Reinstall fres OS

[iabm]

Hi all,

I'm looking to wipe my iMac and start again. It's so laggy and I can only attribute that to Adobe CC and Photoshop as that is all I use it for. It's certainly not performing as I'd expect a Mac to. I've done First Aid and thought I'd just wipe it.

I've got the Disk Utility open and I have Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data. I don't recall the Data one being there before but I did format the machine a year or so ago. Is it safe to delete it and then format Macintosh HD? I've attached an image.

I don't want to delete it and then not be able to get the OS on there is all.

Thanks in advance.

Ben

 

[Iammetaldave]

If you’re willing to put a little (maybe a lot) of effort into it, I recommend upgrading the hard drive to an SSD. I did it with my iMac and it’s like a new machine, it’s unbelievably fast! And it’s 7 years old! Slow and steady is the trick but worth the effort.

 

[iabm]

I think I may over time but I'd not have the time or patience to do it now or know where to start. I literally only use it for the off bit of Photoshop. I just need to know if I can delete the extra Macintosh HD - Data

It's definitely something to consider thought

 

[Iammetaldave]

Very fair point!

If you have everything backed up I wouldnt be concerned about it.

ave a read of this - looks like it’s a read only drive for OS files.

Why you might see a new “Data” disk in Catalina

MacOS now splits the operating system and data files into two volumes, but they should never appear on the desktop.

www.macworld.com

 

[iabm]

@Iammetaldave - thanks! I'll just delete it as I'm starting from fresh

 

[Iammetaldave]

No sweat! Best of luck with it 😁

 

[Fishrrman]

You CANNOT DELETE the "Macintosh HD - Data" !!!!
That is an essential part of the OS installation.

First....
Tell us WHICH iMac you have
Tell us WHAT YEAR it was made
It looks like you have a 1tb hard drive inside?

... And you're trying to run Catalina on it?

That ain't gonna work very well (as you already know).

Also be aware:
A common complaint about Adobe software on the Mac is that it "runs slow". I've read that this is due to the coding within the Adobe apps -- they're INHERENTLY "on the slow side".
Trying to use them on a Mac with a platter-based hard drive running Catalina is going to be... well... PAINFULLY slow.

YOU CAN IMPROVE THINGS.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do:
Get an EXTERNAL USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to become the boot drive.
This is cheap, easy, and ANYONE can do it.

Erase it to APFS with GUID partition map.

Then, download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC - Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days -- this costs you nothing.
Use CCC to "clone" the contents of the internal drive to the SSD.
Then, go to the startup disk preference pane and set the SSD to be the "new boot drive".
Then, just reboot.

You -might- have to re-register the Adobe apps, not sure if CCC will bring this over or not (I don't use the latest Adobe apps).

If you do this, things will start going MUCH better.

But you're NEVER going to get much performance from Adobe running from Catalina on a platter based HDD...