2009 iMac woes...

[mjw]

...whilst never the swiftest of perfomers, it’s always done OK as the ‘daily’ computer. Suddenly it can take an age (in one case, an hour) to complete a task based on a single mouse click. That includes the usual IT dept advice to turn it off, unplug and turn on again. The USB hard drives mount successfully and the clock works but it seems to be subsiding towards death.
Does the team think there’s an easy fix to this e.g. replacement of ‘something’ or has it gone the way of all things and not worth bothering with?
I’m happy to move on but worry about the environmental nonsense of jettisoning the 90% of it that works OK so might look to give it to weee charity or someone similar to nob up.

 

[flutteringwow]

You can use something like Clean My Mac which will restore some performance, but it may not be enough.

Could be a corrupted HDD that may or may not recoverable as 11 years is getting on a bit, might need replacing if a full OS install dosent solve it.

Sometimes nothing but a full clean OS install is needed - this does not mean use a Time Machine backup or anything similar, backup your data to an external drive, and then do a full clean install and transfer it back. The problem is you may end up with a later OS that may need more system resource than your mac has to give.

Does the 2009 have upgradeable RAM? If so, and you're running less than 16GB, Id upgrade that to.

 

[miktec]

Nor sure how easy it is to disassemble .. but a replacement SSD generally works wonders with older machines.

Although TBH sometimes they just ain't worth the hassle and have reached deathtime ... 2009 is a long time ago in OS terms.

 

[chartz]

Don’t underestimate the power of Onyx.
I have an original, unmodified 2009 iMac still in service and it works as well as always.
It has only 8 Gb of RAM and has never been powered off since its purchase back then.
And yes, if anything you can do a fresh OS install from the recovery partition. No worries.
Then think of a dying hard drive.

 

[Tony L]

Does the team think there’s an easy fix to this e.g. replacement of ‘something’ or has it gone the way of all things and not worth bothering with?

It is obviously an old machine, but getting rid of old and likely failing spinning hard disks and maxing the RAM out will get it working as good as it can. That you say it can take an extraordinary amount of time to do certain things very likely points to a HD that is either on its last legs or so full the OS can’t create an adequate swap-file. A entry/mid-level 2009 iMac will never set the world alight now, but it should perform hugely better if you stick a SSD of a larger size and max out the RAM.

PS My MBP is only three years newer (2012) and actually still feels really snappy and fast now it has 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. I’d view it as unusable now in its original 4GB, 5400rpm HD spec. It is definitely worth upgrading the iMac even if it ends up as a supplemental machine rather than a daily driver.

 

[mjw]

Thanks, @Tony L. The 1TB hard disk is probably only 25% full, which points to a more terminal condition. I once had a read of ifixit on how to open up and replace with an SSD - it didn’t fill me with confidence. There’s a good firm nearby (that @Andrew C! uses) and I might get a quote for them to do it. And I might find someone who’ll use it to its fixable potential and buy something newer onto which I can just update with Migration Assistant - it was managing Time Machine backups right up to yesterday.
Thanks again.

 

[flutteringwow]

Thanks, @Tony L. The 1TB hard disk is probably only 25% full, which points to a more terminal condition. I once had a read of ifixit on how to open up and replace with an SSD - it didn’t fill me with confidence. There’s a good firm nearby (that @Andrew C! uses) and I might get a quote for them to do it. And I might find someone who’ll use it to its fixable potential and buy something newer onto which I can just update with Migration Assistant - it was managing Time Machine backups right up to yesterday.
Thanks again.

I wouldn't use the migration assistant, as if you have file corruption problems, you might end up transferring the issue. Plus, I've never seen it perform flawlessly when doing it on a much more up to date OS than the host unit.

You can also run a disk scan first to see if there is HDD issues.

 

[garyi]

The 2009s are easier than most you just need some window sucker things slap them ont he top of the screen and give it a pull, straight forward from there.

On the downside the 2009 drives have a built in temp sensor, without it the fans will run full pelt, software is available to tame them.

My personal opinion would be 13 years out of a PC is damn good going, give her a nice send off and get something new. Ideally not mac because modern iMacs have nothing you can fix yourself, not a thing. Some geezer is selling a 2011 mini in classifeds for 50 quid, could tied you over if you have a spare screen somewhere.

You can even use your 2009 mac as the screen (allbeit a very electric intensive one)

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204592

 

[sq225917]

My 2010 mbp is still doing sterling duty, 8gig ram 1tb ssd and Catalina os. Its been on 24/7 since the day was bought.

 

[miktec]

My 2010 mbp is still doing sterling duty, 8gig ram 1tb ssd and Catalina os. Its been on 24/7 since the day was bought.

With the wind in the right direction the OP might be able to install High Sierra (now a security liability online) - anything more recent would probably entail a hack ...
I have a Mac Mini 2010 in the shed with the same restriction - running Windows 10 like a good 'un instead.

Mac OS is heavily over-rated in my book - was top dog a good while back but is now pants.

 

[hifilover1979]

What about trying to sort it with a boot able external SSD and see how it runs that way & then if no better, maybe look at @garyi suggestion of replacing it (Mac Mini & monitor maybe) etc?

 

[mjw]

What about trying to sort it with a boot able external SSD and see how it runs that way & then if no better, maybe look at @garyi suggestion of replacing it (Mac Mini & monitor maybe) etc?

Definitely looking in that direction.
I managed to get it to perform s disk first aid in in disk manager so will see what that reveals.

 

[mjw]

@hifilover1979 while I have your attention I noted the BenQ screen you recently bought. I used an online tool to gauge my needs for a screen - which aren’t many, frankly and it came up with this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073NTCT4Q/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
Can you see how it could be a purchase I’d regret?

 

[hifilover1979]

Nope, it'll be perfectly fine, although TBH I'd rather go for the monitor I've got as you step up from 1080p to 2560 x 1440 (2K) then

But that's my personal choice

Either will work absolutely fine though with something like a Mac Mini (or MBA / MBP) depending on what you need etc...

 

[Darth Vader]

Thanks, @Tony L. The 1TB hard disk is probably only 25% full, which points to a more terminal condition. I once had a read of ifixit on how to open up and replace with an SSD - it didn’t fill me with confidence. There’s a good firm nearby (that @Andrew C! uses) and I might get a quote for them to do it. And I might find someone who’ll use it to its fixable potential and buy something newer onto which I can just update with Migration Assistant - it was managing Time Machine backups right up to yesterday.
Thanks again.

In which case you can use Disk Utility to make two 500GB partitions. One will contain your existing installation and the other will be empty. You then erase the new empty partition, give it a different name and install your OS in there from Recovery Mode.

You can then use Startup Manager to boot from that new partition and see if it works any better. If it does then your hardware has a clean bill of health if not then its time for another HDD or SSD. However you can use the new mass storage device via USB so no need to open up the iMac.

The whole above process will take about 10mins of your time and a total elapsed time including the install less than an hour. If you need guidance just pm me.

Cheers,

DV

 

[Darth Vader]

With the wind in the right direction the OP might be able to install High Sierra (now a security liability online) - anything more recent would probably entail a hack ...
I have a Mac Mini 2010 in the shed with the same restriction - running Windows 10 like a good 'un instead.

Mac OS is heavily over-rated in my book - was top dog a good while back but is now pants.

Unfortunately I have to disagree with you. All three consumer OS - Windows, macOS and Linux are sophisticated and vastly resourced. However they are tailored for different audiences.

You can run Win 11 on a 2010 Mac Mini............ The thing is Apple and their software suppliers don't support older hardware in newer Mac OS unlike Microsoft and other UNIX type OS. Its a business decision and saves them a LOT of money and therefore ups their profit margin.

Cheers,

DV

 

[miktec]

Unfortunately I have to disagree with you. All three consumer OS - Windows, macOS and Linux are sophisticated and vastly resourced. However they are tailored for different audiences.

You can run Win 11 on a 2010 Mac Mini............ The thing is Apple and their software suppliers don't support older hardware in newer Mac OS unlike Microsoft and other UNIX type OS. Its a business decision and saves them a LOT of money and therefore ups their profit margin.

Cheers,

DV

I know that - but thank you for your time on this lecture ...

 

[Andrewxyz]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AR9ZYYQ/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I replaced the hard drive of my 2008 iMac with an internal SSD which improved the performance a lot. It still won't run current OS though, so I'll be replacing it next year.

My fathers 2009 imac is running with an SSD in an external caddy as shown above. I used CCC to clone the original hard drive onto the SSD then set the machine to use the SSD as the boot drive. It seems to work OK.

 

[Andrew C!]

@mjw has your Mac got ‘Clean My Mac’ installed?

 

[mjw]

I am writing to you on the "nearly made it to the dumpit site" 2009 iMac that has been returned to its former (plodding) glory. I have to offer a big shout out to the patient and tolerant of the clueless @Darth Vader, who walked me through a process using private messages to get me from wondering what to do next, via bafflement, to having it working again. He didn't have to do it but he just did - a credit to the PFM community.