: /{ /DVD/d;s/.+: //;b0'$'\n'' };/s: /{ / [VY]/d;s/^ */- /;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;/APPLE [^:]+$/d;p;' '/^find: /!p;' ' /^p/{ s/.//g;x;s/\nu/'$'\f''/;s/(\n)c/\1'$'\f''/;s/\n\n//;p;};H;' ' BEGIN{FS="= "} /Path/{print $2} ' ' /^ *$/d;s/^ */ /;p;' ' s/^.+ |\(.+\)$//g;p;' '1;END{if(NR<'${p[15]}')printf("^/(S|usr/(X|li))")}' ' /2/{print "WARN"};/4/{print 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$NF"\f"a[split($(NF-1),a," ")];} ' '|tail -n'{${p[6]},${p[10]}} ' s/.+bus /Bus: /;s/,.+[(]/ /;s/,.+//p;' ' { $NF=$NF" Errors: "$1;$1="";} 1 ' ' 1s/^/\'$'\n''/;/^ +(([MNPRSV]|De|Li|Tu).+|Bus): .|d: Y/d;s/:$//;$d;p;' ' BEGIN { RS=",";FS=":";} $1~"name" { gsub("\"","",$2);print $2;} ' '|grep -q e:/' '/[^ .]/p' '{ print $1}' ' /^ +N.+: [1-9]/ { i++;} END { if(i) print "system: "i;} ' ' NF { print "'{admin,user}' "$NF;exit;} ' ' /se.+ =/,/[\}]/!d;/[=\}]/!p ' ' 3,4d;/^ +D|Of|Fu| [0B]/d;s/^ |:$//g;$!H;${ x;/:/p;} ' ' BEGIN { FS=": ";} NR==1 { sub(":","");h="\n"$1"\n";} /:$/ { l=$1;next;} $1~"S"&&$2!~3 { getline;next;} /^ {6}I/ { i++;L[i]=l" "$2;if(i=='${p[24]}') exit;} END { if(i) print h;for(j=0;j<i;j++) print L[i-j];} ' ' /./H;${ x;s/\n//;s/\n/, /g;/,/p;} ' ' {if(int($6)>'${p[25]}')printf("swap used %.1f\n",$6/1024)} ' ' BEGIN{FS="\""} $3~/ t/&&$2!~/'{${k[24]},${k[29]}}'/{print $2} ' ' int($1)>13 ' p ' BEGIN{FS="DB="} { sub(/\.db.*/,".db",$2);print $2;} ' {,1d\;}'/r%/,/^$/p' ' NR==1{next} NR>11||!$0{exit} {print $NF"\f"substr($0,1,32)"\f"$(NF-7)} ' '/e:/{print $2}' ' /^[(]/{ s/....//;s/$/:/;N;/: [)]$/d;s/\n.+ ([^ ]+).$/\1/;H;};${ g;p;} ' '1;END { exit "find /var/db/r*/'${k[21]}'*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom -mtime -'${p[23]}'s"|getline;} ' ' NR<='${p[26]}' { o=o"\n"$0;next;} { o="";exit;} END{print o|"sed 1d"} ' );c1=(system_profiler pmset\ -g nvram fdesetup find syslog df vm_stat sar ps crontab kextfind top pkgutil "${k[30]}\\" echo cksum kextstat launchctl smcDiagnose sysctl\ -n defaults\ read stat lsbom 'mdfind -onlyin' env pluginkit scutil 'dtrace -q -x aggsortrev -n' security sed\ -En awk 'dscl . -read' networksetup mdutil lsof test osascript\ -e netstat mdls route cat uname powermetrics );c2=(${k[21]}loginwindow\ LoginHook ' /L*/P*/loginw*' "'tell app \"System Events\" to get properties of login items'" 'L*/Ca*/'${k[21]}'Saf*/E* -d 2 -name '${k[32]} '~ $TMPDIR.. \( -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 \)' -i '-nl -print' '-F \$Sender -k Level Nle 3 -k Facility Req "'${k[21]}'('{'bird|.*i?clou','lsu|sha'}')"' "-f'%N: %l' Desktop {/,}L*/Keyc*" therm sysload boot-args status " -F '\$Time \$Message' -k Sender kernel -k Message CRne '0xdc008012|(allow|call)ing|Goog|(mplet|nabl)ed|ry HD|safe b|xpm' -k Message CReq 'bad |Can.t l|corru|dead|fail|GPU |hfs: Ru|inval|Limiti|v_c|NVDA[(]|pagin|Purg(ed|in)|error|Refus|TCON|tim(ed? ?|ing )o|trig|WARN' " '-du -n DEV -n EDEV 1 10' 'acrx -o%cpu,comm,ruid' "' syscall::recvfrom:return {@a[execname,uid]=sum(arg0)} syscall::sendto:return {@b[execname,uid]=sum(arg0)} syscall::open*:entry {@c[execname,uid,copyinstr(arg0),errno]=count()} syscall::execve:return, syscall::posix_spawn:return {@d[execname,uid,ppid]=count()} syscall::fork:return, syscall::vfork:return, syscall::posix_spawn:return /arg0<0/ {@e[execname,uid,arg0]=count()} syscall:::return /errno!=0/ {@f[execname,uid,errno]=count()} io:::wait-start {self->t=timestamp} io:::wait-done /self->t/ { this->T=timestamp - self->t;@g[execname,uid]=sum(this->T);self->t=0;} io:::start {@h[execname,uid]=sum(args[0]->b_bcount)} tick-10sec { normalize(@a,2560000);normalize(@b,2560000);normalize(@c,10);normalize(@d,10);normalize(@e,10);normalize(@f,10);normalize(@g,10000000);normalize(@h,10240);printa(\"1\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@a);printa(\"2\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@b);printa(\"11\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%s\f%d\n\",@c);printa(\"12\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%d\n\",@d);printa(\"13\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%d\n\",@e);printa(\"14\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%d\n\",@f);printa(\"3\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@g);printa(\"4\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@h);exit(0);} '" '-f -pfc /var/db/r*/'${k[21]}'*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom' '{/,}L*/Lo*/Diag* -type f -regex .\*[cght] ! -name .?\* ! -name \*ag \( -exec grep -lq "^Thread c" {} \; -exec printf \* \; -o -true \) -execdir stat -f'$'\f''%Sc'$'\f''%N -t%F {} \;' '/S*/*/Ca*/*xpc*' '-L /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems -type f -exec file {} +' /\ kMDItemContentTypeTree=${k[21]}{bundle,mach-o-dylib} :Label "/p*/e*/{auto*,{cron,fs}tab,hosts,{[lp],sy}*.conf,mach_i*/*,pam.d/*,ssh{,d}_config,*.local} {/p*,/usr/local}/e*/periodic/*/* /L*/P*{,/*}/com.a*.{Bo,sec*.ap}*t {/S*/,/,}L*/Lau*/*t .launchd.conf" list '-F "" -k Sender hidd -k Level Nle 3' /Library/Preferences/${k[21]}alf\ globalstate --proxy '-n get default' vm.swapusage --dns -get{dnsservers,info} dump-trust-settings\ {-s,-d,} -n1 '-R -ce -l1 -n5 -o'{'prt -stats prt','mem -stats mem'}',command,uid' -kl -l -s\ / '--regexp --files '${k[21]}'pkg.*' '+c0 -i4TCP:0-1023' ${k[21]}dashboard\ layer-gadgets '-d /L*/Mana*/$USER' '-app Safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled' '-Fcu +c0 -l' -m 'L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.???????' kern.memorystatus_vm_pressure_level '3>&1 >&- 2>&3' '-F \$Message -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq "'{'n Cause: -','(a und|I/O |jnl_io.+)err|disk.+abo','USBF:.+bus'}'"' -name\ kMDItem${k[33]} -T\ hfs '-n get default' -listnetworkserviceorder :${k[33]} :CFBundleDisplayName $EUID {'$TMPDIR../C ','/{S*/,}'}'L*/{,Co*/*/*/L*/}{Cache,Log}s -type f -size +'${p[11]}'M -exec stat -f%z'$'\f''%N {} \;' \ /v*/d*/*/*l*d{,.*.$UID}/* '-app Safari UserStyleSheetEnabled' 'L*/A*/Fi*/P*/*/a*.json' users/$USER\ HomeDirectory '{/,}L*/{Con,Pref}* -type f ! -size 0 -name *.plist -exec plutil -s {} \;' ' -F "\$Time \$(Sender): \$Message" -k Sender Rne "launchd|nsurls" -k Level Nle 3 -k Facility R'{'ne "user|','eq "'}'console" -k Message CRne "[{}<>]|asser|commit - no t|deprec|done |ect pas|fmfd|Goog|ksho|ndum|obso|realp|rned f|/root|sandbox ex" ' getenv '/ "kMDItemDateAdded>=\$time.now(-'${p[23]}')&&kMDItem'${k[33]}'=*"' -m\ / '' ' -F "\$Time \$(RefProc): \$Message" -k Sender Req launchd -k Level Nle 3 -k Message Rne "asse|bug|File ex|hij|Ig|Jet|key is|lid t|Plea|ship" ' print{,-disabled}\ {system,{gui,user}/$UID} '-n1 --show-initial-usage --show-process-energy' -r ' -F "\$Message" -k Sender nsurlstoraged -k Time ge -1h -k Level Nle 4 -k Message Req "^(ER|IN)" ' '~ "kMDItemKind=Package"' );N1=${#c2[@]};for j in {0..20};do c2[N1+j]=SP${k[j]}DataType;done;l=({Restricted\ ,Lock,Pro}files POST Battery {Safari,App,{Bad,Loaded}\ kernel,Firefox}\ extensions System\ load boot\ args FileVault\ {2,1} {Kernel,System,Console,launchd}\ log SMC Login\ hook 'I/O per process' 'High file counts' UID {System,Login,Agent,User}' services '{load,disabl}ed {Admin,Root}\ access Font\ issues Firewall Proxies DNS TCP/IP Wi-Fi 'Elapsed time (sec)' {Root,User}\ crontab {Global,User}' login items' Spotlight Memory\ pressure Listeners Widgets Parental\ Controls Prefetching Nets Volumes {Continuity,I/O,iCloud,HID,HCI}\ errors {User,System}\ caches/logs XPC\ cache Startup\ items Shutdown\ codes Heat Diagnostic\ reports Bad\ {plist,cache}s 'VM (GiB)' Bundles{,' (new)'} Trust\ settings Activity Free\ space Stylesheet Library\ paths{,' ('{shell,launchd}\)} Data\ packages );N3=${#l[@]};for i in {0..8};do l[N3+i]=${k[5+i]};done;F() { local x="${s[$1]}";[[ "$x" =~ ^([\&\|\<\>]|$) ]]&&{ printf "$x";return;};:|${c1[30]} "$x" 2>&-;printf "%s \'%s\'" "|${c1[30+$?]}" "$x";};A0() { Q=6;v[2]=1;id -G|grep -qw 80;v[1]=$?;((v[1]))||{ Q=7;sudo -v;v[2]=$?;((v[2]))||Q=8;};v[3]=`date +%s`;date '+Start time: %T %D%n';printf '\n[Process started]\n\n'>&4;printf 'Revision: %s\n\n' ${p[0]};};A1() { local c="${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}";shift 2;c="$c ` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`";((P2))&&{ c="sudo $c";P2=;};v=`eval "$c"`;[[ "$v" ]];};A2() { local c="${c1[$1]}";[[ "$c" =~ ^(awk|sed ) ]]&&c="$c '${s[$2]}'"||c="$c ${c2[$2]}";shift 2;local d=` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`;((P2))&&{ c="sudo $c";P2=;};local a;v=` while read a;do eval "$c '$a' $d";done<<<"$v";`;[[ "$v" ]];};A3(){ v=$((`date +%s`-v[3]));};export -f A1 A2 F;B1() { v=No;! ((v[1]))&&{ v=;P1=1;};};eval "`type -a B1|sed '1d;s/1/2/'`";B3(){ v[$1]="$v";};B4() { local i=$1;local j=$2;shift 2;local c="cat` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`";v[j]=`eval "{ $c;}"<<<"${v[i]}"`;};B5(){ v="${v[$1]}"$'\n'"${v[$2]}";};B6() { v=` paste -d$'\e' <(printf "${v[$1]}") <(printf "${v[$2]}")|awk -F$'\e' ' {printf("'"${f[$3]}"'",$1,$2)} ' `;};B7(){ v=`egrep -v "${v[$1]}"<<<"$v"|sort`;};eval "`type -a B7|sed '1d;s/7/8/;s/-v //'`";C0() { [[ "$v" ]]&&sed -E "$s"<<<"$v";};C1() { [[ "$v" ]]&&printf "${f[$1]}" "${l[$2]}" "$v"|sed -E "$s";};C2() { v=`echo $v`;[[ "$v" != 0 ]]&&C1 0 $1;};C3() { B4 0 0 63&&C1 1 $1;};C4() { echo $'\t'"Part $((++P)) of $Q done at $((`date +%s`-v[3])) sec">&4;};C5() { sudo -k;pbcopy<<<"$o";printf '\n\tThe test results are on the Clipboard.\n\n\tPlease close this window.\n';exit 2>&-;};for i in 1 2;do eval D$((i-1))'() { A'$i' $@;C0;};';for j in 2 3;do eval D$((i+2*j-3))'() { local x=$1;shift;A'$i' $@;C'$j' $x;};';done;done;trap C5 2;o=$({ A0;D0 0 N1+1 2;D0 0 $N1 1;B1;C2 31;B1&&! B2&&C2 32;D2 22 15 63;D0 0 N1+2 3;D0 0 N1+15 17;D4 3 0 N1+3 4;D4 4 0 N1+4 5;D4 N3+4 0 N1+9 59;D0 0 N1+16 99;for i in 0 1 2;do D4 N3+i 0 N1+5+i 6;done;D4 N3+3 0 N1+8 71;D4 62 1 10 7;D4 10 1 11 8;B2&&D4 18 19 53 67;D2 11 2 12 9;D2 12 3 13 10;D2 13 32 70 101 25;D2 71 6 76 13;D2 45 20 52 66;A1 7 77 14;B3 28;A1 20 31 111;B6 0 28 5;B4 0 0 110;C2 66;D4 70 8 15 38;D0 9 16 16 77 45;C4;B2&&D0 35 49 61 75 76 78 45;B2&&{ D0 28 17 45;C4;};B2&&{ A1 43 85 117;B3 29;B4 0 0 119 76 81 45;C0;B4 29 0 118 119 76 82 45;C0; };D0 12 40 54 16 79 45;D0 12 39 54 16 80 45;D4 74 25 77 15&&{ B4 0 8 103;B4 8 0;A2 18 74;B6 8 0 3;C3 75;};B2&&D4 19 21 0;B2&&D4 40 10 42;D2 2 0 N1+19 46 84;D2 44 34 43 53;D2 59 22 20 32;D2 33 0 N1+14 51;for i in {0..2};do A1 29 35+i 104+i;B3 25+i;done;B6 25 27 5;B6 0 26 5;B4 0 0 110;C2 69;D2 34 21 28 35;D4 35 27 29 36;A1 40 59 120;B3 18;A1 33 60 121;B8 18;B4 0 19 83;A1 27 32 39&&{ B3 20;B4 19 0;A2 33 33 40;B3 21;B6 20 21 3;};C2 36;D4 50 38 5 68;B4 19 0;D5 37 33 34 42;B2&&D4 46 35 45 55;D4 38 0 N1+20 43;B2&&D4 58 4 65 76 91;D4 63 4 19 44 75 95 12;B1&&{ D4 53 5 55 75 69&&D4 51 6 58 31;D4 56 5 56 97 75 98&&D0 0 N1+7 99;D2 55 5 27 84;D4 61 5 54 75 70;D4 14 5 14 96;D4 15 5 72 96;D4 17 5 78 96;C4;};D4 16 5 73 96;A1 13 44 74 18;C4;B3 4;B4 4 0 85;A2 14 61 89;B4 0 5 19 102;A1 17 41 50;B7 5;C3 8;B4 4 0 88;A2 14 24 89;C4;B4 0 6 19 102;B4 4 0 86;A2 14 61 89;B4 0 7 19 102;B5 6 7;B4 0 11 73 102;A1 42 86 114;j=$?;for i in 0 1 2;do ((i==2&&j==1))&&break;((! j))||((i))||B2&&A1 18 $((79+i-(i+53)*j)) 107+8*j 94 74||continue;B7 11;B4 0 0 11;C3 $((23+i*(1+i+2*j)));D4 $((24+i*(1+i+2*j))) 18-4*j 82+i-16*j $((112+((3-i)*i-40*j)/2));done;D4 60 4 21 24;D4 42 14 1 62;D4 43 37 2 90 48;D4 41 10 42;D2 48 36 47 25;A1 4 3 60&&{ B3 9;A2 14 61;B4 0 10 21;B4 9 0;A2 14 62;B4 0 0 21;B6 0 10 4;C3 5;};D4 9 41 69 100;D2 72 21 68 35;D2 49 21 48 49;B4 4 22 57 102;A1 21 46 56 74;B7 22;B4 0 0 58;C3 47;D4 54 5 7 75 76 69;D4 52 5 8 75 76 69;D4 57 4 64 76 91;D2 0 4 4 84;D2 1 4 51 84;D4 21 22 9 37;D0 0 N1+17 108;D4 76 24 88;A1 23 18 28 89;B4 0 16 22 102;A1 16 25 33;B7 16;B4 0 0 34;D1 31 47;D4 64 4 71 41;D4 65 5 87 116 74;C4;B4 4 12 26 89 23 102;for i in {0..3};do A1 0 N1+10+i 72 74;B7 12;B4 0 0 52;C3 N3+5+i;((i))||C4;done;A1 24 22 29;B7 12;B3 14;A2 39 57 30;B6 14 0 4;C3 67;A1 24 75 74;B4 1 1 122||B7 12;B4 0 0 123;B3 23;A2 39 57 30;B6 23 0 4;C3 68;B4 4 13 27 89 65;A1 24 23;B7 13;C3 73;B4 4 0 87;A2 14 61 89 20;B4 0 17;A1 26 50 64;B7 17;C3 6;D0 0 N1+18 109;D4 7 11 6;A3;C2 39;C4;} 4>&2 2>/dev/null;);C5

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

8. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.

9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter

exec bash

and press return. Then paste the script again.

10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.

If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.

11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, a series of lines will appear in the Terminal window like this:

[Process started]

Part 1 of 8 done at … sec
…
Part 8 of 8 done at … sec

The test results are on the Clipboard.

Please close this window.

[Process completed]

The intervals between parts won't be exactly equal, but they give a rough indication of progress. The total number of parts may be different from what's shown here.

Wait for the final message "Process completed" to appear. If you don't see it within about ten minutes, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, press the key combination control-C or command-period to stop it and go to the next step. You'll have incomplete results, but still something.

12. When the test is complete, or if you stopped it because it was taking too long, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.

At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.

If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.

13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "You are not authorized to post." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak for themselves, not for me. The test itself is harmless, but whatever else you're told to do may not be. For others who choose to run it, I don't recommend that you post the test results on this website unless I asked you to.

______________________________________________________________

Copyright © 2014, 2015 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

The startup drive is failing, or there is some other internal hardware fault. Your model was the subject of a warranty extension program, now ended, because of defective hard drives.

Back up all data on the drive immediately if you don't already have a current backup. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.

Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.

Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair

Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.

*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.