Your Mac device has an internal disk that stores the apps and information you use on your computer. If you’re frequently experiencing a slowdown with your Mac, it is usually caused by disk problems. These are strained use, incompatibility of apps, low memory, and usually a combination of all. Aside from a slowdown, your Mac will keep notifying you that your startup disk is full. These are the most obvious signs of disk issues. Other signs are corrupt files, difficulties during startup, apps quitting unexpectedly, and connection problems with external drives. In more extreme issues, you may hear strange sounds from your computer’s hardware.
If your Mac has slowed down or has other similar symptoms, it is a sign the disk may be broken or at least needs an upgrade. However, Mac devices operate differently from standard operating systems. It can be tricky to diagnose it yourself, especially if you’re a first-time Mac user. When in doubt, seek professional Mac repair services for efficient assistance. In the meantime, relevant fixes you can do with caution are explained below.
Common Disk Problems in Mac
The lightest issue that causes your Mac to run slow is when you have several apps opened simultaneously. When several apps are open, your hard drive and RAM get used up more rapidly. Your computer will have a difficult time processing all these activities.
The issue escalates when among several opened apps, there are one or more that are incompatible with your Mac. For example, an app requires more memory than your computer has available. You can check your Mac’s memory through Apple Menu > About This Mac, and you will see an amount in the Overview pane. Find out the system requirements of an app and compare if your Mac allows it.
An app can also cause problems if it is not compatible with your computer. This means that the app requires a different graphics card. Check the graphics card of your Mac through Apple Menu > About This Mac > Display. If an app requires a different processor, you can check your Mac’s processor through Apple Menu > About This Mac > Overview. Again, compare the system requirements of the app with your computer.
Finally, your Mac may just not have enough free disk space. You can delete unused files on your disk. You can try moving your files to an external storage device or cloud storage. The Apple Operating System does not exactly display what takes up your hard drive space. When you hire Mac repair professionals, they use specialized software and identify what data takes up space in your drive.
Repair your Disk with Disk Utility
You can check and fix errors related to your disk with Disk Utility. To properly check and repair a disk, you must run First Aid on each container and volume on the storage device. You can do this through the Disk Utility App > View > Show All Devices, and click the First Aid Button on every volume.
When you can’t repair the disk
The First Aid process notifies you if it’s successful or not. If it tells you that MacOS can’t repair the disk, it means it’s time you reformat or replace it. For every failed volume, back up as much data as possible. Then, you can reformat the disk and reupload your backed-up data. If problems persist, it is an indication that the disk has physical damages, so you need to ultimately replace your disk.
