Upgrade to Sierra

[Adamant]

Background: I did already upgrade my Macbook. My impression is, Sierra is a heavy load on it. It's slow. Lots of spinning wheel.

My desktop is an iMac 2.8GHz Intel core i5, Late 2015, 16GB. And it's running Mac OS 10.11.6.

I'd like to upgrade to Sierra. But my desktop is already slow enough. It never was fast, even when new. Another story, alas. I just don't want to make it even slower.

Has anybody done a Sierra upgrade on a similar Mac?

 

[Julie Zilko]

I am reticent to upgrade as I'm fearful my computer will slow down. I'd like to hear from others who have upgraded. I'll ask on FB.

 

[honestone]

One of the bottlenecks with some Mac models is the slow 5400 rpm drives inside them. Even the iMac 2.8GHz Intel core i5, Late 2015 which Adamat uses has a slow, 1 TB 5400 rpm drive. When I purchased my late 2012 Mac Mini (Core i7), it came with a slow, 1 TB 5400 rpm drive. As I do not need that much space, I replaced that drive with a Samsung 840 Pro 256 gig SSD, and the performance difference blew me away! The machine launched must faster, applications run faster, etc. And that slow, 1 TB 5400 drive went inside a nice, slim Orico external enclosure, which comes in handy for backups, storing stuff, etc. (I've since moved on to having two Samsung 850 Pro 512 gig SSDs inside separate, Orico external enclosures).

My mid 2013 13" MacBook Air came with a 251 gig Samsung SSD (EVO model), and it is fast enough. I am using the latest version of Sierra, OS 10.12.4, on both machines, and performance is real good.

It is possible to swap that 1 TB drive inside the iMac for an SSD, but it is somewhat challenging (it was easy for my Mac Mini). It's also possible to do it for Mac laptops, but without knowing the specific model, can't say how "easy" it would be.

 

[honestone]

One other thing that should be mentioned about performance is the need to do frequent disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective. And for traditional hard drives, disk defragmentation/optimization is also helpful. Disk cleanup begins with one doing it on their own, just about every day. Then, on some "set" schedule, and using both some excellent freeware and commercial tools, perform disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. Myself, I do this once a week, typically on Saturday. I use the excellent freeware program Onyx for a number of useful disk cleanup tasks, and the excellent commercial product TechTool Pro for more "intensive" disk cleanup, maintenance, and if need be, repairs. And while I no longer use the Volume and File optimization features that come with that product (not recommended, nor needed, with SSDs (I've read such operations could also be a "detriment" to SSDs)), the other features are still helpful. My Macs subsequently run "lean, mean, and clean"> And of course I do backups, using SuperDuper! to create a bootable backup/clone for both of my machines.

 

[Adamant]

@honestone, thanks for the explanation about the drives. That makes sense. These drives work ... like molasses.

Anyway, the SSD swap out is a pretty good idea. When you says it's "somewhat challenging" do pull the 1TB drive from an iMac ... I've done drive replacement in the past .. wouldn't call myself an expert, or even a frequent tinkerer .. can you elaborate on the "somewhat" ... ??

I will also check out Onyx, thank you.

 

[honestone]

First, which machine would you want to upgrade with an SSD?

Secondly, based on that, you need to tell us what exact Mac model that is.

I suspect it will be more challenging for the iMac than the MacBook, but without knowing the exact model/models, it's difficult to say definitively.

 

[Adamant]

I would upgrade my iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015), with the internal 1TB drive. It's only a year old, and I would really like to see it fly.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

If you are experiencing overall slowness/SBOD, I would bet it is more of a software issue than a hardware issue. It could also be a hardware issue with the hard drive, but probably not. The 5400-rpm drives in modern iMacs are pretty quick compared to older models, even though SSDs are much faster.

-Do you have third-party utility apps like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, etc. installed?
-Are you running an antivirus, and if so, is real-time protection enabled?
-Do you have Adobe Flash or Oracle Java installed?
-Are you running older versions of software, like Office 2011 or earlier, old Adobe apps, etc?
-When do you get the SBOD most often - in particular apps, or when using a browser?

We may be able to solve the issue you are having without the need to purchase anything,

Because of the specialized tools needed, and the advanced skill required to swap a drive out in that particular model, I STRONGLY advise against attempting the procedure yourself.

An internal SSD would definitely speed things up. But, in your case, I would recommend a Thunderbolt/Thunderbolt 2 external drive as the best solution if you wanted to go with a faster drive. If you add an SSD to that, the price goes up quite a bit.

C

 

[honestone]

As usual, Cory is correct, in regards to trying to upgrade the internal drive on the iMac. I will say, though, that when I was using my late 2012 Mac Mini with its slow, Hitachi 1 TB 5400 rpm drive, it definitely was not a speed demon. And as most folks know, I take care of my machines very, very well. I keep them "lean, mean, and clean", I always insure to having the latest version of any software I have, avoiding any "nefarious" third party software, not using any virus software, etc., etc. And besides daily disk cleanup, I always go through my disk cleaning/maintenance/repairs, and backup, processing once a week, typically on Saturdays. The tools I use for that are Onyx, TechTool Pro, and SuperDuper!. And when I had that drive inside the machine, I would also use TechTool Pro's Volume and File Optimization features to keep things "straight" on the drive. But even with all that, the machine was still no speed demon.

The upgrade to the SSD, though, sure changed that! The machine became a real pleasure to use, and that 1 TB drive was still put to good use as a storage device.

Now, an external SSD is a very good option. Thunderbolt connectivity would be the fastest, but be aware that external enclosures with such connectivity are expensive. Since you have USB 3.0 ports on your iMac, you might want to consider using an external enclosure with USB 3.0 ports/interface. I have 2 external Orico enclosures with USB 3.0 ports, and inside each of them I have a (fast) Samsung 850 Pro 512 gig SSD. When I boot either of my Macs from either enclosure (I have SuperDuper! bootable backups for each machine on both devices), boot time of course is "somewhat" slower than booting each machine directly (from the respective internal SSD), but with those external SSDs, it's much faster than with a conventional HDD. Once on that external enclosure, apps do run fast.

 

[Ormond]

Don't upgrade OSX unless you have a specific and compelling reason for doing so. Mac forums are filled to overflowing with threads from folks who upgraded OSX for vague reasons like it's free and seemed like the thing to do. Next thing you know they're starting a thread to diagnose all the new problems they have created as a result.

If you need to use some specific software which will only run on the latest OSX, then it's worth researching the issue and maybe upgrading. Otherwise, save yourself some work and possible problems, and just skip upgrading.

Things are not getting better and better in Mac land, so it shouldn't be assumed that newer is better. Here's why. Macs used to be the heart of what Apple was about. Now Macs are one of a hundred product lines at Apple. And I hear rumors Apple is considering buying Disney. Apple's focus is being progressively distracted away from the Mac and towards many other projects.

Point being, if what you have now is working for you, don't mess with it. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

 

[honestone]

Once again, it seems like some folks like to misstate things. As I mentioned in another post, I have had no issues at all in migrating/upgrading to a new version of the Mac OS. The key to that success is the preparation I follow prior to the upgrade.