Mac book hd very slow/making repetitive humming sound

[caspart8]

Hi All

Yesterday my Macbook became extremely slow, the HD seems to get stuck for an unbearable amount of time whilst trying to do a simple task. I can hear the HD in a loop (it sounds like trying to start the engine of a car but not as severe) until things run smoothly and the HD begins sounding normal again.
However, this doesnt last long, its taken me 20mins just to write this paragraph. It also can't handle having more than now application on at time.
here are my mac specs:

OS X EL Captain
Version 10.11.1
macbook pro (15-inch, mid 2010)
processor: 2.53 ghz intel core i5
Memory: 4 gb 1067 mhz ddr3
graphics: intel hd graphics 288 mb

HD : 500 GB SATA disk
377.48GB free of 498.88GB

Memory 4GB in 2, 2GB slo
All slot tscurrently in use

Side notes.
I've run First aid and every thing is apparently ok
I've reset PRAM
Booted in safe mode
I can't seem to boot diagnostics, neither holding D or Option D seem to work.
I was transfering iPhone photos using the photos application when the computer froze up. I force quit photos to remedy this.
I did re transfer the photos again, hoping that maybe the mac was caught trying to finish the job I had previously set it. but the problem is still apparent.
Restarting the computer makes things worse, I found the longer the Mac is on the longer the time between
the slow down is, to a point.
I did leave my Mac on over night but the problem still prevails.
I thought maybe it could be Spotlight indexing, but there is no notification to say this is the case.
Many Thanks

Caspar

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

Unfortunately, that sounds like a failing hard drive. Freezing, hanging, gradual increasing slowness are all symptoms of bad blocks. Since it gets better and worse, that would be when you are using areas of the disk platters that aren't failing. First Aid basically only checks the disk catalog. You would need a third-party app like Drive Genius or Techtool Pro to run a full surface scan to verify the hard drive is working properly.

-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup of your data?

I would have full diagnostics run on it at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider.

C

 

[honestone]

Hello and welcome.

Unfortunately, that sounds like a failing hard drive. Freezing, hanging, gradual increasing slowness are all symptoms of bad blocks. Since it gets better and worse, that would be when you are using areas of the disk platters that aren't failing. First Aid basically only checks the disk catalog. You would need a third-party app like Drive Genius or Techtool Pro to run a full surface scan to verify the hard drive is working properly.

-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup of your data?

I would have full diagnostics run on it at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider.

C

Speaking of TechTool Pro, one can purchase the newest version for the special price of $39.99 directly from Micromat:

http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=485

But, I suspect one does not have very long to take advantage of this special price. Even if your internal drive is beyond repair (hopefully not!), it would still be a good idea to have this excellent program. It has a number of useful tasks, including a Surface Scan that Cory mentioned.