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My iMac late 2012 is running very slow on startup and opening program. I was on the phone with Apple support and they helped me clear up a few things but it is still slow. I ran Etrecheck and received the below report saying I have Failing Hard Drive and Runaway Process. However, I don't know what I can do about those issues. Any advice would be appreciated!
Just notice it when looking for info for you, your 2012 maybe be different then the older ones, they may of change the design. May call Apple and see if there is anybody that fix or replace hard drive. Or better yet, look for a place in your area that there maybe some person that fix Apple, but check them out first and see if they are true to trust them. Just found your year on the mac, too hard to replace.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Hard+Drive+Replacement/16729
Just notice it when looking for info for you, your 2012 maybe be different then the older ones, they may of change the design. May call Apple and see if there is anybody that fix or replace hard drive. Or better yet, look for a place in your area that there maybe some person that fix Apple, but check them out first and see if they are true to trust them. Just found your year on the mac, too hard to replace.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Hard+Drive+Replacement/16729
System Software:
macOS Catalina 10.15.5 (19F101)
Time since boot: About 8 days
With only 8GB of hard-to-upgrade RAM, restarting every few days can help performance.
Please either enable Full Drive Access in EtreCheck, or see this Apple support article to find out what "Other Process" is using 175% of your processor:
See how apps affect Mac performance, battery runtime, temperature, and fan activity - Apple Support
⚠️ NOTE: Steps 1 and 2 in that article are vitally important to getting usable results. Skip those and you may as well skip the entire test.
Another note---the test uses Activity Monitor ( or "AM," a part of macOS). AM's display is dynamic, changing every few seconds. You must watch the display for about 30 seconds, noting any process names that continue to "bubble" to the top of the list. The dynamic display makes screen shots hard to capture as well. Simply note the process and post its name here.
yes the hard drive is going bad, they don't last long beyond 8 years, mine is mid 2011, doing it too, I use it as a second backup, got a new one, fusion drive, wow! But will replace the hard drive on my mid 2011 one, love them, they work better with apps then the new ones, since the apps are out dated and will not run, that's the only thing I'm very mad about the apple.
That's what I was afraid of. Normally I would schedule an appointment at an Apple store, but with the current pandemic, I'd rather try to take care of it at home. Is it possible to replace the hard drive myself? (Especially considering I'm a novice)
if your iMac is one of the big ones that has a disk drive in it, I looked the info on it is a little different to replace from the one I did, if you unsure how to do it, then don't, but here is what I find on fixing or replacing hard drive, didn't see this one, they really change it the last time I did it.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2308+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1766
BDAqua is right. It is the cheapest, easiest and best solution. And there is no installation hassle. Plus, you will then have a drive that you can later reuse however it suits you to do. And be sure to get a SSD. it will speed up things quite a bit.
After watching this tutorial and several others - we decided to to the "surgery" at home (to avoid unnecessary contact during this pandemic), and it worked great! I consulted with a friend to make sure we ordered the right hard drive (got an SSD) and just carefully watched the videos a few times. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My iMac is running great now.
Not sure what else to do to fix the problem, get rid of some apps that may cause the slow down or free up memory
One thing, did you ever tried Disk Utility and do First Aid? That may fix an issue if you had any bad sector in your drive.
I'm not sure if I ran Disk Utility or First Aid when I was on the phone with Apple Support. I'll check it out tonight and see how it goes.
Get an external drive & try installing to & booting from that.
I wondered if an external drive was possible. I'm definitely going to check that out. Thanks so much!
I like the "no installation hassle" idea and that it is reusable when this computer finally goes.
I didn't know about restarting every few days being helpful. I'll try your other suggestions as well.
Slow iMac - Failing hard drive & Runaway process
