Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Can I trust an SSD that had an issue before?

M

motomotomoto

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 3, 2018
104
43
3 months ago I got a 2TB Samsung T7 SSD. A couple days ago I got a popup saying the drive could not be repaired, it could not be written to, and to backup immediately if possible. I tried running disk utility repair on it a couple times and got the same message.

I bought a cheap 2TB USB drive and backed it up, then tried repairing it again. This time it worked.

Can I trust this drive to be reliable at this point or should I get a new one and return this one? It's for music production and gets a lot of use + the information on it is very valuable.
 
I'd check the Samsung site for software (Magician?) that can really check it. Probably have to be done on a Windows machine if any software exists.

My Logic Pro X sessions SSD is backed up every night via Carbon Copy Cloner. As long as you've got something like that set up you'd be OK, I'd think. Suspected bad SSD or not…that's the way you should be thinking.
 
  • Like
Reactions: artfossil
You might also look into the Samsung warranty for that drive. Samsung normally warrants their solid state drives for 5 years but it also varies by model and size.

SSDs do not act like spinner hard drives and can fail without any warning whatsoever. The T7 series is the newest in the Samsung line of portable SSDs and the most expensive.
 
Mac... nificent said:
It's probably not as bad as you think. Anytime it can't read the drive, or even unmount the drive, it gives that message.

You should have your drive backed up anyway, so it's a non-issue.
Click to expand...
Do you think it's worth returning the drive, or should I just make a back up and keep rolling?
 
motomotomoto said:
Do you think it's worth returning the drive, or should I just make a back up and keep rolling?
Click to expand...
Personally, I would just ignore it unless you have some reason to suspect the drive is bad. If it's easy to return the drive then that's always a safe bet. When I first got this error I freaked out, but then once I learned why the message popped up (it wouldn't unmount) I now just close the message and move on.
 
Mac... nificent said:
Personally, I would just ignore it unless you have some reason to suspect the drive is bad. If it's easy to return the drive then that's always a safe bet. When I first got this error I freaked out, but then once I learned why the message popped up (it wouldn't unmount) I now just close the message and move on.
Click to expand...
Is there another test I can do to see if the drive is bad other than this one occurance? I can get it returned, but would be a PITA.
 
chscag said:
You might also look into the Samsung warranty for that drive. Samsung normally warrants their solid state drives for 5 years but it also varies by model and size.

SSDs do not act like spinner hard drives and can fail without any warning whatsoever. The T7 series is the newest in the Samsung line of portable SSDs and the most expensive.
Click to expand...
Its under warranty yeah, but it's a PITA to mail it back to Samsung, wait 4 weeks for a replacement, etc...
 
motomotomoto said:
Is there another test I can do to see if the drive is bad other than this one occurance?
Click to expand...
SSD Reporter will tell you if the SSD is OK or not.

Download SSDReporter for Mac | MacUpdate

Download the latest version of SSDReporter for Mac for free. Read 13 user reviews and compare with similar apps on MacUpdate.
www.macupdate.com www.macupdate.com

It runs in your menubar and turns yellow or red when there's an issue.
 
Mac... nificent said:
SSD Reporter will tell you if the SSD is OK or not.

Download SSDReporter for Mac | MacUpdate

Download the latest version of SSDReporter for Mac for free. Read 13 user reviews and compare with similar apps on MacUpdate.
www.macupdate.com www.macupdate.com

It runs in your menubar and turns yellow or red when there's an issue.
Click to expand...
Does it tell you if there is an issue with the controller, or just the flash array?
 
Not sure about the latest and greatest version of OS X or XI, but in almost every system I have used you can have trouble unmounting drives, if you fail to first close software that was using the drive. Even Preview can be problematic and absolutely anything that uses it as a scratch drive.

Hopefully you are not letting Stoplight index an external drive, but a corrupt Stoplight meta data file can also cause issues.
 
OldMacs4Me said:
Not sure about the latest and greatest version of OS X or XI, but in almost every system I have used you can have trouble unmounting drives, if you fail to first close software that was using the drive. Even Preview can be problematic and absolutely anything that uses it as a scratch drive.

Hopefully you are not letting Stoplight index an external drive, but a corrupt Stoplight meta data file can also cause issues.
Click to expand...
How do I stop Spotlight from indexing an external drive
 
I recommend DriveDX to analyze your T7 SSD. It's about the most comprehensive drive checking software you can use. It will tell you if your T7 has errors.

DriveDx - the most advanced drive health diagnostics and monitoring utility

DriveDx - the most advanced drive health (S.M.A.R.T.) diagnostics and monitoring utility. Save yourself the data loss and downtime that is associated with unexpected SSD and HDD failures. Don't worry about losing your important data, music, and photographs.
binaryfruit.com binaryfruit.com
 
OP:

Since you now have a second 2tb drive, my suggestions:
- Keep using the t7
- Use CCC to regularly create a cloned backup to the other 2tb drive you have. Every day or every other day.
- Just run that way. If the t7 fails again, immediately switch to your cloned backup. After all, it IS "a clone" of the source drive.
- Then, return the t7 under warranty.
 
  • Like
Reactions: artfossil
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back