SMART Failure detected during install

[GadgetEmpress]

I have a late 2012 27" iMac with a 1Tb Fusion drive.

I went to install Mojave and it refused to install due to a SMART check. Sure enough - Disk Util reports the drive as 'Failing'. This computer has been working great and I'd like to keep it running.

I've read enough threads to realize that the failure message is probably accurate - so I have a clone of my 1Tb drive (and an online backup of important files).

I decided opening up the box to replace the internal drive was too much risk for me. And the Apple repair places are too expensive. So I've purchased a external 500 Gb SSD (USB3) with a plan to use it as external boot drive. I've installed Mojave (APFS) on it to test the install and that seems to be working. If this was premature I can just reformat it.

Now I'm just staring at my computer trying to figure out the best way to proceed. I'm not a geeky as many here!

I think my plan is:
- boot from external SSD
- reformat Fusion drive
- split the Fusion drive
- Figure out which part is failing
- Use ??? to put my content back to the drives that work (the external SSD and hopefully part of the fusion drive is still working)
------ iTunes library won't fit on 500 Gb drive) its 435, Movies are 130Gb and Pictures are 193 Gb

Does that sound about right?

I'd love some feedback before I end up creating a mess.

Thanks!

 

[Fishrrman]

Hmmmm...... lemmmeeessseeee here.....

You have the external boot SSD up and running.
Sounds good.
I'll bet it runs as fast (or faster) than your internal drive?

I wouldn't worry too much about the SMART message.
What I'd do:
1. Get an external drive and keep the fusion drive backed up (preferably using CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, so that the backup is finder-mountable).
2. Just use the internal fusion drive until it fails, because you have a good, cloned backup close-at-hand.
3. If the drive fails, go on from there.

Alternate course.
1. same as #1 above
2. Use Disk Utility to erase the fusion drive "as a fusion drive" first. See if this works. Then run the "repair drive" function on it, and see what results you get.
3. If the drive then looks ok, you could "re-clone" the contents of the cloned backup BACK TO the internal drive.

If you decide to "DE-fuse" the fusion drive, and if you find that one of the components is "near failure", I would then leave the two drives "as separate drives".
I would rebuild "the good one", and just leave the other one "failed, but in-place".
No need to pry the thing open.
Let the bad drive stay there, "dead and buried".

 

[GadgetEmpress]

Hmmmm...... lemmmeeessseeee here.....

You have the external boot SSD up and running.
Sounds good.
I'll bet it runs as fast (or faster) than your internal drive?

I wouldn't worry too much about the SMART message.
What I'd do:
1. Get an external drive and keep the fusion drive backed up (preferably using CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, so that the backup is finder-mountable).
2. Just use the internal fusion drive until it fails, because you have a good, cloned backup close-at-hand.
3. If the drive fails, go on from there.

Alternate course.
1. same as #1 above
2. Use Disk Utility to erase the fusion drive "as a fusion drive" first. See if this works. Then run the "repair drive" function on it, and see what results you get.
3. If the drive then looks ok, you could "re-clone" the contents of the cloned backup BACK TO the internal drive.

If you decide to "DE-fuse" the fusion drive, and if you find that one of the components is "near failure", I would then leave the two drives "as separate drives".
I would rebuild "the good one", and just leave the other one "failed, but in-place".
No need to pry the thing open.
Let the bad drive stay there, "dead and buried".

Thanks for the feedback.

I think I like the first alternative. I have the external drive setup with Mojave, and I'll just boot from it (and you are correct - it is a little bit faster than my current fusion drive!)

- I think I'm going to use Migration Assistant to move my Applications and Documents to the new SSD (unless there is a better way)
- I'll leave my Photos, iTunes, and Movies on my Fusion drive and use SuperDuper to keep the clone backup running each night.

Thanks again!

 

[Fishrrman]

"- I think I'm going to use Migration Assistant to move my Applications and Documents to the new SSD (unless there is a better way)"

You can probably use migration assistant for the apps, but you're almost certainly going to have trouble moving the documents that way -- due to permissions problems.
(This assumes you already have created a NEW account for yourself on the SSD).

There's another way to do this that may actually work better.
Where do you KEEP your documents?
In the "documents" folder?
Or... somewhere else?

How I would advise you to move documents (i.e., files that you have created) from the "old account" (internal drive) to the new account (SSD):
1. Boot up from the external SSD.
2. Have the internal (fusion) drive mounted on the desktop
3. Click ONE TIME on the fusion drive icon to select it
4. Type "command-i" (eye) to bring up the get info box
5. Down at the bottom of get info, click the lock and enter your password (the one that you use for the new account on the SSD)
6. In "sharing and permissions", put a check into the box "ignore ownership on this volume"
7. Close get info
You can now copy just about anything from the fusion drive to the SSD, and all documents (from the internal drive) will "come under the ownership" of your NEW account.

BE ADVISED:
You CANNOT copy the entire "documents" folder from your old account to the new one.
HOWEVER... you CAN copy stuff that's "inside" of the documents folder.
So you need to "go inside", select the stuff you want, and then copy it where you want.
Keep notes if you have to.


"- I'll leave my Photos, iTunes, and Movies on my Fusion drive and use SuperDuper to keep the clone backup running each night."

Very good idea!

 

[GadgetEmpress]

"- I think I'm going to use Migration Assistant to move my Applications and Documents to the new SSD (unless there is a better way)"

You can probably use migration assistant for the apps, but you're almost certainly going to have trouble moving the documents that way -- due to permissions problems.
(This assumes you already have created a NEW account for yourself on the SSD).

There's another way to do this that may actually work better.
Where do you KEEP your documents?
In the "documents" folder?
Or... somewhere else?

How I would advise you to move documents (i.e., files that you have created) from the "old account" (internal drive) to the new account (SSD):
1. Boot up from the external SSD.
2. Have the internal (fusion) drive mounted on the desktop
3. Click ONE TIME on the fusion drive icon to select it
4. Type "command-i" (eye) to bring up the get info box
5. Down at the bottom of get info, click the lock and enter your password (the one that you use for the new account on the SSD)
6. In "sharing and permissions", put a check into the box "ignore ownership on this volume"
7. Close get info
You can now copy just about anything from the fusion drive to the SSD, and all documents (from the internal drive) will "come under the ownership" of your NEW account.

BE ADVISED:
You CANNOT copy the entire "documents" folder from your old account to the new one.
HOWEVER... you CAN copy stuff that's "inside" of the documents folder.
So you need to "go inside", select the stuff you want, and then copy it where you want.
Keep notes if you have to.


"- I'll leave my Photos, iTunes, and Movies on my Fusion drive and use SuperDuper to keep the clone backup running each night."

Very good idea!

Couple of clarification questions:

I do keep all of my Documents in the 'Documents' folder... and I have created an account on the new SSD, it's the same name as the one on my existing fusion drive setup.

- If I change to 'Ignore ownership' will I then loose the ability to boot from that drive? I'm not sure why I'd care since I'm trying to convert to Mojave, but I'd just like to make sure I understand.
- You mentioned that I cannot copy the entire Documents folder (is that a permission issue as well?) - but can I copy sub-folders? If not this is going to be royal pain!

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I do keep all of my Documents in the 'Documents' folder... and I have created an account on the new SSD, it's the same name as the one on my existing fusion drive setup."

The "names may be the same", but the accounts ARE NOT.
The Mac will see these as TWO DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS, each with its own "ownership".
That's why you have to use the trick I described above.

"If I change to 'Ignore ownership' will I then loose the ability to boot from that drive?"

No. It will still boot and run just fine, just like before.

"You mentioned that I cannot copy the entire Documents folder (is that a permission issue as well?) - but can I copy sub-folders?"

No, you can't just copy the entire folder at once, because the "first sub-level" of folders in your account are MORE THAN "just folders" -- I believe they are symbolic links that are tied to that account.
This is why you have to OPEN the folder, and then you can copy "the stuff inside it" (both files, and folders). BTW, this holds true for the Movies, Music, and Pictures folders as well.

Yes, it is going to be a bit of a pain. That's why you need pencil and paper to keep notes as you go along. But it's really the only way to "do it right" from one existing account to another.

Again, remember -- the Mac will "see" your "old" account and the "new one" on the SSD as DIFFERENT accounts, with different "owners". That's why you have to "overcome permissions" (as described earlier). Skip doing this, and you may encounter all sorts of "permissions problems" later on.

 

[GadgetEmpress]

OK - I used migration assistant to move Applications.
Then I copied my Documents as you suggested.

Now I'm realizing that there are all that 'stuff' in the Library folders - a lot of it!
Is it safe to copy the user\Library folder to my SSD? There is a LOT of application data in it.

Oh - and I take back what I said about boot time - now that I'm actually booting from it, the performance is pretty bad - it takes 2.5 minutes just to get to the Apple logo, from that point forward, it's as fast as my internal drive to boot.

Thanks again!

 

[Fishrrman]

"Now I'm realizing that there are all that 'stuff' in the Library folders - a lot of it!
Is it safe to copy the user\Library folder to my SSD? There is a LOT of application data in it."

In two (not one, but TWO) posts above, I've explained why you cannot do this.

Go ahead and do whatever you want, but be warned that you may "muck things up" VERY badly by doing so.

The Library folder (in the home folder) is the same as the rest of the "top-level" folders. It's MORE THAN JUST A FOLDER, it's a symbolic link. You CANNOT "just copy the whole thing".

You need to open the folder, then you can copy things that are inside of it.
Yes, it's work.
I've done it and it takes some time.

 

[GadgetEmpress]

"Now I'm realizing that there are all that 'stuff' in the Library folders - a lot of it!
Is it safe to copy the user\Library folder to my SSD? There is a LOT of application data in it."

In two (not one, but TWO) posts above, I've explained why you cannot do this.

Go ahead and do whatever you want, but be warned that you may "muck things up" VERY badly by doing so.

The Library folder (in the home folder) is the same as the rest of the "top-level" folders. It's MORE THAN JUST A FOLDER, it's a symbolic link. You CANNOT "just copy the whole thing".

You need to open the folder, then you can copy things that are inside of it.
Yes, it's work.
I've done it and it takes some time.

I didn't mean to sound like I wasn't listening to you!
I should have asked if it was ok to copy the CONTENTS of the Library - not the folder (link) itself. I have been following your advice!

I just wasn't sure if it was safe to copy the contents of the Library folder as there is a LOT in there and some the folders already exist.

Thanks again!

 

[Fishrrman]

"I just wasn't sure if it was safe to copy the contents of the Library folder as there is a LOT in there and some the folders already exist."

Well, you have a couple of choices, regarding those folders "that already exist".
You can replace them with the stuff you're copying over.
or...
You can attempt to "merge" them, so as to keep what's already there, and "add the new stuff".

Note-taking is a good idea as to "what is where".
Also some thought... "do I really need to bring this over???"