Speed up 2010 iMac

[waloshin]

A friend of mine wants me to speedup their 2010 iMac. I know an internal ssd would be the best bet, but is quite labour intensive as well as expensive. Need a new thermal sensor, 3.5 to 2.5" cage ect.

The machine only has 4 gigabytes of ram would installing another 4 gb be worth my time?

 

[komatsu]

If SSD is a no no.

Next best thing it to put a fresh copy (clean install) of El Capitan on it.

And yes and extra 4GB of RAM would help.

 

[casperes1996]

Installing macOS on an external SSD that could optionally be taped attached to the back of the chassis to save on clutter could also be a good way of going about speeding things up, while avoiding the labour.

 

[rcoden]

I put a SSD inside my 2017 27" iMac and it was relatively easy. I followed the steps on this site, and purchased (from the same site) a kit to install the SSD. I'd also recommend you upgrade the RAM, both make my 2010 iMac almost as fast (loading times) as my new 2019 fusion drive iMac.

 

[waloshin]

Might as well just install an ssd won't take too long

Would this work?

.

 

[aman88]

A friend of mine wants me to speedup their 2010 iMac. I know an internal ssd would be the best bet, but is quite labour intensive as well as expensive. Need a new thermal sensor, 3.5 to 2.5" cage ect.

The machine only has 4 gigabytes of ram would installing another 4 gb be worth my time?

I just put an SSD into my old 21.5 inch 2010 iMac and an additional 8 gb ram... it runs as good if not better than new...

 

[chabig]

Swap the hard drive for an SSD first. RAM alone won't make a noticeable difference.

SSD - Mandatory
SSD and RAM - Better
RAM only - Waste of money

 

[waloshin]

The imac loads up I login and then immediately turns it self off.

Tried apple recovery and I am getting this error.

 

[chabig]

You probably don't have an internet connection. Go to the top right of the screen and select a wifi network.

 

[waloshin]

I did connect to our wifi

 

[Cruz3LT]

To answer your original question, just replace the internal drive with a SSD, it is really easy on the particular model and then add additional RAM. With the screenshot you posted, you didn't give any valuable information that could help you. What did you do prior to this problem happening? Has this always happened? Help us help you.

 

[mikehalloran]

A friend of mine wants me to speedup their 2010 iMac. I know an internal ssd would be the best bet, but is quite labour intensive as well as expensive. Need a new thermal sensor, 3.5 to 2.5" cage ect.

The machine only has 4 gigabytes of ram would installing another 4 gb be worth my time?

I can install an SSD into a 2010 27” iMac in about 15 minutes. Ok, I’ve done a few but it’s very easy with a few tools.

The NV RAM battery should also be replaced with a CR2032 and that’s a bit of work as it’s on the back of the motherboard. Labor is $75 in the Silicon Valley if you don't Want to do it yourself. If you have the patience, the iFixIt instructions are good.

The OWC temp sensor works well and is recommended but there are less expensive workarounds.
[doublepost=1565683713][/doublepost]

Might as well just install an ssd won't take too long
Would this work?

.

Not the one you want. Use this instead.
https://www.amazon.com/Fenlink-Internal-Hard-Drive-Converter/dp/B01ELRRKW8/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2WDJE95RSRP2I&keywords=3.5+to+2.5+adapter+hard+drive&qid=1565683584&s=gateway&sprefix=3.5+to+2.5,aps,248&sr=8-4

 

[Fishrrman]

"The machine only has 4 gigabytes of ram would installing another 4 gb be worth my time?"

It will help VERY LITTLE.
But it might help "just a little".

The ONLY WAY to get any really noticeable speed increase from a 2010 iMac is to install an internal SSD. But even an SSD won't be able to operate at its "best possible speeds", because the internal SATA bus of the iMac is slower.

Actually, the best advice you can give your friend who wants "more speed" is to say, "it's time to start shopping for something new"...

 

[Cruz3LT]

"The machine only has 4 gigabytes of ram would installing another 4 gb be worth my time?"

It will help VERY LITTLE.
But it might help "just a little".

The ONLY WAY to get any really noticeable speed increase from a 2010 iMac is to install an internal SSD. But even an SSD won't be able to operate at its "best possible speeds", because the internal SATA bus of the iMac is slower.

Actually, the best advice you can give your friend who wants "more speed" is to say, "it's time to start shopping for something new"...

It’ll give it a huge bump over the HDD, it’ll be very noticeable. Granted not as much as a new one but cost effectiveness would be replacing the internal over a new iMac.

 

[RUGERMAN]

A friend of mine wants me to speedup their 2010 iMac. I know an internal ssd would be the best bet, but is quite labour intensive as well as expensive. Need a new thermal sensor, 3.5 to 2.5" cage ect.

A friend of mine wants me to speedup their 2010 iMac. I know an internal ssd would be the best bet, but is quite labour intensive as well as expensive. Need a new thermal sensor, 3.5 to 2.5" cage ect.

The machine only has 4 gigabytes of ram would installing another 4 gb be worth my time?

I HAVE A LATE 2009 IMAC AND UPGRADING TO 8 GIG MADE IT LIKE NEW.

The machine only has 4 gigabytes of ram would installing another 4 gb be worth my time?

[doublepost=1565710725][/doublepost]

Swap the hard drive for an SSD first. RAM alone won't make a noticeable difference.

SSD - Mandatory
SSD and RAM - Better
RAM only - Waste of money

Disagree, I put an additional 4 gig in my late 2009 iMac and it made all the difference in the world. No doubt an ssd would help even more but extra ram helped me a lot.

 

[aman88]

My 21.5 inch 2010 iMac runs like new if not better now that I put in an SSD and 8 gb more ram... did the work myself I think it cost about $120.

 

[mikehalloran]

[doublepost=1565710725][/doublepost]
Disagree, I put an additional 4 gig in my late 2009 iMac and it made all the difference in the world. No doubt an ssd would help even more but extra ram helped me a lot.

Do both. 4GB is not enough memory anymore—it just isn't.

8GB seems to be fine for web browsing, word processing, email etc. If doing anything with photos, you really do want 16. Max is 32GB but, if you're doing serious work, why are you still on a 2010? There are a ton of these sticks on eBay super cheap. BTW, if it works in a 2011, it's backwards compatible with 2010.

This is the style adapter you want. Brand does not matter as long as it's similar to this. $10–$15

 

[waloshin]

It seems like one of the fans is not working no more, that is why the computer shuts down after loading Mac OSX.

 

[Cruz3LT]

It seems like one of the fans is not working no more, that is why the computer shuts down after loading Mac OSX.

It probably needs to be cleaned. Hold down D while restarting to run diagnostic.

 

[racoop]

I've upgraded both a 2007 and 2011 iMac with an SSD. The difference is stunning and it is quite easy to do. Nothing else is going to make a much of a noticeable difference.

 

[waloshin]

Reinstalled mac os onto external hard drive. All 3 fans are working fine. Mac os says it cannot repair the internal drive and to backup soon.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Mac os says it cannot repair the internal drive and to backup soon."

Two ways forward that I can see:

1st way...
Drive has a hardware failure. Since you have revived the iMac with an "external booter", I'd just leave the internal drive "dead, but in place". Just ignore it.

2nd way...
Drive has software corruption. In that case, I'd erase it with Disk Utility then run the "first aid" function on it. IF disk utility gives "a good report", I'd repeat the first aid function five times in a row. IF I got a good report every time, I'd recommend that the drive be used, but that it be backed up frequently.

 

[mikehalloran]

OP wrote:
"Mac os says it cannot repair the internal drive and to backup soon."

Two ways forward that I can see:

1st way...
Drive has a hardware failure. Since you have revived the iMac with an "external booter", I'd just leave the internal drive "dead, but in place". Just ignore it.

Goodgawd No. USB 2 is much slower than replacing the HDD. Thunderbolt is as fast but a dock costs $179 plus the drive and that doesn't change that 9 year old NV RAM battery.

Labor to do both should run $75 if the OP doesn't want to do it.

2nd way...

Drive has software corruption. In that case, I'd erase it with Disk Utility then run the "first aid" function on it. IF disk utility gives "a good report", I'd repeat the first aid function five times in a row. IF I got a good report every time, I'd recommend that the drive be used, but that it be backed up frequently.

That's not going to happen.

I have replaced hundreds of these drives (2009–2012 iMac). Disk Utility will pop up something in red. Repeat and the error will likely change — that's good. If you get the same error three times in a row, give it up.

If the error goes away and you get green (I've run DU up to 50 times to get that), get your data off that drive ASAP. This will last anywhere from 15 minutes till... I saw one last a few more days before doing it all over again. One out of hundreds.

I've remapped these drives to write around the bad sectors but it never worked, not once. You can spend a lot of time down this rabbit hole but I've already done it for you.

The only thing you can accomplish is to get the data off the drive. It cannot be revived. The only surprise is that it lasted this long. They're usually having these problems within 5 years.

 

[jmilan0302]

You don't need a 2.5" to 3.5" bracket for an SSD, just some double sided tape or screws that fit into the SSD but aren't too small for the holes where the stock drive screws went. Just screw the SSD into the stock HDD bracket with one screw or tape it on there, SSDs are very light and it won't move. For the temp sensor, just get an iMac DVD drive temp sensor to replace the built in one and stick it on the SSD. More RAM will be help too, that is if you don't have a dead HDD. A 120GB SSD is $20 now. I remember when they were over $100.