Hello everyone I own a flawlessly presented late 2012 iMac. I recently upgraded my iOS to Catilina, and I’ve been using it to watch YouTube and browse the web. It crashed after crashing after an update the other night, and when I went to use it, it was jammed and extremely sluggish.
I’m now attempting to reinstall iOS after several attempts to restart or reset it, but whenever it reaches this screen, it becomes stuck and stays that way even overnight.
Could it be a failing hard drive? How should I proceed? Can I attach a separate SSD?
How am I supposed to respond? Not its power or speed, but its big screen is why I adore it.
Your 2012 iMac is showing slow performance, crashes, and issues reinstalling macOS after an update. It might be that your hard drive has failed. First, try booting into Recovery Mode by restarting and holding Cmd + R. Then, run Disk Utility to check for issues with the internal hard drive using First Aid. If that doesn’t work or if the drive is too damaged, you could install macOS on an external SSD. You can download macOS onto the external drive from another Mac or through Recovery Mode. Set that SSD as your main boot drive in System Preferences under Startup Disk. This way, you can still use your iMac for web browsing and YouTube without needing to replace the internal drive right away. If you want a long-term solution, you might consider swapping out the internal hard drive for an SSD, either by yourself or with help from a technician.
@Corey
Thank you so much for the info! I think getting an external SSD sounds like a good plan for now. I have a lot of expenses coming up, so I can’t buy a new laptop or do anything too costly. Is there an affordable external SSD you recommend? Thanks!
@Piper
I suggest Samsung SSDs. If you want something budget-friendly, go for the Samsung T5 SSD (250GB - 2TB). For a better option, try the T7 Shield (250GB - 2TB). If you want something faster, you can get the T9 (250GB - 4TB). I’d recommend either the T5 or T7, but the T9 is great if you want quicker file transfers.
I have the same machine with 32GB RAM and 1TB storage, and I’m running Sequoia 15.1 Beta. I hope you find a solution to your problem. Once it’s stable, don’t forget to turn off Automatic Downloads in your Software Update settings.
