I'm seeing more beach balls than Ibiza

120_Minutes

Mid 2012 13" i5 MBP with 8gb ram running Sierra. Everything has been great since the day I bought it until yesterday. I now get beachballs at the slightest thing. (it's happened four times since i've started typing this thread) everything now seems like an ordeal for this poor laptop, and i have to stress nothing radical has changed.

so far to troubleshoot this I've:

deleted unwanted files (200gb now free of my total 500)
reset pram
cleared caches
checked running processes and nothing is excessively using the CPU
I can't repair permissions as sierra no longer allows this.

Might i also add, that this happens when no other apps are running. also typing this out was a chore as the cursor also freezes or goes slow.

it's not browser related as it's happening in both chrome and safari.

What's going on?

*edit* beachballed four more times before finishing typing.

*double edit* just want to add that my dock also freezes or won't appear sometimes. also startups and shut downs take quite a long time.

120_Minutes

OSI wrote: »

I have a funny feeling your disk is on its way out.

ah crap. I ran disk utility and first aid didn't show up anything bad.

well as luck would have it I did buy a second hand time capsule last week so at least i'm backed up. and i was considering removing the optical drive to install an ssd.

just to add another problem i don't think my mac is sleeping properly. i just closed the lid and threw it in my bag at 100% and when i got home and took it out it was VERY warm and was at 88%

Greentree_uk

Caution it may not be your hard drive and infact could be your hard drive cable. Only way t check it remove your drive and run it externally to verify issues are no longer there.

Ya-Boy-Ya

had the same problem with my mac mini.... everything i done was beachballing...

just reinstalled Mac os and everythings perfect now

Losty Dublin

120_Minutes wrote: »

ah crap. I ran disk utility and first aid didn't show up anything bad.

well as luck would have it I did buy a second hand time capsule last week so at least i'm backed up. and i was considering removing the optical drive to install an ssd.

Don't just back up your Mac with Time Machine. Use something like Carbon Clone as well.

120_Minutes

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Don't just back up your Mac with Time Machine. Use something like Carbon Clone as well.

Why, in your opinion?

Back on topic it looks like the issue is resolved. Like someone mentioned there's a known issue with hard drive cables with my model and year. So an authorized repairer swapped it out and all seems fine.

Losty Dublin

120_Minutes wrote: »

Why, in your opinion?

CCC is handier if you need to fit a new HD as it literally clones everything as it is on your Mac. Also, CCC can be booted from externally should it be needed. That said, TM is a doozy to use to recover bits and bobs and it has it's place

sheepy01

Just back it up and do a clean install

Martynet

If you didn't already, I would strongly recommend replacing the old HDD with SSD disk. You can find a 500GB for about €150-€170. I would recommend samsung 750 EVO. It will feel like a new machine. I did this upgrade to my 2009 27" iMac, and all the macbooks of my friends and family and the difference is incredible.