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Sossity

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 12, 2010
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I have DiskDrive DX Installed and wanted it to be able to read my external USB drives, but it does not work with them. I went to the apps page and followed the instructions for installing the driver, and even followed the instructions for High Sierra specifically. I need to give permission in system preferences, but it still does not work.
 
Have you rebooted? Check in System Information – Software – Kexts if the kext is loaded or if there is an error message.
 
Have you rebooted? Check in System Information – Software – Kexts if the kext is loaded or if there is an error message.
Yes, I rebooted, I found system information, but I do not know where to find the kext
 
Sorry, my mistake. It’s System Information – Software – Extensions

Sdrv.jpg
 
Sorry, my mistake. It’s System Information – Software – Extensions

View attachment 2114933

I actually have 2 versions; but they are showing as not loaded, I attached some screen shots. Not sure what to do from here on, my mac simply does not seem to be able to provide SMART info and monitoring for external hard drives.
 

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I actually have 2 versions; but they are showing as not loaded, I attached some screen shots. Not sure what to do from here on, my mac simply does not seem to be able to provide SMART info and monitoring for external hard drives.
Delete the 0.6 version from /System/Library/Extensions/ It’s old, not signed and probably causes a conflict.
The second one (0.10.3) looks good. Reboot, connect the USB hard drive and start DriveDx. The app should load the kext and display the SMART information of the USB hard drive.
 
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Delete the 0.6 version from /System/Library/Extensions/ It’s old, not signed and probably causes a conflict.
The second one (0.10.3) looks good. Reboot, connect the USB hard drive and start DriveDx. The app should load the kext and display the SMART information of the USB hard drive.
How do I get to that exactly? I did do the go and held down the option key, went to the
/System/Library/Extensions folder, and I saw this; SATSMARTDriver.kext, SATSMARTLib.plugin, SMARTLib.plugin. This was the directory I copied and pasted from system profiler to get to the older version.

What I did do was copy and past the locations it shows for these drivers from system profiler, and it does seem like it located both of them in slightly different places. For the newer one I went to; /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext and I saw these items; SATSMARTDriver.kext, SATSMARTLib.plugin.

If I delete anything, should only be the things that begin with SATSMART, or SMART? this might be obvious, but I want to be sure.
 
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How do I get to that exactly? I did do the go and held down the option key, went to the /System/Library/Extensions folder, but I only saw one of those 2, how do I know I am deleting the right one?
The other one is in /Library/Extensions where it should be.
 
Tried it all, did not work, I have repeatedly clicked allow in the settings, but the button does not really do anything, does not give me any indication that my clicked approval went through.

Are there any apps or any way to really examine my external hard drives for problems before they fail? It seems most hard drive apps only work for internal boot drives.

I found this article; https://www.micromat.com/installing-sat-smart-driver-in-macos-10-13-high-sierra-and-later/, and while it is not for diskdrive x, it covers the same thing about allowing 3rd party extensions. In the article, it shows, when one clicks on the approve button, they get a little window message that says "Enabling this system software requires a restart" I never get that message, I just keep clicking on the approve button, and nothing seems to happen. I have also made sure I have unlocked the little padlock icon on the bottom left of the preferences pane to enter my password to unlock, so I can make nay changes.

It seems there is a problem here, but I cannot seem to get it to approve, and then load the driver at restart.

Maybe this is simply not compatible with my mac, and not possible to work? I am on a cMP, 5,1 running high sierra 10.13.6.

I have reinstalled this driver about 3-4 times now, and restarted 2 or 3 times now, and nothing is working.

Here is another screenshot of what I have now;

when Install the extension, I do not get a blocked extension popup message, the installer just says that the app was installed successfully. I then go into system preferences to see that it has been blocked, and for me to approve, but when I click the approve button, nothing happens, and it is still being blocked even though it showed as installed. I am not prompted for any restarts.

I wonder if this is just a lost cause, I will never get the full functionality of this app for external hard drives. I have looked online at this, and it seems to be a specific problem with high sierra, with no real solutions. Maybe I need to update to Mojave. The only reason I have been hanging to High Sierra is because it was the last known fully compatible modern os that works with the older version of Adobe CS6. I would update my computer, but fear it will break the functionality of my expensive older Adobe software installed on it.

I may even get a new computer, it might be time, as the one I am on now is a decade old. This is very important to me to be able to monitor my external hard drives, they have a lot of valuable data on them. I have read that high sierra has been problematic with external hard drives as well.
 

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First, please do not edit posts after someone has responded to them.
From the last image, the kext is installed correctly.
What exactly doesn't work? What happens when you start DriveDx?
 
It will not show any SMART information for my external hard drives, it only uses SMART info for my internal hard drive, I thought that was understood in my whole post, I want an app that can use SMART info for my external hard drives, and there does not seem to be a way to do this.

Second, I did not see any responses to my most recent and last post, so I went in and edited it to add more information, thinking it might helpful, but sorry if that was a problem.

So here we go, I have some more screenshots of my problem, hope this makes it more clear; the first screenshot shows what it will do with my internal drive, that is fine, but look at the second screenshot, where I have highlighted my external hard drive, it will not show information like it does for my internal drive.

I would like an app that can see the details of my external hard drives, just like the internal ones, if that makes sense.

I have followed the instructions on what it shows me on the second screenshot, installed the the SAT SMART Driver, reinstalled it, made sure it was the right one, rebooted my mac about three times now, only to keep getting this same message. I have gone ito system settings, tried to approve of the extension, nothing works.

I am not being difficult, I have paid for this app, and would like it to work properly, that is all, and I am very frustrated now, and fed up with it. this app and the extension has wasted enough of my time, I have even tried to contact DiskDrive support with no reply.

Here is a link to a discussion on this in another forum from all the searching I have done, it is known problem, it is not just me; https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...t-disk-information-on-os-x-mavericks-or-later

Thanks for your help so far, but it looks like I may not find a solution right now, and I am going in circles on this, and now beginning arguing here on the forum about it, which is very unproductive.
 

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Does the kext show up as “Loaded: Yes” when the app is open?
The 0.10.3 version in /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
Close and re-open System Information or press ⌘R in the Software – Extensions section to see the change.

If it’s not loaded, close DriveDx, unplug the USB hard drive, run in Terminal:
Code:
sudo kmutil load -p /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
The command should load the kext or at least give an error message.
If there is no error message, connect the USB hard drive and open DriveDx.
 
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No it was not loaded when I opened the app.

It asked for a password, and I entered my macs password, and got this;
 

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Sorry, I forgot kmutil is not available in High Sierra. Try
Code:
sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
 
Tried this and got this;
 

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It shouldn’t be necessary, but disable SIP to see if it loads and DriveDx works.

"Disable System Integrity Protection Temporarily
To disable SIP, do the following:
Restart your computer in Recovery mode.
Launch Terminal from the Utilities menu.
Run the command csrutil disable.
Restart your computer."
https://developer.apple.com/documen...ling_and_enabling_system_integrity_protection
Am I going to have to do this every single time I want to look at the details of an external hard drive with DiskDrive DX?
 
Am I going to have to do this every single time I want to look at the details of an external hard drive with DiskDrive DX?
I am not advising you to disable SIP permanently, although that is possible.
I’m just suggesting to disable it temporary to see if that solves the problem.
 
So here we go, I have some more screenshots of my problem
That's informative. Looks like DriveDX and the kext are installed ok. But:

Can you tell its a bit more about the "scc academics business career ssd" with ugreen enclosure. Do you know that it supports SAT SMART? It may well be an NVME SSD and it may well not support SMART. I learnt this with a Samsung T7 (NVME) which doesn't support SAT SMART compared with a Samsung T5 (SATA) which does.

From the DriveDX FAQ page:
"External NVMe (M.2) SSDs support
Currently, there is no NVMe SMART over USB drivers for macOS. macOS does not support this and there are no third-party drivers (kernel extensions). Moreover, currently, there is no official specification for NVMe SMART over USB from NVM Express Workgroup. Currently only vendor-specific workarounds available like JMicron and AMedia but there is no common standard.
Some examples of external USB SSDs that are internally based on NVMe SSDs: Samsung Portable T7 Touch SSD, Crucial X8 Portable SSD."
 
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That's informative. Looks like DriveDX and the kext are installed ok. But:

Can you tell its a bit more about the "scc academics business career ssd" with ugreen enclosure. Do you know that it supports SAT SMART? It may well be an NVME SSD and it may well not support SMART. I learnt this with a Samsung T7 (NVME) which doesn't support SAT SMART compared with a Samsung T5 (SATA) which does.

From the DriveDX FAQ page:
"External NVMe (M.2) SSDs support
Currently, there is no NVMe SMART over USB drivers for macOS. macOS does not support this and there are no third-party drivers (kernel extensions). Moreover, currently, there is no official specification for NVMe SMART over USB from NVM Express Workgroup. Currently only vendor-specific workarounds available like JMicron and AMedia but there is no common standard.
Some examples of external USB SSDs that are internally based on NVMe SSDs: Samsung Portable T7 Touch SSD, Crucial X8 Portable SSD."
This is the hard drive I have in that enclosure; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FRRWVWX/ref=twister_B09RYPDGS3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

This is the enclosure; https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y81R1JM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am not sure if the enclosure does support SAT SMART, how do I check that?
 
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I’ve just realized that you have installed the wrong driver.
Version 0.10.3 is for macOS 11 and above.
Version 0.10.2 is for macOS 10.11-10.15
https://binaryfruit.com/download/mac/satsmartdriver/SATSMARTDriver-0.10.2.zip

View attachment 2115579

Message displayed when the drive is not supported
View attachment 2115580
Ok, thanks, I went in and deleted the incorrect one from the library directory, and installed this one, rebooted my mac, and looked in system profiler, and it shows not loaded, so I know it will probably not work with an external drive.

Here is a screenshot;

I aslo looked in my security section in system preferences, and the same thing/issue; I can clock on the approve button next to the developer name, but nothing happens, it does not go away like it should, it is like the button just does not respond, it makes the click motion, but nothing happens.

I have rebooted my mac so many times, I fear that I am stressing the internal boot drive. Oh well, at least I have the correct extension.
 

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