SMART status "failing" but disk warking fine... wrong?

[Romf]

Hi all,

For a while now I've had a "SMART status: Failing" in RED in disk utily on my 21.5"iMac.
First things first: everything is backed up in 2 different locations, so no big stress. The iMac is not under warranty anymore.

But what is weird is that everything seems to be working great. I've seen no slowdowns in disk accesses, and tried to check disk (both with disk utility and with the hardware checking utility you can access by booting with the macOS DVD) and well they say the disk has no problems....

Are there any further investigations I can make (is there a way to "refresh" the smart status, or maybe it's done automatically), or do I just have to keep backuping and see what happens?

Thanks

ps: wasn't sure where to post as this is about a hard drive but may also be a software issue... Feel free to move the thread if it's not the good section

 

[chrfr]

Usually, a "failing" message from SMART means that the disk is on death's door. Back it up NOW, before you do anything else.

 

[maflynn]

The drive internal diagnostics (SMART) is reporting problems then your drive is definitely going south. As the other poster stated, back up now, and replace the drive.

The last thing you want to do is start a thread is stating "how to recover data from a dead drive"

 

[Fishrrman]

"For a while now I've had a "SMART status: Failing" in RED in disk utily on my 21.5"iMac.
First things first: everything is backed up in 2 different locations, so no big stress. The iMac is not under warranty anymore."

VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION:
Just HOW have you got things "backed up"?

What you should have is at least one drive that is a "bootable clone" of the internal iMac drive.

Having things backed up to Time Machine isn't going to work well if your internal drive fails suddenly.

If you have a bootable clone (created with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper), you can just plug that drive in, boot from the backup, and get going again.

Actually, it might be worth a try to:
1. Create a bootable clone of the internal drive, then...
2. Boot from the clone (to make sure it works), then....
3. Re-initialize the internal drive (using Disk Utility), then....
4. Restore (i.e., "re-clone") the internal from the cloned backup.

 

[Romf]

Thanks for your answers.


Well I have one time machine backup on one external disk, and a backup of all the files that matter to me (photos, videos, music, documents....) on another one.
I don't think I will change the disk before it fails, as I'm not afraid of losing datas from this one.
As for the time machine it is sufficient to me, as I don't really care having to reinstall things or go through macos install if needed

But I just would like to know if this type of reports happen and can be trusted (well, further than just backing up, I backup even if the smart is showing no problems) whereas there is no other sign of drive weakness