Determine if drive is failing

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mister

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Hi folks,

A friend brought me a mac with an SSD that is behaving just like a drive is failing.
It 'freezes' for a while and then starts responding again. I don't see anything hogging the CPU.
How can I determine if the drive is failing? Is there a log file I can look at that indicates block read errors?

(I have no mac experience, but I'm fine in terminal)

thanks
 
The first problem was using a mac

/flamesuit

What about removing the drive and running it on another machine? Lots of linux tools for that. It seems weird to me you have an SSD with intermittent issues... They normally work or don't.

You could also try a live linux boot off of a flash drivr and test that way? Any chance you can replace the cabling too (as it warms it the cabling can expand just enough to disconnect some of the pins)?
 
Maybe it is just Trim is not enabled:

Start at the top of your screen:
 » About this Mac...

Then click System Report...

Then under SATA/SATA Express check if TRIM Support is set to Yes or No.


If not, sudo trimforce enable
 
@agent - I wanted to avoid opening the damn thing, and yes, I hate macs too ;)

@GreGorGy - thanks, I'll take a look
 
Download DriveDX in safari, and install by mounting the DMG, then drag the DriveDX icon to the application folder and finally launch it; btw the demo version will be enough to ascertain the drive's condition.
https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx
 
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I ended up opening the macbook and it seems to have suffered a nasty fall. The bottom is dented and the SSD casing had actually come apart inside the machine!

I removed the drive and checked the smart which tested as perfect.
I then ran a surface check and it returned no errors.
I then ran another more extensive surface test overnight and it returned no errors.

Put it back into the macbook and apple diagnostics returns a hard drive error.
I also keep getting errors which are fixed when running fsck but they return.

The above leads me to believe either the sata cable or controller is damaged.

I'm thinking about removing the optical drive and putting the drive in a caddy in it's place.

Would the mac boot off the secondary (optical) sata port?

thanks all
 
In fact, if you have an enclosure, it will also boot from USB and you could remove the SSD, pop it into the enclosure and eliminate SATA entirely.
 
GreGorGy said:
In fact, if you have an enclosure, it will also boot from USB and you could remove the SSD, pop it into the enclosure and eliminate SATA entirely.
Click to expand...
Not quite. Still a worthwhile exercise.

Also, different MBPs have different specs on the optical bay sata, which is one of the reasons why I asked the model.
 
bwana said:
Not quite. Still a worthwhile exercise.

Also, different MBPs have different specs on the optical bay sata, which is one of the reasons why I asked the model.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I had to wait for diagnostics to finish before I could find the serial. It's a MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.5 13" Mid-2012
 
Well...

I put another SSD in the machine, with the intent of reinstalling macOS to see if it runs smoothly. And to my surprise the machine booted Windows 10.

It runs beautifully, so fast and smooth!

Guess the sata cable & port is fine.
 
mister said:
Sorry, I had to wait for diagnostics to finish before I could find the serial. It's a MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.5 13" Mid-2012
Click to expand...

Most likely the SATA cable failing.If you find that’s what’s faulty and you need one drop me a PM.
 
samcro said:
Most likely the SATA cable failing.If you find that’s what’s faulty and you need one drop me a PM.
Click to expand...

I'm in Durban. The sata cable seems fine. Windows is running smooth and not reporting any disk errors at all... Going to wipe it and reinstall Sierra
 
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