Help understanding SSD S.M.A.R.T. status and attributes

[odinsride]

I have an OWC SSD that I suspect is not in good shape based on what I see in the S.M.A.R.T. attributes. However, the overall status reports that it's "OK" or "Verified". The individual attributes report several "Fail" statuses, so I don't know what to do about this. Can someone take a look at the screenshots and help me make sense of it?

Thanks!

 

[satcomer]

Did you install the 10.9 firmware from OWC Firmware for SSDs yet (hint is has to be internal)?

 

[odinsride]

Did you install the 10.9 firmware from OWC Firmware for SSDs yet (hint is has to be internal)?

No I didn't know about that - I will try it and check again, thanks!

 

[odinsride]

Firmware updated but still the same results in SMART attributes. I guess the drive is toast

 

[ElectricSheep]

The attributes which are reported as "Failing" have no failure threshold and thus the status indicator really has no meaning. They simply record lifetime statistics of the drive during operation.

 

[odinsride]

The attributes which are reported as "Failing" have no failure threshold and thus the status indicator really has no meaning. They simply record lifetime statistics of the drive during operation.

I have other drives that have no failure threshold with a status of "OK" on those attributes. While the drive technically still works, I ran a speed test on it and got abysmal numbers (worse than a mechanical drive). I think there is definitely something wrong with this SSD.

 

[pastrychef]

Do you have Trim enabled?

 

[ElectricSheep]

There is one thing you can do:

ATA-Secure Erase the drive and see if that restores the read/write performance. You will have to follow the instructions in this post (#3) as you will have to boot into a Linux Live session and use gparted to do it. This is different than the "Secure Erase" option supplied by Disk Utility, and will restore the drive to factory condition.

Sandforce-based drives employ real-time compression and data de-duplication to extend the life of the drive, but the effectiveness of this strategy depends on data being compressible.