2010 iMac backup

[iTurbo]

My Mom's got a 2010 iMac (11,2) and it's gotten to be really slow and cluttered. It's running the latest OS (10.13.2), and I've already upgraded it to 16GB RAM (maxed).

I want to back up some things and reinstall High Sierra. She doesn't have a Time Capsule, or use iCloud at all. I do have some high capacity SD cards though. Will this work OK to back up the iTunes/Photos library after wiping/reinstalling High Sierra?

 

[cradom]

First off do your backup BEFORE wiping and reinstalling. I don't know if Time Machine will use an SD card but there's always drag and drop copy.

 

[iTurbo]

Thanks, yeah I worded that last sentence wrong!

There is a lot of useless clutter so I think I'm going to do the drag and drop method. When I got my iMac, I could move everything over via network but this is the only iMac they have in the house. She only has the Airport Extreme, no Time Machine.

 

[NoBoMac]

Be a good son/daughter and run over to the local big-box retailer and buy an external HDD. Backup her files to the drive, wipe/re-install, copy files back, keep HDD plugged in and turn on TimeMachine: now have mom backed up going forward.

That all said, if mom has some adware and of the ilk on the machine, restoring backups files (particularly anything under /Library, /System/Library, $USER/Library) might re-introduce the problem. Might want to run some adware scan software before wiping the drive.

 

[iTurbo]

Cool, thanks. I was also concerned about reintroducing a potential problem with a Time Machine style backup. I guess I could bring my own TM over to do it, but I'd rather not comingle stuff from my house and hers.

That being said, is it advisable to run High Sierra on this iMac? It is running it now, but it is a 2010 model with a core i3 and 16GB RAM. It is definitely light-duty internet/email machine. It seems OK, but nowhere near as instantaneous as my 2013 i7 iMac with 32GB RAM running High Sierra.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

First off, one thing that's slowing down the iMac is the fact that you're trying to run the latest OS on older hardware.
This -IS NOT- a "recipe for speed".
I would have left it back around 10.11 (El Cap) and I'll bet it would perform much better.

I have a suggestion, others may disagree, but I'll suggest it anyway.
Get a modestly-sized "bare" SSD, such as the 250gb size of this:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B06WGPCW5L?tag=delt-20&th=1

Then, install the OS onto it, move apps and accounts over, and set it up to be the "external boot drive".
You can velcro it up-and-out-of-the-way on the back of the iMac's stand. Your mom won't even notice it there.

Others are going to jump in and say "it won't be faster because the iMac is only USB2!"
They are only half-right. It won't make it boot any faster, but once up-and-running, I think you'll find things somewhat "snappier". Possibly much more so.

IF your mom has not used up too much storage space, it might be possible to use CarbonCopyCloner (which is FREE to download and use for 30 days) to clone the contents of the internal drive to the SSD. Then, set the SSD as the boot drive in the startup disk pref pane.

This may help to overcome some of the problems involved in running something like High Sierra on an older iMac. That's your main problem here...

 

[NoBoMac]

Get a modestly-sized "bare" SSD, such as the 250gb size of this:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B06WGPCW5L?tag=delt-20&th=1

This.

I'm still rocking a 2008 MBP. And back in 2012, when I replaced the HDD with the SDD, night and day improvement. Apps launched in half the time.