2019 iMac running slow (EtreCheck report attached)

xblonde wrote:

Thank you! I ran the app for the HDD, which shows it is failing ('pre-fail state'). Other than regular back ups, what is recommended?

<DriveDX.log>

The Hard Drive has 17 Reallocated Sectors, but no Pending Sectors which would normally be where the HD performance issues would be shown. The HD is definitely failing....it is in the beginning phase. It is possible some more sectors are borderline, but have not failed to the point where the HD must auto correct the data or mark the sector as bad.

Sometimes a HD can have performance issues which do not show up in the health report since I don't really see anything else of concern at this time. Plus some of those health attributes are not standardized which makes it difficult to know whether they indicate a problem unless a person is familiar with that particular drive series behavior. While I have read a lot of these reports, I only concentrate on about 10 health attributes generally. The only other health attribute that is a bit odd is the "Free Fall Sensor" which has a count of 37.....unusual for a desktop system, but may indicate the iMac had a significant "bump" a number of times which may have caused some damage to the HD.

Installing macOS to an external USB3/Thunderbolt SSD is the best option if you want to continue using this iMac (and stop using the internal HD/Fusion Drive since the failure will just continue getting worse with use).

You may also want to run Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if the First Aid summary says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll through the report to see if any unfixed errors & warning exist. If so, then run First Aid again until they are gone. If after several scans the errors remain, then try running First Aid while booted into Recovery Mode. If the errors remain after several scans, then they cannot be repaired & would require a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole Fusion Drive & restore from a backup.

I have also seen some of these 2019 iMacs just get slow due to a Logic Board issue.

MrHoffman wrote:

Stop doing anything with that Mac that does not involve getting a complete and current backup.

That HDD is well on the way to failed.

Advanced SMART Status : FAILING

Overall Health Rating : N/A 70.1%

FYI, that 70% rating is not really what you think. It may be based on some of those odd health attribute's values which don't behave in the expected manner. I think the Power On Hours health attribute which is showing 45% is what is driving down the health rating here. Hitachi, the manufacturer of this 2.5" Hard Drive estimates the drive will be Ok for about 50K power on hours (probably a bit less), but it is not a "Pre-Fail" health attribute so the drive may function long beyond 50K Power On Hours, but it is a good idea to begin preparing even if the HD did not have any bad sectors. And like you point out, frequent & regular backups are more critical now than ever before.

This HD is failing, but so far only 17 sectors have been reallocated with no Current Pending Sectors awaiting reallocation. The Hardware ECC also has not been triggered. I agree the OP needs to either install macOS onto an external SSD and/or plan on purchasing a new computer. Just wanted to give a bit of insight into those values which the DriveDx is computing on its own (DriveDx is also what is labeling the "Advanced SMART Status" as "Failing". The HD itself (and macOS by extension) won't show this HD as Failing until one of the "Pre-Fail" health attributes "Value" hits/falls below a non-zero "Threshold" listed. DriveDx is using those 17 Reallocated Sector Count as the basis for the "FAILING" status which is smart since that is catching the failure very early on giving the user time to address the issue.

It took me years to really understand these SMART health attributes...knowing how they work, knowing which ones are important & which ones should be ignored most times. I don't usually use DriveDx myself since I just rely on the open source "smartctl" utility which is at the core of the DriveDx app and most other drive health monitoring apps.

More than likely the internal Hard Drive portion of your Fusion Drive is wearing out or just failing. Run the third party app DriveDx (free trial period) to check the health of the Hard Drive. Post the complete DriveDX text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. Feel free to also post the report for the internal SSD as well.

To start with, that iMac is a little under equipped to run all of those MS products at the same time.

The Isd Crash (12 times) suggest that there is some conflict between macOS and some of those MS programs.

I would startup in Safe Mode, then restart normally and test.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

You do not have much RAM and you have a Fusion drive that uses a 5400 RPM hard drive. That combination will not be very fast with the newer OS's. I see no obvious apps that may cause an issue. Others may provide more guidance. Look at your activity monitor in the utilities folder and see what process is using most of the resources.

You're welcome.

It's time to replace that iMac with a new one.

see > Mac - Which Mac is best for me? - Apple

Because on top of being under equipped when it was new, now that iMac has a failing HDD.

Stop doing anything with that Mac that does not involve getting a complete and current backup.

That HDD is well on the way to failed.

Advanced SMART Status                : FAILING
Overall Health Rating                : N/A 70.1%

Use whatever is left of that HDD’s remaining (and decreasing) longevity for backups.

With your complete and current backup, you can then install, boot, and use external (preferably SSD) storage, pending a replacement Mac. Here is how:

Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community

You can then later re-use the external SSD with a replacement Mac, for storage or Time Machine or whatever.

I wouldn’t spend on a repair (Fusion gets replaced with an SSD) on a 2019 Fusion Intel iMac

xblonde wrote:

Thanks for the advice again, very helpful! I use automatic daily TimeMachine back ups and most folders/photos are also backed up in icloud, so that should be sorted.

I must say I’m quite disappointed with the lifespan of this computer. I’ve only had it for about 5 years and I had issues with it fairly early on, despite being advised this was good for my intended use.

Makes me hesitant to invest in a Mac again to be honest, especially when comparing to my partner’s 2019 pc that is still working perfectly, is easily repairable/upgradable if needed, and that was about the same price 😕

Thanks for the suggestion on getting an external SSD. I'll look into doing that, or putting that money towards a new computer instead. I thought about getting a mac mini before - I have monitors to work on and possibly this imac could function as a monitor too? Are any of the mac minis recommended, or will it also be ‘underequipped to begin with’? Since I don't have much computer knowledge I'm easily overwhelmed with all the available options. I’ll mostly use it for browsing and MS office, but will occasionally need to run various statistical programmes (R, Stata, SPSS).

Mac mini is a fine choice.

AFAIK all current Mac models offer only SSD storage. The Fusion and HDD options are no longer available.

For your work, a mid-range mini with probably 16 to maybe 24 GB will work fine. Neither Office nor the statistical apps are particularly lightweight, and it is probably safe to assume LLMs or ML will creep into your requirements over the next five or seven years.

A retina-class iMac cannot be used as a monitor.

The iMac 21.5” Fusion configuration is a low-end model, with low-end storage, but would usually have lasted longer. The external SSD will work as a replacement here, pending some newer or new Mac (or PC) purchase.