Will clean install speed up my 2011 MBP?

Question

JLA-1978 Author

Level 1

8 points

Will clean install speed up my 2011 MBP?

Hello all,

My early 2011 MBP is now almost unusably slow - 7 mins on average to boot and login. My HDD is less than 3/4 full, the CPU is never over-taxed, and 95% of the time the memory is completely adequate (the other 5% is when I'm using image and data analysis, and even then memory pressure is amber at worst). I'm now getting ready to swap over to an SSD, and planning to do a clean install while I'm at it. This got me thinking - would a clean install by itself (keeping the old HDD) solve the problem? I get the impression that my HDD is so old now that it will need replacing regardless... Any / all advice appreciated!! If it helps, my specs are El Capitan, 2.2GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD (at 5400 rpm I think...). Cheers!

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011)

Posted on May 3, 2016 12:02 PM

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Answer 1

May 3, 2016 12:30 PM in response to JLA-1978

Hi Jla-1978:

Try downloading and running EtreCheck https://etrecheck.com/ and post the results here.

Hopefully it will show what is slowing down your computer.

I also have an Early 13" MBP. I have increased the RAM to 8GB (you can go up to 16GB) and have upgraded hard drive to a Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD and I have seen a dramatic speed increase.

Kim

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Answer 2

JLA-1978 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2016 10:35 PM in response to KimUserName

Thanks so much Kim,

Results below... Please translate into plain English!!

EtreCheck version: 2.9.12 (265)

Report generated 2016-05-04 07:28:23

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 5:32

Performance: Below Average

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

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

Check Apple signatures: Enabled

Problem: Computer is too slow

Description:

Generally very slow. Very slow to boot and login (7 mins); frequent beach balling; apps very slow to open

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2

1 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

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

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 781

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 3000

Color LCD 1680 x 1050

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1024 MB

System Software: ⓘ

OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 (15E65) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: ⓘ

Hitachi HTS725050A9A362 disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

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

Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 498.88 GB (151.04 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898 ()

USB Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Applications/InsomniaX.app

[not loaded] net.semaja2.kext.insomnia (2.1.7 - SDK 10.9 - 2014-10-11) [Support]

/Applications/SurfEasy VPN.app

[not loaded] com.surfeasy.tun (20111101 - 2015-07-15) [Support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.tomtom.driver.UsbEthernetGadget (1.0.0d1 - 2016-04-24) [Support]

Startup Items: ⓘ

HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr

HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect

NASPower: Path: /Library/StartupItems/NASPower

StartOuc: Path: /Library/StartupItems/StartOuc

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks

[loaded] 161 Apple tasks

[running] 59 Apple tasks

[killed] 10 Apple tasks

10 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 44 Apple tasks

[loaded] 158 Apple tasks

[running] 74 Apple tasks

[killed] 13 Apple tasks

13 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a...plist (2016-02-18) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2013-11-15) [Support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (2015-10-16) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2016-02-18) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2016-02-18) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-04-16) [Support]

[running] com.cleverfiles.cfbackd.plist (2015-08-29) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2014-02-26) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2013-11-15) [Support]

[loaded] com.surfeasy.ShieldService.plist (2015-09-19) [Support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (2015-10-16) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[failed] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2012-11-04) [Support]

[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist (2011-05-14) - /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/OSServices.framewo rk/Versions/A/Support/CSConfigDotMacCert: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-03-03) [Support]

[failed] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2013-02-24) [Support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2015-10-30) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ

Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Other Apps: ⓘ

[running] com.getdropbox.dropbox.52512

[running] org.mozilla.firefox.54432

[loaded] 401 Apple tasks

[running] 163 Apple tasks

[killed] 23 Apple tasks

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-28) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-04-24)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.010.20056 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-18) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 15.010.20056 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-18) [Support]

CANONiMAGEGATEWAYDL: 3.1.0.2 (2009-09-09) [Support]

Flash Player: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-28) [Support]

Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-04-24)

Silverlight: 5.1.41212.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-02-19) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 77 build 03 (2016-03-30) Check version

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

Zotero Connector - Center for History and New Media - http://www.zotero.org/ (2014-09-02)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-04-16) [Support]

Java (2016-03-30) [Support]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: ON

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 498.88 GB Disk used: 347.84 GB

Destinations:

+44 [Local]

Total size: 2.00 TB

Total number of backups: 39

Oldest backup: 30/08/2015, 02:33

Last backup: 03/05/2016, 22:45

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 2.00 TB > (Disk size 498.88 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

7% WindowServer

1% kernel_task

1% fontd

0% SystemUIServer

0% ps

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

486 MB kernel_task

328 MB mdworker(17)

254 MB firefox

119 MB Mail

86 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

100 MB Free RAM

3.89 GB Used RAM (626 MB Cached)

5 MB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

May 4, 2016, 06:48:01 AM Self test - passed

May 3, 2016, 11:04:27 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/BBC iPlayer Downloads_2016-05-03-230427_[redacted].crash

BBCiPlayerDownloads - /Applications/BBC iPlayer Downloads.app/Contents/MacOS/BBC iPlayer Downloads

May 3, 2016, 07:11:10 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/DoubleTake_2016-05-03-191110_[redacted].crash

com.echoone.doubletake - /Applications/DoubleTake.app/Contents/MacOS/DoubleTake

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Answer 3

kaz-k

Level 9

51,108 points

May 3, 2016 10:47 PM in response to JLA-1978

As kimusername told, I also recommend to upgrade RAM and replace HDD with SSD will be quite faster than the current environment.

My early 2011 MacBook Pro has good enough speed with 16GB RAM and Toshiba 250GB SSD.

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Answer 4

May 4, 2016 11:08 AM in response to JLA-1978

Hi JLA-1978:

You are running OS X 10.11.4 and only have 4GB of RAM.

I have a 13 inch, Early 2011 MacBook Pro and found when I upgraded to El Capitan that I also noticed a slowdown. El Capitan runs much better on at least 8GB of RAM.

Also it took 5 minutes and 32 seconds to download the EtreCheck report. Usually it take about 2 minutes. The last time I ran it on my computer it took 1:42. One possible cause could be a failing hard drive although it could be something else as well. I see you are using Time Machine, which is excellent in case of a hard drive failure. Also you may want to consider making a clone of your hard drive as described below.

The first thing I did was to upgrade the memory. It is very easy.

OWC OWC memory or crucial Crusial Mac memory are good places to get memory. You can put in up to 16 GB of RAM.

Then I upgraded my Early 2011 13 inch Macbook Pro using a Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD and I have seen a dramatic speed increase. Samsung drive worked very well for me but there are a lot of people on this forum who would tell you to stay away from Samsung and go with either OWC or Crusial.

OWC is a good place to go for upgrading your Macbook Pro.

OWC SSD's: OWC SSD's

Once you decide on an SSD, I suggest that you install it in an enclosure OWC external case or using a USB to SATA adapter USB to SATA adapter and connect it to your MBP via USB.

Open Disk Utility>Erase and format the SSD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and a GUID partition.

Then use a third party application such as Carbon Copy Cloner Carbon Copy Cloner (Not free, but worth the price) or Super Duper to copy all data from the internal HDD as well as the recovery partition.

The clone will be a exact copy of your hard drive and it will be bootable.

Boot the MBP with the OPTION key (Startup Manager) and select the new SSD. How to choose a startup disk on your Mac

If it boots the MBP, perform the physical swap of drives.

You could look at a video guide to see how much is involved.

OWC install videos

Note the model identifier of the computer you have as most applications are shown in page.

Check this link to identify your MacBook Pro model.

• How to identify MacBook Pro models - Apple Support

Also in case you start to have video issues you may want to be aware of this technote from Apple.

http://www.apple.com/ca/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

Try right clicking on address and selecting Go to address. You may have to triple click on the link to select the complete line first.

Kim

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Answer 5

Courcoul

Level 6

18,684 points

May 4, 2016 11:06 AM in response to JLA-1978

I agree that the first thing to do is increase the RAM. You can even see two notices of processes being terminated due to its lack. Your model can take and use up to 16GB. The cost difference between that and 8GB is insignificant vs. the performance improvement. At ~$60-70, will be the quickest and most effective initial investment to do.

While the chips arrive, a full backup of the boot drive is also a very wise move.

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Answer 6

JLA-1978 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 4, 2016 11:21 AM in response to Courcoul

Thank you all. I'll definitely upgrade the RAM as well as the HD.

With regards to a new SSD, is there any advantage to doing a fresh install over cloning? Etrecheck commented on some obsolete 'things' - would these be deleted by a fresh install??

Out of interest, is this deterioration in performance to be expected after 5 years? I have very bumpy cycle to work every day and wonder if this may have damaged the HDD...

John.

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Answer 7

Courcoul

Level 6

18,684 points

May 4, 2016 11:41 AM in response to JLA-1978

I believe that migrating your stuff at First Start may have the beneficial effect of leaving some of the crud behind. However, since you'd be moving from ElCap to ElCap, the effect might be less pronounced than, say, from Lion to ElCap (like I did a short while back). However, the migration includes ALL applications, the migrating utility does not let you pick & choose, so that crâp might get migrated as well.

For this you'd get the new SSD and an external case, download the ElCap installer from the Store using the SAME APPLEID the Mac is registered to, run and have it place a blank/fresh copy of ElCap on the external drive. Reboot holding down Option to pick the external and when the Setup Assistant asks if you want to migrate, say yes and point it to the internal drive. Let it finish, reboot to external again, test it out. When satisfied, swap drives. Keep the old drive as a "golden master backup" or wipe it and use as a backup volume, clone or Time Machine.

Needless to say, having more RAM will make all of the above conclude MUCH faster.

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Answer 8

May 4, 2016 11:42 AM in response to JLA-1978

Some loss of performance can be expected when you move up to a new OS. The newer OS's are generally written with the newer faster hardware in mind. Yours is 5 years old. Upgrading RAM and SSD will definitely help, but your computer will still be 5 years old.

As far as the hard drive being effected by a bumpy ride. Many, many years ago when hard drives were first introduced they did not auto park the heads. I remember having to park the heads on my hard drive to prevent damage before shutting down.

All hard drives now auto park the heads even on power loss to prevent the hard drive heads from crashing into the platter.

I don't think you have anything to worry about there.

However generally the rule of thumb is that a spinning hard drive will usually last about 5 years. Just my opinion.

So it is very important to keep at least 1 backup and preferably 2. Also having a Time Machine backup is also wise.

Always be prepared.

Kim

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Answer 9

Courcoul

Level 6

18,684 points

May 4, 2016 12:07 PM in response to KimUserName

Back in the days of mechanicals and their crashing propensities, Apple had the wisdom of including an accelerometer. When it detected that things were moving too fast (like a doofus dropping the Mac), it would auto park the drive in a jiffy and save the day. if our esteemed OP cares to elicit a few oohs and aahs before the old drive gets put to pasture, have a look at this nifty program.

I miss it on the new Mac. 😢

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Answer 10

May 4, 2016 12:12 PM in response to Courcoul

Thanks for the info.

Looks like Apple has always been a little ahead of the times.

Kim

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Answer 11

JLA-1978 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 4, 2016 10:58 PM in response to KimUserName

Thanks again everyone. I'll follow your suggestions. I have to say that 'seismic-ometer' is brilliant!!

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