Slow startup on 2019 iMac with possible Fusion Drive issue

Hi. My 2019 iMac running Sequoia 15.5 has a painfully slow startup. I've tried all the usual fixes. I wondered if my fusion drive split but it's hard to tell. When I check the system settings for storage and click on "All Volumes" it shows me two drives using the exact same amount of storage (see attached grab). I ran DriveDX and it said "0 issues found" for both drives (which should be *one* drive). So I'm stumped. I'd love to get expert eyes on the Etrecheck report to see if anything jumps out. Thank you.




[Edited by Moderator]

iMac 27″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Jun 5, 2025 10:06 AM

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Posted on Jun 6, 2025 6:37 AM

I see this differently:


The screenshot you posted shows your Fusion IS split. Were it not , the screenshot would show ONE drive labeled "Fusion," not two lableled "SATA" and "PCI-Express." This excerpt is from the Apple article on split Fusions drives:



So it appears your Fusion s split, as Storage does not properly identify it as "Fusion.."


This shows your current drive scores:


Performance:

System Load: 8.36 (1 min ago) 6.20 (5 min ago) 3.78 (15 min ago)

Nominal I/O usage: 4.87 MB/s

File system: 67.91 seconds ⚠️

Write speed: 42 MB/s ⚠️

Read speed: 132 MB/s ⚠️


A healthy Fusion drive in your iMac model shou be doing Writes between 600 and 900MB/sec, and Reads of 1400MB/sec of higher. "File System" is a rough measure of drive health. Healthy drive are usually under 40 seconds.


I would start with a thorough backup, maybe two different ways if you wear both belt and braces, then use the instructions in this article to rebind the two fusion components:


How to fix a split Fusion Drive - Apple Support


If successful, see if the drive speeds approacj the healyty speed ranges I posted above, and the the File


I has seen several Etrecheck reports lately where split Fusion drives still show as Fusion


This shows your curent drive scores:


Performance:

System Load: 8.36 (1 min ago) 6.20 (5 min ago) 3.78 (15 min ago)

Nominal I/O usage: 4.87 MB/s

File system: 67.91 seconds ⚠️

Write speed: 42 MB/s ⚠️

Read speed: 132 MB/s ⚠️


A healthy Fusion drive in your iMac model should be doing Writes between 600 and 900MB/sec, and Reads of 1400MB/sec of higher. "File Systme is a rough measure drive health. Healthy drive are usually under 40 seconds.


I would start with a thorough backup, maybe two different ways if you wear both belt and braces, then use the instructions in this article to rebind the two Fusion components:


How to fix a split Fusion Drive - Apple Support


If successful, do EtreCheck again to see if the drive speeds approach the normal speed ranges I posted above, and that the File Systme score has gone down.

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Slow startup on 2019 iMac with possible Fusion Drive issue

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