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Bad drive or something else?

J

jimholcomb

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 28, 2014
35
2
Cary, NC
Last year about this time I went to upgrade my wife's iMac to Mountain Lion. That failed due to the disk not verifying and I ended up erasing the drive and restoring from Time Machine and after that all was good.

A few days ago I noticed that it was running a bit slow and I started looking at things and it failed the disk verify and again I erased the drive (twice, maybe three times), restored and all is good again. I've run disk verify at least once a day and it's clean every time. I've also used Onyx to clean a few things up but I haven't gotten very aggressive with that.

So, is this a bad drive, the result of a few crashes, or something else? Other than this it works fine.

Jim
 
My Fusion Drive Crashed

I had a multiple system failure in the summer that ended up with the hard drive crashing and all the data was lost. My back-up on Time Machine had also failed so I was left with nothing (in Apple's defence I think this was my error).

In the meantime I picked up a Macbook Pro so the iMac didn't get much use until I decided to upgrade the OS in November. I would try and install it and it kept telling me the the program was corrupted to re-download it and try again. So I would delete it and do a reinstall and get the same error. So I called AppleCare and spent 4 hours on the phone trying to do a clean install and the machine kept going through kernel panics - (I know enough to be dangerous) - I figured that wasn't a good sign and probably a drive issue. We ended the call with me needing to take it in to the Apple Store. That I did last week and the "Genius" tried to tell me a clean install from their network would be the answer and for me to wait. After spending 4 hours on the phone being told to wait again didn't impress me since I was pretty sure we were dealing with a hardware issue. After 45 minutes and me telling the guy i needed to be elsewhere as I was under the impression I was only dropping it off, the Genius let me leave the iMac. Later that day I got a call - HD failure and a new HD would be ordered and installed.

My update to day is that they might get it done today or tomorrow. We are in the midst of a snowstorm so I'm in no rush.

So to get to the point - it sounds similar to what I went through so it makes me think your problem is the HD too.
 
jimholcomb said:
So, is this a bad drive, the result of a few crashes, or something else? Other than this it works fine.
Click to expand...

With Disk Utility not being a disk testing software, it is important to understand that it is serious if the S.M.A.R.T. status showing as failing. That drive is giving you warnings that it is going out.
 
last time i checked, yosemite's disk utility doesn't give say smart verified anymore

you can check smart status in system report
click on the apple logo
click on about this mac
click on system report
click on storage
check smart status

if smart status shows "failing" or a problem, there is no disk utility in the world that can save that hard disk , the hard disk must be replaced

the exception is "not supported" , usb to sata bridges (external cases for hard disks) do not support smart and you have no idea if a external usb hard disk is fialing unless you remove it from the enclosure and connect it directly to your sata port

do not waste money on "smart checkers" if its bad or failing, it is bad or failing, you don't need to know why
all you need to know is what your warranty options are.

1. is this covered by apple? then replace the drive, period
2. do you have apple care ? then replace the drive, period
3. do you have any other extended warranty coverage? like visa / mc ??
4 did you buy this drive in a anti static bag / component , check with the manufacturer of the hard disk, it may not be covered. and your option is to try and take it back to the store
5. did you buy this drive in a retail box ? then it might still be covered under the manufacturer's warranty

4 + 5 will require you to download the manufacturer's FREE DIAGNOSTIC to verify the disk has gone bad or is failing, these programs are like "SEATOOLS" or "Hitachi DFT" , etc. , they may have mac versions and they may not of their free utilities. you simply retrieve the error code , and submit it with the serial number of the drive and request an RMA

back up the drive to time machine
worst case scenario you probably have to buy a new hard disk starting at about $80

when buying hard drives make sure you buy them in a "retail box". typically "retail box" drives have 3 to 5 year manufacturer warranties, where bare drives / oem drives sold as System Components (typically in a static bag only) carry no warranty at all
 
Last edited:
if smart status is "verified" then it is assumed the drive is functional and you just need to do basic things, like

run disk utility to verify disk
run disk utility to check permissions
erase hard drive ( 1 pass to ensure you have no bad sectors )*
reinstall the operating system
run disk warrior to check file system

* - all drives have bad sectors, and will reallocate bad sectors on the fly. without telling the operating system

if the operating system detects a bad sector, that drive is presumed to be shot and it needs to be replaced, even if its smart sensor says its good
 
rigormortis said:
if smart status is "verified" then it is assumed the drive is functional and you just need to do basic things, like

run disk utility to verify disk
run disk utility to check permissions
erase hard drive ( 1 pass to ensure you have no bad sectors )*
reinstall the operating system
run disk warrior to check file system

* - all drives have bad sectors, and will reallocate bad sectors on the fly. without telling the operating system

if the operating system detects a bad sector, that drive is presumed to be shot and it needs to be replaced, even if its smart sensor says its good
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone. SMART status is Verified and it's working fine several days after the erase and restore. However, since this is a 5 year old iMac I'll start researching SSD drives as a replacement.

Jim
 
jimholcomb said:
Thanks everyone. SMART status is Verified and it's working fine several days after the erase and restore. However, since this is a 5 year old iMac I'll start researching SSD drives as a replacement.

Jim
Click to expand...

Good idea - HDs don't last forever.
 
the one thing i don't like about SSDs is data retention

its dirty little secret people don't want to talk about, but seems to exist

you power down your computer
you put your computer in storage for one to 5 years
you turn on your computer
your hard drive has been erased
 
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