Ray said:
Aeron said:
Ray said:
Reeve said:
Ray said:
Reeve said:
That doesn’t sound right. I’m using a late 2011 iMac with 16GB of RAM and it still works well for those applications
What kind of hard drive do you have in there
I rarely see the RAM max out (actually, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it max out). It has a Fusion Drive—128GB SSD and a 2TB HDD. The HDD spins at 7200 RPM
Your drive is likely the problem. Fusion drives are bad—it’s better to just use a 256GB internal drive and use external drives for data, projects, and work
That drive may be on its last legs
Can I stop using the SSD part of the drive and just use it like a normal hard drive? It seems like the SSD part has most of the wear and tear, and it’s only 128GB
You misunderstand. The SSD part of the Fusion Drive is okay, even at just 40% life left
The problem is the HDD. It’s extremely slow. You should not use it, see it, or think about it with a modern Mac
The best suggestion so far is to get an external USB3 SSD from somewhere (Amazon is great, Macsales is also good) and then install MacOS on there, move your apps over to it, and then format or just ignore the old Fusion drive
I’m convinced about booting from an SSD—why do you suggest it should be external
I recommend it being external because it’s quick to plug in (USB3). Amazon has plenty of them for cheap. Then just download and install MacOS and your apps on it, and set it as your startup drive; it’s easy
If you want to open up your Mac to remove the internal Fusion drives, expect to pay around $150 to your local Mac tech (plus the cost of the 2.5" 1TB or so SSD), and honestly, it’s not worth the money for such an old Mac