Missing System Files In Sierra

John Varela

John Varela

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My late 2009 27-inch iMac is running very slowly. I'd like to know how I can fix the errors flagged in the attached EtreCheck report. Should I reinstall 10.12? If so, how? I don't think Apple will let me download the installer since I've already downloaded it once. Maybe from the recovery partition?
 

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You can download the Sierra installer whenever you need it. There is no limit to the number of times you can download - unless there is a data limitation from your internet provider. Apple has no such limit. I have downloaded Sierra at least a dozen separate times (don't ask why :D ), so I am sure you can download it when you need it.
Or, you can download by booting from your recovery system, and doing a reinstall of OS X.

Your EtreCheck took more than 30 minutes to complete. Most systems take less than 5 to 7 minutes. I think it mostly depends on the speed of the hard drive. (my SSD will run that in less the 2 minutes. even my older MacBook with hard drive, takes only 8 minutes.)

If the hard drive is original to your 7-year-old iMac, then I suspect the hard drive is slow, because it is near to failing. Looks like you keep a backup (good thing…), so the simple plan is to replace your hard drive, maybe upgrade to an SSD (which will take care of your speed problem single-handedly :D )
Some of the red-letter entries in the EtreCheck file are of really old software. Those files can likely be removed from your system, as they probably don't work anyway….
 
DeltaMac said:
You can download the Sierra installer whenever you need it. There is no limit to the number of times you can download - unless there is a data limitation from your internet provider. Apple has no such limit. I have downloaded Sierra at least a dozen separate times (don't ask why :D ), so I am sure you can download it when you need it.
Or, you can download by booting from your recovery system, and doing a reinstall of OS X.

Your EtreCheck took more than 30 minutes to complete. Most systems take less than 5 to 7 minutes. I think it mostly depends on the speed of the hard drive. (my SSD will run that in less the 2 minutes. even my older MacBook with hard drive, takes only 8 minutes.)

If the hard drive is original to your 7-year-old iMac, then I suspect the hard drive is slow, because it is near to failing. Looks like you keep a backup (good thing…), so the simple plan is to replace your hard drive, maybe upgrade to an SSD (which will take care of your speed problem single-handedly :D )
Some of the red-letter entries in the EtreCheck file are of really old software. Those files can likely be removed from your system, as they probably don't work anyway….
Click to expand...

The machine is on its second hard drive. When I had the first one replaced I asked at the Apple Store if they could replace it with a Fusion drive and the "genius" claimed they weren't permitted to install upgrades. Seemed silly to me.

I've been waiting to replace the whole computer until Apple comes out with the next model of 27" iMac. If they ever do. I don't want the drive to fail NOW dammit.

I keep a Time Machine backup as well as two Super Duper! clones (alternating backups on the 1st and 15th of each month) so I'm well supplied with backups. I am about to boot into one of the clones and run Disk Warrior on the internal drive. If that doesn't help, then unless someone on this forum comes up with a better idea I'll try reinstalling Mac OS. And if that doesn't help then I guess I'll buy myself a Christmas present at the Apple store.
 
Thought I would mention that a fusion drive is not just a single device. There is a hard drive, and a second device, its companion SSD. Your 2009 iMac never came with that combination of hardware (hard drive + SSD), so your iMac would need to be modified, either by adding extra hardware + cables to add the SSD, or (more common) removing the optical drive, and installing an SSD in that position with some kind of adapter.
Not really silly for an Apple store to refuse that sort of mod, when you know that it would involve mods that Apple does not support on your 2009 iMac.

I also see that your present hard drive is manufactured by Hitachi, which should have a 5 year warranty. You may be able to get that replaced, if indeed it is failing. You would have to go through Hitachi, as Apple won't cover a non-warranty repair part for more than 90 days.
 
DeltaMac said:
Thought I would mention that a fusion drive is not just a single device. There is a hard drive, and a second device, its companion SSD. Your 2009 iMac never came with that combination of hardware (hard drive + SSD), so your iMac would need to be modified, either by adding extra hardware + cables to add the SSD, or (more common) removing the optical drive, and installing an SSD in that position with some kind of adapter.
Not really silly for an Apple store to refuse that sort of mod, when you know that it would involve mods that Apple does not support on your 2009 iMac.

I also see that your present hard drive is manufactured by Hitachi, which should have a 5 year warranty. You may be able to get that replaced, if indeed it is failing. You would have to go through Hitachi, as Apple won't cover a non-warranty repair part for more than 90 days.
Click to expand...
 
Sorry about sending an empty Email yesterday. I was using Firefox on the iPad and pushed the wrong button and you don't want to hear about all that. Then Safari wouldn't send the message because it said it couldn't access the server. I am now back home and I hope this posting will go.

Your explanation of the fusion drive problem makes entire sense. The so-called genius, however, definitely said the problem was that they were not permitted to make the upgrade.

Disk Warrior could not process the internal drive. I made multiple tries from two different external drives, both running Sierra; each time Disk Warrior crashed and twice it froze the system, forcing a power-down.

So I did reinstall the OS and that did not seem to help. All of that was on Christmas eve. When I woke the iMac up on Christmas morning the performance problem had gone away. No beach balls. Apps opened snappily. The slowdown had existed for weeks, slowly getting worse, and then suddenly it was gone, just like that. It was like having a clogged drain that gets worse and worse and then it clears itself and suddenly the water is flowing freely. A new EtreCheck said performance had improved from "Poor" to "Below average". (Below what average? Average for a Core 2 Duo of this vintage or average for more recent iMacs?)

Maybe my initial impression after the system reinstall was mistaken. Maybe that did correct the problem. Or maybe it was a Christmas miracle.

Anyway the iMac seems to be performing as it was under 10.11.

Thank you for your responses, and keep your fingers crossed for me.
 
Sounds like the hard drive or SSD in your iMac is dying/dead. Time to pray you have a backup so when you get the hard drive replaced and MacOS on it and then use your backup to get your data back!
 
As I reported elsewhere in this thread, on Christmas morning the computer was acting normal. Either the reinstallation of the OS from the Recovery partition solved the problem or else the computer angels sent me a Christmas present.
 
Mary2 said:
I have the same problem.
Click to expand...
There are several (more than two) questions or problems mentioned in this short thread.
Which do you have?
1. System files missing
2. Problem with downloading a macOS installer
3. Questions or problems with a fusion drive setup.
4. Something else

If you have a problem, do you have a question? We would love to try to help you.
 
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