Member Avatar for munman

My mac is running slow. I asked a guy aBest Buy about it and he suggested I reformat my computer and then reinsatl backed up data form carbonite. Is there anything else to try. THis seems pretty drastic. If I msut reformt, do I go through disc utility?

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As described, a full reformat is a big step. Reformatting should be a last resort. Since raised hardware and RAM as possibilities and the drive shows about 15% free, systematic diagnostics are advisable before erasing the disk.

Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities) is the first non-destructive lens into what is slowing the system. Sort by CPU and Memory to flag runaway processes. High "Memory Pressure" (or, on older OS X builds, frequent page‑ins/page‑outs and heavy swap) indicates insufficient RAM or an app leak. The Disk/IO columns show background read/write storms from indexing or backup software. Reducing unnecessary login items and testing with a fresh user account can reveal whether the problem is system‑wide or confined to one account.

Boot‑time and hardware checks narrow hardware faults. Booting in Safe Mode (hold Shift) disables third‑party kernel extensions and triggers a basic file‑system check. Apple Hardware Test / Apple Diagnostics (model dependent) exercises the RAM and drive; resetting the SMC and NVRAM can clear power/thermal and configuration glitches. Console.app is useful for spotting repeating errors. If drive‑health checks show bad sectors or diagnostics report errors, make a verified backup and replace the drive — an SSD swap gives the largest perceived speed boost on older Macs.

Reinstalling the OS without erasing is often safer than an immediate full format; older machines may require original install media rather than a recovery partition. If a full wipe is chosen, restore only user files and freshly installed apps after a verified backup to avoid reintroducing problematic settings. Reformatting can cure corrupted system files but will not fix failing hardware.

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Member Avatar for freshfitz

How old is it is it a desktop or laptop, I hope your hard drive is not going bad go into disk utility and run repair permissions and verify disk. If it's really slow your hd may be going bad, How much memory is in it? Re-formating and loading you os on a mac is un-necessary cause mac os does not use alot of system resources and does not clunk up like windows. Also how full is your hd?

Member Avatar for munman

How old is it is it a desktop or laptop, I hope your hard drive is not going bad go into disk utility and run repair permissions and verify disk. If it's really slow your hd may be going bad, How much memory is in it? Re-formating and loading you os on a mac is un-necessary cause mac os does not use alot of system resources and does not clunk up like windows. Also how full is your hd?

Only 15% full

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