He already has 16 GB of RAM, I doubt that's the problem.

Here's an article from MacWorld UK, with lots of things that can help. I note that in El Capitan and Sierra, one can no longer repair disk permissions, which is what I thought of.

Fixing slow Mac

You don't mention what version OS X you're using. Should be upgraded to Sierra.

I am using Sierra.

One other question: I have another mac mini of similar specs...can they be coupled in any way to use both CPUs and memory as a single computer?

You can connect a second Mac as a target drive and use its hdd. May be a diagnostic method but not a multiplexing fix.

Last 3 minis I fixed had hard drives that were dying a slow, unreported death. The users were getting many spinning beach balls just opening Mail or Safari.

Installed new SSDs, then had to install the OS from scratch and use Migration utility to pull the user account(s) from the old drive because there were multiple errors cloning one drive to the other. None of those users have seen a SPOD since.

Just one more vote for an SSD upgrade. I have a 2008 era MacBook Pro I just did this to recently. Took care of my beach ball.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
I am using Sierra.

One other question: I have another mac mini of similar specs...can they be coupled in any way to use both CPUs and memory as a single computer?

Separate computers= separate CPUs, ram, etc.

If what you are looking for is a method of combining the processing power of two computers into one, the "easiest" way to do it is to configure both of them as virtual machine hosts using software like VMWare ESXi (Be forewarned this will require compatible device hardware) and creating a resource group/cluster and creating a virtual machine that uses the resources of both computers. (There are other options but require a lot of technical equipment and knowledge).

This is not going to provide full 2x speed (some resource capability losses are due to virtualization) and is a limited solution due to likely compatibility requirements but it is the most "correct" answer to your question.

If I buy a SSD for my mac,is there a way to clone the current drive onto the new drive so that all I have do is install the new one and boot up and have everything the way it was before?

Sounds like a slow dying HD to me. The beach ball happens when the computer repeatedly tries to access weak sectors. A SSD will make the computer better than new.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
If I buy a SSD for my mac,is there a way to clone the current drive onto the new drive so that all I have do is install the new one and boot up and have everything the way it was before?

Check out OWC My Upgrades.

There are a couple of options:
1. Get an SSD with and external enclosure. Clone your HD onto the SSD (in the enclosure), Swap the HD & SSD.
2. Get the SSD with the Data Doubler kit and add the SSD internal. You will now have 2 internal drives. You can then clone the HD contents onto the SSD or preferably do a clean system install and migrate user data from the HD to the SSD.

Mac Mini Hard Drive Install video
OWC Data Doubler Install video

All videos from OWC for installs.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
If I buy a SSD for my mac,is there a way to clone the current drive onto the new drive so that all I have do is install the new one and boot up and have everything the way it was before?

If you have an external had drive lying around, USB, FireWire, or ThunderBolt, use it to make a Time Machine backup.

Then install the new drive, install the OS, and use Migration Assistant to re-populate the new drive from the Time Machine backup.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
If I buy a SSD for my mac,is there a way to clone the current drive onto the new drive so that all I have do is install the new one and boot up and have everything the way it was before?

Yes, Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper make this extremely easy. You can clone your existing drive to the SSD while it is in an external enclosure, attached via USB. Then, as a proof/test, Option Boot and choose the SSD external to boot from. Once you are satisfied, you can make the physical drive swap. Since there is room for two 2.5" drives in the Mini, you might want to leave the platter drive in there as well for a data drive. (To keep two drives in the Mini, you would need a kit of a very few parts, including another cable. OWC used to sell a "drive doubler" kit for this purpose). Myself, I would remove the platter drive and leave only the SSD, and then use the platter drive in the external enclosure for data. Why? heat, Mini's are cramped.
 
If you don't already have a 2.5" external enclosure, Oyen Digital makes a nice MiniPro model, which is USB-C capable, and also comes with a cable for regular USB 3.0. Oyen is not the cheapest, but they are very well made aluminum enclosures, and their price doesn't exactly break the bank, either. I have a half dozen of them, different generations (older ones had Firewire capability).
 

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
If I buy a SSD for my mac,is there a way to clone the current drive onto the new drive so that all I have do is install the new one and boot up and have everything the way it was before?

Yes, Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper make this extremely easy. You can clone your existing drive to the SSD while it is in an external enclosure, attached via USB. Then, as a proof/test, Option Boot and choose the SSD external to boot from. Once you are satisfied, you can make the physical drive swap. Since there is room for two 2.5" drives in the Mini, you might want to leave the platter drive in there as well for a data drive. (To keep two drives in the Mini, you would need a kit of a very few parts, including another cable. OWC used to sell a "drive doubler" kit for this purpose). Myself, I would remove the platter drive and leave only the SSD, and then use the platter drive in the external enclosure for data. Why? heat, Mini's are cramped.
 

Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper are the way to go. Much faster than a Time Machine restore.

On a side note, I will NEVER purchase from OWC again. Many years ago I bought an external drive from them that was advertised as bootable. When I received it I discovered that it was not. When I called and spoke with Larry (the owner) about the error he acknowledged it but refused to allow a return. Since then I have not spent a dime with them and take all opportunities to share the story. After many years doing Mac tech support, they have lost a fair amount of business from me and my clients.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AZSIGness,

I used the OWC kit. Worked well. Swapped my 750 GB in my 5 year old Mac Pro for a 1TB SSD.

Swapped the drives first, then on boot up it knew to ask if I wanted to clone the old drive, now in the external OWC supplied case, back to the new SSD.

About all you have to do is select yes and wait... mine ran overnight 6 or so hours to copy over. About 500 GB of data. Next morning I was GTG!

My photo album of ~25k mostly Hi Res DSLR photos that took almost a minute to open and display all the thumbnails before, now does it in about 10 seconds.

I did have a time machine backup to fall back on if any problems arose...

Edit to add:
Here id the exact kit I bought.
Includes tools and external case for your old drive.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/YSSD6E960/

They have videos to show you how.

Much better if you do a clean install of the operating system, then use System Migration to pull your user account from the old hard drive to the new.

quote:

Originally posted by Leeann:
Much better if you do a clean install of the operating system, then use System Migration to pull your user account from the old hard drive to the new.

Always better if you do a clean install, but in his case a clone is a quick alternative to all that work. Personally, I prefer a clean install, but that's just me. It is a bit more work, but worth it.
 

Chrome - if you have a lot of tabs/windows opened, that's a major issue. That browser sucks up all the RAM you can give it.

and get an SSD.