Kudos0

My iMac is slowing down

Posted: 09-Jan-2009 | 11:25AM · 5 Replies ·

I don't think this has anything to do with the Norton line of products. But I have noticed my Mac is getting slower and slower. I've had the computer about 2 years now. And as this is my first Mac and I'm relatively new to the Mac world, is there anything I can do to help speed it up? If I were on a PC, I would probably defrag the HD. How can I defrag the HD on a Mac? Are there any other tricks? I imagine the Mac is slowing down because of general use, and not any program in particular. What do hardcore Mac users do in situations like this? Thanks!
--TD "The brain is useless. We must find another brain." --Dr. Henry Frankenstein (1932)

Replies

Kudos0

Re: My iMac is slowing down

Posted: 09-Jan-2009 | 11:35AM · Permalink

I never used Mac, but googled some articles about it:

- http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375

- http://www.ehow.com/how_2091895_defrag-mac-hard-drive.html

On the most sites people recommended this program: iDefrag

http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php

If that can't help, I would try what most Windows users do in these situation, format c: (or how you format the drive in Mac :D), and reinstall the system... I think after two years the time has come to it ;)

Windows 10 Hungarian, Norton Internet Security v22.9.0.71
Kudos0

Re: My iMac is slowing down

Posted: 20-Jan-2009 | 12:11PM · Permalink

HFS+ drives self-defragment. There is no real need to use a utility to defragment it.

I would run a few maintenance operations though:

- use DiskUtility to repair Permissions on the boot drive.

- reboot on your MacOS X install DVD (be careful to use the latest one you have if you ever have some old ones in store) and from the menus, repair the boot drive. After that, you can select the boot drive again and quit the installation to reboot normally — no need to install anything)

- you can use a utility like Onyx to trash some cache (and the System re-create it after reboot).

- check that you don‘t have useless login items (System Preferences > Users > Your account).

Corentin 

Kudos0

Re: My iMac is slowing down

Posted: 22-Jan-2009 | 3:51AM · Permalink

Don't rely on just Apple's Disk Utility, it misses and doesn't check for a number of problems.

Do invest in Disk Warrior from Alsoft.

Also, regularly make a backup clone and insure you can boot from the clone (SuperDuper is probably best bet).

Files may be unfragmented, but the disk drive still is.

Mac OS Extended file system - your boot drive should never ever get below 10% free space, and boot drive, even more would be better.

Two years is a long time in drive performance terms, consider replacing with new faster/larger drive (anything except Seagate).
MacSales has a kit that lets you put your old drive in Firewire or USB case along with the new drive.

If you have not done a full backup and reformat of your drive, and have moved from original OS to 10.5.6, it is over due for a full backup, reformat/repartition, and restore with SuperDuper. Apple Disk Utility Restore can do the job but SD does it better and allows for smart updates.

Clean out all the temp history and files that Safari leaves behind and doesn't clean out.
~/Library/Caches/Metadata - goes into the trash.
Kudos0

Re: My iMac is slowing down

Posted: 23-Jan-2009 | 7:19AM · Permalink

DiskWarrior is a GREAT application. Well worth investing in indeed.

SuperDuper! is also a very useful tool to have, but it serves a different purpose. 

Kudos0

Re: My iMac is slowing down

Posted: 23-Jan-2009 | 3:24PM · Permalink

hey--

When you say that it's slowing down, is it just the apps are launching more slowly, that kind of thing? All of the tips below are awesome, follow them, but you may want to reset you PRAM buy holding down Shift-command-P-R--that sometimes helps me when I am having problems. Also check out cocktail for Mac - http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php --that could help you as well.

let us know!

mike

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