Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Martina.mora

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2019
2
0
Buenos aires
Hi, i'm in trouble! My imac takes forever to boot. I started holding cmnd + r and use disk utility to run first aids but it can't solve the issue. Now i need to back up all my files and later restore to 0 my hard drive, this is what i undestand so far. (Sorry for my bad english) does anybody have some recomendations to do this?
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,279
13,377
What year was the iMac made?
What kind of drive is inside (platter-based hard drive, fusion drive, or SSD)?
How FULL is the drive?
How much free space is left?
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,279
13,377
If the iMac has a platter-based hard drive, that may be what is "making it slow".

The drive just can't handle the demands of the OS.

But... there's a relatively easy and cheap fix:
You can buy a USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to become the boot drive.
This is easy to do -- ANYONE can do it.

I would suggest getting a Samsung t5 or a Sandisk Extreme USB3 SSD -- small and compact.
Get a 1tb version. Costs more than a 500gb, but things will be much easier.

Then...
Connect the SSD to the iMac.
Use Disk Utility to erase it.
If you are using High Sierra or Mojave, erase to APFS with GUID partition format.
If you are using Low Sierra or earlier, erase to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format.

Then...
Download CarbonCopyCloner:
CCC is free to download and use for 30 days.

Use CCC to "clone" the contents of your internal drive to the SSD.
It will take a little while.
Then, go to the startup disk preference pane and set the external SSD to be the boot drive.
Then, reboot.

It should boot and run much faster!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.