The OSX/Apple support thread
Discussion
JiggyJaggy said:
Escapegoat said:
If you're brave enough, go in and change the HDD to SSD. Faster than using a Firewire-limited external connection (about 90MB/s maximum).
I've got a 2012 iMac with SSD inside and it's plenty fast enough (except for Blender, but that's no surprise).
Is this difficult to do and how much should say 512gb SSD to install internally cost?I've got a 2012 iMac with SSD inside and it's plenty fast enough (except for Blender, but that's no surprise).
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac
K12beano said:
Diplomatico said:
Was very annoyed to find out that my AirPod pros don't work with MS teams.
I found that out the hard way - until I found a setting somewhere, MS Teams seems to just ride roughshod over system settings. But on a call, after about five minutes of fumbling and struggling I found out that if you go into settings it then will appreciate you're on Bluetooth headset. b
d Program!!
and
mmm-five said:
I've read similar threads on Mac forums (and have personal experience) where identical machines perform completely differently when upgraded to Mojave or Catalina.
In my case, my dad's machine was slow but usable, but my uncle's (8gb RAM compared to my dad's 16gb) was faster starting up and running - but my dad's runs more apps (Word, Excel, VMware Fusion, light video editing) than my uncle (MS Word & internet for facebook).
It will obviously depend on specific usage patterns, but lots of changes to big files on APFS is much slower on a HD than using HFS due to the way the copy & write is optimised. You wouldn't notice the slowdown on a fast SSD (because it's so fast), but you do on a HD that could be 5-20 times slower.
Being a single-user machine, doing an odd Word document, or browsing the internet shouldn't cause much of a problem on any machine made in the last 10 years. My old 2008 MacPro is still in the family and has 4 user accounts on it - although that stopped being upgraded at El Capitan I think. That has a SSD boot drive and 2 x 2TB HDDs for storage.
When you start using your start-up drive as a scratch disk for large Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign files, or have to load/unload lots of audio samples you'll easily see the difference.
I think a big laggy culprit is MS Office and the set of 'apps' bundled. In my case, my dad's machine was slow but usable, but my uncle's (8gb RAM compared to my dad's 16gb) was faster starting up and running - but my dad's runs more apps (Word, Excel, VMware Fusion, light video editing) than my uncle (MS Word & internet for facebook).
It will obviously depend on specific usage patterns, but lots of changes to big files on APFS is much slower on a HD than using HFS due to the way the copy & write is optimised. You wouldn't notice the slowdown on a fast SSD (because it's so fast), but you do on a HD that could be 5-20 times slower.
Being a single-user machine, doing an odd Word document, or browsing the internet shouldn't cause much of a problem on any machine made in the last 10 years. My old 2008 MacPro is still in the family and has 4 user accounts on it - although that stopped being upgraded at El Capitan I think. That has a SSD boot drive and 2 x 2TB HDDs for storage.
When you start using your start-up drive as a scratch disk for large Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign files, or have to load/unload lots of audio samples you'll easily see the difference.
They are getting slower and slower to open.
Would removal and reinstalling help ?
I have MS 2016 and takes around 10 seconds to open Excel or Word on first daily use. After that it is very quick, I assume it is checking your documents folder to get at the various options first daily use. Second usage after shutting down it takes a shade over a second. Only use it once or so a day, might check again this afternoon to see if something is caching for quick use that gets cleared out.
I am not a heavy user of this and trying to migrate to Apple Numbers etc.
I am not a heavy user of this and trying to migrate to Apple Numbers etc.
CoolHands said:
ou seem to know what you’re talking about, could I do the above with a late-2009 mac? The big bd one with a huge screen. It still works fine but is slow starting up etc. So don’t want or need to replace.
Or should I just replace hardrive with ssd. I already upgraded the ram to Crucial max possible16GB a few years ago.
If you're happy to open it up, then an internal one makes sense.d one with a huge screen. It still works fine but is slow starting up etc. So don’t want or need to replace.Or should I just replace hardrive with ssd. I already upgraded the ram to Crucial max possible16GB a few years ago.
No need to installed a 'extreme' or 'pro' model either, as you're limited to SATA 2.0 speeds (3Gbps or 375mbps minus overheads) - so your SATA connection will be the speed limiter.
Your internal HDD will probably only be giving you 100mbps read speeds, so there could be a 3x increase is reads, but the writes will probably give you 6-10x increase in speed.
PushedDover said:
I think a big laggy culprit is MS Office and the set of 'apps' bundled.
They are getting slower and slower to open.
Would removal and reinstalling help ?
I know Office 365 on the Mac is very slow compared to the older versions I had (and to the Windows version I use under Bootcamp) - but the upgrade to Catalina meant the older versions stopped working.They are getting slower and slower to open.
Would removal and reinstalling help ?
Every version of Office seems to be double the size of the previous - with very little functionality change to support the increase...usually just seems to be a new interface that means you have to learn/customise the toolbars all over again - and it's still not a 100% feature-match with the Windows version.
Opening the apps after a restart takes about 5-10 seconds, but then they're almost instantaneous for the rest of the day, but it's the general lagginess in interface elements that you use all day that makes it feel slow - I tend to turn off all 'beautification' animations, as it's a work tool not a game.
It's much the same with Adobe - each version gets slower/laggier - almost like they want you to buy a newer computer just to keep the same performance as you've currently got. Again, the Windows version of the same release is much quicker/snappier.
mmm-five said:
CoolHands said:
ou seem to know what you’re talking about, could I do the above with a late-2009 mac? The big bd one with a huge screen. It still works fine but is slow starting up etc. So don’t want or need to replace.
Or should I just replace hardrive with ssd. I already upgraded the ram to Crucial max possible16GB a few years ago.
If you're happy to open it up, then an internal one makes sense.d one with a huge screen. It still works fine but is slow starting up etc. So don’t want or need to replace.Or should I just replace hardrive with ssd. I already upgraded the ram to Crucial max possible16GB a few years ago.
No need to installed a 'extreme' or 'pro' model either, as you're limited to SATA 2.0 speeds (3Gbps or 375mbps minus overheads) - so your SATA connection will be the speed limiter.
Your internal HDD will probably only be giving you 100mbps read speeds, so there could be a 3x increase is reads, but the writes will probably give you 6-10x increase in speed.
FWIW, to the poster above, a fresh OS install really helps. Always. Mine (2012 i7) was a partially wiped Sierra installation on SSD. Not bad as supplied (refurbished). But I upgraded it to Mojave from bare metal and it's way faster. Night/day difference.
Complete wipe & reinstall is the best way...
But, I try not to do a scorched earth install if I can help it, as I've got too many apps & plug-ins to install and invariably find one that won't work/reinstall for some reason...which entails buying the latest version that I don't really need/want...and it takes a day to get to about 90% of where it was beforehand.
Still, I do this about once a year - it helps clear out unwanted apps/preferences/kexts/daemons that have been installed but rarely/once used.
I just go through my apps and make a list of what's installed (can usually use the list from the previous wipe) and add anything new that I'm using regularly. It's mainly some esoteric plugins for Adobe CC & Quark - that I don't use every day, but make life much easier when I do have to use them for a specific client - that I forget to reinstall until I realise I need it again. If I'm clever I remember to backup the prefs/toolbar files of certain apps if I've spent a lot of time customising them - but I probably forget half the time and then kick myself afterwards.
The internal SSD is 1TB and sits about 50% full - but is partitioned 60/40 MacOS/Windows - but all the data is either on cloud or external HDDs (some clients have separate HDDs that I swap in & out as needed - which lets me keep all their assets safe).
But, I try not to do a scorched earth install if I can help it, as I've got too many apps & plug-ins to install and invariably find one that won't work/reinstall for some reason...which entails buying the latest version that I don't really need/want...and it takes a day to get to about 90% of where it was beforehand.
Still, I do this about once a year - it helps clear out unwanted apps/preferences/kexts/daemons that have been installed but rarely/once used.
I just go through my apps and make a list of what's installed (can usually use the list from the previous wipe) and add anything new that I'm using regularly. It's mainly some esoteric plugins for Adobe CC & Quark - that I don't use every day, but make life much easier when I do have to use them for a specific client - that I forget to reinstall until I realise I need it again. If I'm clever I remember to backup the prefs/toolbar files of certain apps if I've spent a lot of time customising them - but I probably forget half the time and then kick myself afterwards.
The internal SSD is 1TB and sits about 50% full - but is partitioned 60/40 MacOS/Windows - but all the data is either on cloud or external HDDs (some clients have separate HDDs that I swap in & out as needed - which lets me keep all their assets safe).
I'd get an external SSD drive to ultimately use for regular bootable clone backups. Needs to be sized to match whatever is internal.
But first I'd put a clean OSX install onto it and see what the switching was like. If it's smooth and good, then start loading Office etc onto it and see what happens.
If it's still good, then I'd order an internal SSD to replace the Fusion Drive.
But first I'd put a clean OSX install onto it and see what the switching was like. If it's smooth and good, then start loading Office etc onto it and see what happens.
If it's still good, then I'd order an internal SSD to replace the Fusion Drive.
How long have we been in Lockdown now?
For all that time my MBP has been set with a lock screen to kick in after 5 minutes like I'm in a coffee shop or someone else's office (remember them?)....how much time did I spend putting a password in (it's not new enough to have fingerprint ID) ?
Probably about a WEEK!
For all that time my MBP has been set with a lock screen to kick in after 5 minutes like I'm in a coffee shop or someone else's office (remember them?)....how much time did I spend putting a password in (it's not new enough to have fingerprint ID) ?
Probably about a WEEK!
K12beano said:
How long have we been in Lockdown now?
For all that time my MBP has been set with a lock screen to kick in after 5 minutes like I'm in a coffee shop or someone else's office (remember them?)....how much time did I spend putting a password in (it's not new enough to have fingerprint ID) ?
Probably about a WEEK!
But imagine the amount of energy you're saving by having the screen turn off when you're not using it.For all that time my MBP has been set with a lock screen to kick in after 5 minutes like I'm in a coffee shop or someone else's office (remember them?)....how much time did I spend putting a password in (it's not new enough to have fingerprint ID) ?
Probably about a WEEK!
Wanting to connect with family during lockdown I went to use the camera on our IMAC and it isn’t working. Any clues ? Hardware or a bug ?
Using FaceTime, we get the message ‘FaceTime has not received any video from the connected camera. Restarting may fix this issue’ - it doesn’t ! Not working in IPhoto either.
It’s running Catalina. Thx.
Using FaceTime, we get the message ‘FaceTime has not received any video from the connected camera. Restarting may fix this issue’ - it doesn’t ! Not working in IPhoto either.
It’s running Catalina. Thx.
Fired up one of the iMacs we usually use in the office. Granted it hasn't been used heavily for weeks and has been on standby but when I turn it on it keeps loading to this stage and then does nothing further....
I keep booting it up and it just stops at this stage and hangs for up to 1 or 2 hours! Any ideas?
I keep booting it up and it just stops at this stage and hangs for up to 1 or 2 hours! Any ideas?
JiggyJaggy said:
Fired up one of the iMacs we usually use in the office. Granted it hasn't been used heavily for weeks and has been on standby but when I turn it on it keeps loading to this stage and then does nothing further....
I keep booting it up and it just stops at this stage and hangs for up to 1 or 2 hours! Any ideas?
Boot from the recovery partition (cmd-R), and if that works run, go to Disk Utility on the screen that appears and run 'First Aid' on your startup volume to see if there are any errors.I keep booting it up and it just stops at this stage and hangs for up to 1 or 2 hours! Any ideas?
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