iMac Unusably slow after High Sierra Upgrade

Crap. I tried it and got the same error message - "... does not appear to be a valid OS installer application."

My laptop is running El Capitan.

I have exactly the same problem on my Late 2013 iMac with a 3TB Fusion Drive. On my Mid 2012 MacBookAir with 512 GB SSD and Late 2012 iMac with 1 GB HDD there are no issues whatsoever. All are upgraded to High Sierra 10.13.3.

I have tried all of the above except restoring to Sierra or splitting the drives and performing First Aid on each, separately.

To me, the problem is definitely related to the drive hardware, but somehow caused by the update. There are too many current reports of broken Fusion Drives for this to be a coincidence. I know, that people who installed the beta version of High Sierra on a Fusion Drive had all sorts of problems with the new APFS file system. Maybe the problems are related. ( I didn't install the beta). Could the update somehow be altering the firmware of the drives or the drive controller?

Has anybody with a Fusion drive and similar problems had any luck with downgrading?

Here is the Etrecheck report...

EtreCheck version: 4.0.4 (4A150)

Report generated: 2018-02-28 20:06:39

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 3:49

Performance: Good

Problem: Computer is too slow

Major Issues: None

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Small backup drive - Time Machine backup drive is too small.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. It appears to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

System modifications - There are a large number of system modifications running in the background.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro10,1

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3820QM) CPU: 4-core

16 RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 14

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 1 GB

Color LCD 3360 x 2100

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE SSD SM768E 751.28 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

Internal SATA 6 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 751.07 GB

disk1s1 - J*********e (APFS) 751.07 GB 276.37 GB

disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] 751.07 GB 41 MB

disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] 751.07 GB 1.02 GB

disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] 751.07 GB 3.22 GB

Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - J*********e 751.07 GB (470.25 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] 751.07 GB (470.25 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /private/var/vm

Network:

Interface en4: Thunderbolt Ethernet

Interface en5: iPhone

Interface en0: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 1.83 TB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47)

Time since boot: About a day

System Load: 2.45 (1 min ago) 2.23 (5 min ago) 2.31 (15 min ago)

Security:

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avast.update.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Avast/components/update/update.sh

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist

Executable: /usr/local/libexec/ReceiverHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/ReceiverHelper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.citrix.ctxusbd.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Citrix Receiver/ctxusbd

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.avast.userinit.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Avast/hub/userinit.sh

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avast.init.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Avast/hub/init.sh

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.avast.home.userinit.plist

Executable: ~/Library/Application Support/Avast/hub/userinit.sh

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist

Executable: /usr/local/libexec/ServiceRecords.app/Contents/MacOS/ServiceRecords

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avast.uninstall.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Avast/hub/autouninstall.sh

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist

Executable: /usr/local/libexec/AuthManager_Mac.app/Contents/MacOS/AuthManager_Mac

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/signed

[Loaded] AvastFileShield.kext (4.0.0 - SDK 10.12)

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/signed

[Loaded] AvastPacketForwarder.kext (2.1 - SDK 10.12)

/Library/Application Support/Citrix Receiver

[Not Loaded] CitrixGUSB.kext (12.8.1 - SDK 10.9)

System Launch Agents:

System Launch Daemons:

Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

User Launch Agents:

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-01-24)

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

Google Drive File Stream Application (Google, Inc.

(/Applications/Google Drive File Stream.app)

AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application (Adobe Systems, Inc.

(/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/Helpers/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)

Skype for Business Application (Skype Communications S.a.r.l

(/Applications/Skype for Business.app)

Dropbox Application (Dropbox, Inc.

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Internet Plug-ins:

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2018-02-20)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-02-04)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-02-13)

AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20035 (installed 2018-02-13)

CitrixICAClientPlugIn: 12.8.1 (installed 2018-01-19)

MeetingJoinPlugin: 1.0 (installed 2017-12-24)

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 151 build 12 (installed 2018-01-22)

User Internet Plug-ins:

WebEx64: 1.1.0 (installed 2017-12-08)

Safari Extensions:

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Java (installed 2017-09-05)

Time Machine:

Skip System Files: No

Mobile backups:

Auto backup: Yes

Volumes being backed up:

J*********e: Disk size: 751.07 GB - Disk used: 280.82 GB

Destinations:

B****p [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 499.53 GB

Total number of backups: 3

Oldest backup: 2017-12-26 19:31:01

Last backup: 2017-12-26 21:38:47

Top Processes by CPU:

Top Processes by Memory:

Top Processes by Network Use:

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Virtual Memory Information:

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-02-27 11:28:24 Last Shutdown Cause: 3 - Hard shutdown

2018-02-26 08:32:02 AAM Updates Notifier.app Crash

2018-02-26 00:07:05 fud Crash

2018-02-24 22:42:51 Adobe CEF Helper.app Crash

2018-02-24 15:47:00 Kernel Kernel Panic

End of report

https://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/19/apple-27-imac-3tb-hdd-replacement-program/

There was a recall on some 3 TB drives but aside from that is your file format structure APFS?

Apple introduced the new disk format structure in high sierra and that has cause me issues. You may find that erasing the disk to extended journal in disk utility will solve the issue.

You can clone the data using carbon copy cloner to a external and boot from the external by a restart with the option key held down and format the iMac drive using disk utility to extended journal (HFS+). Then clone the data back to the computer. This helped me and until I see a improvment upgrade from Apple I think HFS+ is a safe way to go.

I seen this issue on a bunch of macs. It may be due to the type of data thats on the computer and the way APFS analyzes the data. Until the verdic is out I recommend using HFS+ extended format with high sierra if you experience a useless machine after the upgrade. Also note that if you have a SSD installed in the computer when upgrading by default High Sierra changes the format on the drive to APFS. It either gets corrupted some how and causes the computer to slow to a halt or the way it indexes data is adding too many resources and slowing down everything. In either case its not a useful computer and changing the file structure to the older OS extended journaled solved my computer slow boot (15 min) and slow usage due to high CPU resources.

Whereas I recently updated both a 2012 MacBook Pro and a 2013 27" iMac and both HDs have been destroyed by the High Sierra update. I've had to buy a completely new MacBook Pro and am going to need to pay for the HD to be replaced in the iMac. My backup/newer 21.5" iMac is now running so slow as to be unusable after a recent High Sierra update. I have done everything I can to improve the speed (and have also had Apple's technical help. No luck.)

I have never used Windows computers and have bought many, many Macs over 30 years, for me and my staff. It's not always the user! I have hardly any third-party utilities. Sometimes it is the OS. (Nor is this the first OS that has caused these sorts of problems, as long-time Mac computers will know.)

Hi...

I'm having the same issues as OP with my iMac. Snowball, lagging etc. It's driving me nuts. I did the EtreCheck (below) and would appreciate any help as to get my iMac back to normal/fast mode...

Thanks in advance (and sorry for jumping the thread)...

// Nicolai

EtreCheck Report

EtreCheck version: 4.3.2 (4D034)

Report generated: 2018-06-24 15:00:47

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 3:23

Performance: Good

Problem: Beachballing

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.

Stuck iCloud - This machine has a large number of pending iCloud transfers.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Heavy RAM usage - This machine is using a large amount of RAM.

Apps crashing - There have been numerous app crashes.

Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

Corrupt hosts file - Hosts file is corrupt.

Abnormal shutdown - Your machine shut down abnormally.

Hardware Information:

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)

iMac Model: iMac17,1

1 4 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-6700K) CPU: 4-core

24 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 8 GB DDR3 1867 ok

BANK 0/DIMM1 - 8 GB DDR3 1867 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1867 ok

BANK 1/DIMM1 - 4 GB DDR3 1867 ok

Video Information:

AMD Radeon R9 M390 - VRAM: 2048 MB

iMac

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD ST1000DM003 1.00 TB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 [Core Storage Container] 999.35 GB

disk2 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) [Fusion Drive] 1.02 TB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB

disk1 - APPLE SSD AP0032H 24.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

Internal PCI-Express 5.0 GT/s x4 NVM Express

disk1s1 - EFI [EFI] 315 MB

disk1s2 [Core Storage Container] 23.55 GB

disk2 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) [Fusion Drive] 1.02 TB

disk1s3 - B*******X (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 134 MB

Mounted Volumes:

disk2 - Macintosh HD [Fusion Drive] 1.02 TB (127.82 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface en6: iPad

Interface en5: iPhone

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

One IPv4 address

Interface en4: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 1.58 TB available

iCloud Status: 17673 pending files

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 (17F77)

Time since boot: About 5 days

System Load: 2.15 (1 min ago) 2.45 (5 min ago) 2.76 (15 min ago)

Configuration Files:

/etc/hosts - Count: 0 - Corrupt!

Security:

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.digitalrebellion.PreferenceManagerAutoSave.plist

Executable: /Volumes/P**********************2/P********************p/C******s/M***S/P****** **********r

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Kernel Extensions:

/Library/StartupItems/ArcanaStartupSound/Resources

[Not Loaded] ArcanaPRAM.kext (1.1b3)

/System/Library/Extensions

[Not Loaded] WD1394HPDriver.kext (1.0.9)

[Not Loaded] WDUSBHPDriver.kext (1.0.11)

Startup Items:

ArcanaStartupSound Path: /Library/StartupItems/ArcanaStartupSound

System Launch Agents:

System Launch Daemons:

Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

User Launch Agents:

Internet Plug-ins:

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 151 build 12 (installed 2017-11-25)

o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2016-02-05)

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: 12.2.6 (installed 2016-02-05)

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.2.0.16 (installed 2016-02-05)

Silverlight: 5.1.40416.0 (installed 2016-02-05)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-06-19)

iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (installed 2016-02-05)

googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2016-02-05)

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.5.9 (installed 2016-02-22)

AdobePDFViewer: 9.5.5 (installed 2016-02-05)

GarminGpsControl: 4.2.0.0 (installed 2016-02-05)

ViewRightWebPlayer: 3.3.0.0 (installed 2016-02-05)

MeetingJoinPlugin: (installed 2016-02-22)

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2016-01-12)

Java (installed 2017-11-25)

Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

Top Processes by Memory:

Top Processes by Network Use:

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Virtual Memory Information:

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Clean up:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player Install Manager/fpsaud

Executable not found

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-06-24 14:57:57 bird Crash (20 times)

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CloudDocsDaemon.framework/Versions/A/Support/b ird

2018-06-24 14:15:14 Image Capture.app Crash (5 times)

/Applications/Image Capture.app

2018-06-20 13:22:24 Finder.app Crash

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

2018-06-19 02:18:16 Last Shutdown Cause: -128 - Unknown

End of report

I did the EtreCheck (below) and would appreciate any help as to get my iMac back to normal/fast mode...

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2018-05-18)

And BrickMyMac claims another victim.

Given that Etrecheck completed fairly fast (Performance: Good), the beach balling may indicate a failing hard drive. Most drives fail without any indication. Make sure you are backed up.

Back up your Mac, Boot into Internet Recovery, Erase the drive completely, and reinstall the OS. It's not worth anyone's time to try and track down what was damaged/removed/cleaned by the system mods you have installed.

You have also installed Western Digital's hard drive software. Completely useless and possibly harmful.

If you need to use those drives with Windows (not in BootCamp), then buy the commercial version of Paragon or Tuxera or just use ExFAT where you don't need third-party kernel extensions.

After reinstalling, during the Startup Assistant, Migrate only your user data.

Only reinstall the system modifications that are absolutely necessary--that's pretty much none, but you decide for yourself.

After erasing the Fusion Drive, it may detect that it is no longer Fused. If it asks, Let it rebuild the Fusion drive.

If it doesn't, you can rebuild it manually using these instructions: How to fix a split Fusion Drive - Apple Support

There was no warning and both machines were working beautifully in Sierra.

There almost never is. Even the SMART status will be verified all the way up until failure. That's the way hard drives function. They can last one second or decades. There is no way to tell when they will fail. If enough minor errors occur before failure, SMART may be triggered.

What solved it for me was by enabeling the “Reduce Transparency” and “Reduce Motion” features, as described here under nummer 4:

https://techsviewer.com/macos-high-sierra-slow-fixes/

As well as update macOS to 10.13.5.

Now my late ’13 MBP feels fast again.

There is nothing safe and secure for Internet use on OS X 10.6.8 any longer.

The last secure version of Firefox that was still compatible with 10.6.8 is over a year old, now.

And Waterfox web browser stopped supporting OS 10.6.8, as well.

Also, if you are a Yahoo Mail user, I believe supoort for Yahoo Mail ended, as well on OS X 10.6.8.

OS X 10.6.8 is a 9-year old operating system, now and while maybe fine for using NOT connected to the Internet, it is not supported any longer for it to be used on the web in any capacity.

Didn’t you save any other older, but newer system software to your iMac?

I have OS X 10.8. 10.9 and 10.11 saved in various places and external drives on my iMac system.

Online web support and eMail support is still available for OS X 10.8.5 and is still available for sale in Apple’s online store and is, two generations newer than OS X 10.6.8.

Waterfox web browser is still supported on OS X 10.8.5 and, if you are a Yahoo Mail user, there are one or two other email client apps that still support Yahoo Mail on OS X 10.8.5.

I didn't bother with Sierra or High Sierra as it didn't offer any of the new functionalities available simply because my 2009 iMac is too old.

This thread is certainly full of great ways to deal with your Mac running slow.

For me, I solved my problem with High Sierra running slow by doing two things:

1) Apple introduced a new feature into High Sierra that leverage iCloud to basically store all of your user data (i.e. not OS specific) files in iCloud. While this allows awesome connectivity across all of your platforms, in my case I knew right away it was the issue. I have 200GB of iCloud storage. What High Sierra did when it installed was to map my 130GB of user data into my iCloud account. When I turned this off and copies my files back to the local hard drive, poof, no more running slow.

To turn off iCloud storage of your user data do the following:

a) in the upper left corner click on the apple symbol then "System Preferences..."

b) click on the iClod icon (third row down, first column)

c) Keep the iCloud Drive selected but click on the button to the right called "Options..."

d) Deselect "Desktop & Documents Folders"

in step d) you will get a scary message. Agree to it. You will not loose anything as long as you don't de-selct iCloud drive in c) above. Even if you do de-select things in c) you will not loose the data, just make it more difficult on yourself to get back to your iCloud drive.

e) hit done at the bottom right.

You know go into Finder and create two tabs (command+T ). Use one tab to navigate to the iCloud drive and find your Documents and Desktop directories. In the other tab goto your hard drive location for the same two drives (in Finder on the left side under favorites you should once again see your old Desktop and Documents short cuts). All you need to do is drag your files from the iCloud tab over to the other tab to move the files over.

2) Do a full shut-down, not a restart. Make sure to unselect the pop up to re-open all windows and applications.

3) Restart your machine.

Hopefully, happy times!

Great idea it should, does it have High Sierra installed?

If so just Clone it to the drive.