Slow iMac about to be fixed?
I have been having big problems with my iMac 27″ (4GB RAM) that runs Windows 7 on a Boot Camp Partition (using VMWare Fusion). It is basically the same setup as I have on my MacBook Pro (which has 8GB RAM), with the minor difference that the MBP is fast as lightning and the iMac is slow as HELL!
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect the iMac to be fast when running both OS X and Win 7 with 2GB each, but you have to experience it to know what I’m talking about. Basically, the HDD reads and writes constantly. Sometimes, it goes into an extra intense write state, during which it slows to a halt.
It doesn’t matter whether or not VMWare is running, the iMac is dead slow anyway. Despite all my communication with various Mac Stores and Apple Support, no one has been able to help me…
…until tonight, thanks to the people at discussions.apple.com.
The key concept here is that Boot Camp + Spotlight can go bad, causing Spotlight to constantly index the Boot Camp partition. I’m almost certain (99%, give or take) that this is what has been causing the slow behavior for me as well.
When I rebooted my iMac, the disc was going crazy from start, writing and reading like crazy. As soon as I added the Boot Camp partition to the no-indexing list in Spotlight, the disk went quiet and the computer has been working SOOOO good since then.
The fix is reset when I restart my computer, but I will follow the root folder file advice in the discussion and see if it helps.
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