Drive fails SMART status-"this drive has a hardware problem"

I recently did a major update of software and applications to my MacPro. (it's the first model of 8 core that came out). When I do a major update like this, I make a clone using Carbon Copy Cloner of the system drive to an external drive so I have a backup until I verify everything is good on the updated internal. I have 4 hard internal drives and have been having no trouble from them. However I noticed in Disk utility that one of the non-system drives is displayed in red and gives a warning that reads, "This drive has a hardware problem and can't be repaired. Backup the data and replace the drive". It also shows the SMART status as "failing". So I have everything copied to another drive.
I'll gladly replace the drive. However here's my confusion: when booting from the system cloned to the external drive, this same drive shows as being perfectly fine in Disk Utility. Both system drives have OSX 10.6.6. the only difference is newer applications on the internal system drive that reports failure (mostly audio related applications: Pro Tools, Reason, Roxio Toast).
So does anyone have any thoughts? I've read some other threads and they just report the failure and say to change the drive. I've not seen anyone else have one system that reports failure and another that doesn't.

SMART status failed is usually caused by too many suspected Bad Blocks. Some of these blocks may be unjustly accused of being permanently bad.
If you have the liberty to re-initialize the drive, doing so with security options "Zero all data, one pass" will ensure that (if the test completes without error) the drive once more has 100 percent good blocks. The process takes several hours to complete, longer if there are a lot or bona-fide errors.
It is also possible that the drive will produce "initialization Failed", in which case it should be retired if out of warranty, returned for replacement if still in warranty.
A drive that has ever seen a SMART status of Failed may get more Bad Blocks in the next six months. Or maybe this afternoon. If possible, it would be good to reduce your day-to-day use on this drive, such as making it a backup drive rather than using it all day every day for 'live" data.

Similar Messages

I downloaded OS Mountain Lion 10.8... and when I was getting ready to install I get "This disk has S.M.A.R.T. errors. This disk has a hardware problem that can't be repaired. I have read some of the same comments below. Why?

I was trying to install OS X Mountain Lion 10.8... and I got an error saying, "This disk has S.M.A.R.T. errors. This disk has a hardware problem that can't be repaired. I saw several other questions below of people having the same or similar problems. Does this mean that my hard drive is about to crash? I plan to head to the place I purchased and have it checked out. I backed up my data a couple of days ago. Any comments?

Yes, S.M.A.R.T. is a built-in diagnostic on the hard drive, and it is reporting a problem that may cause it to fail.
You can see the same status in Disk Utility, and possibly get more info. Run Disk Utility and select the DRIVE in the sidebar. Be sure to select the DRIVE and not the volume indented below it. At the bottom of the window, there is a field for S.M.A.R.T. Status. If there is no problem, it should say Verified.
You can also do a Get Info on the drive (File -> Get Info) in Disk Utility, and the Info window provides more detailed information (toward the bottom) about what is being checked.

"This disk has S.M.A.R.T. errors. This disk has a hardware problem that can't be repaired

THis is the error message I get when I try to install lion on a mid-2010 iMac 27". "This disk has S.M.A.R.T. errors. This disk has a hardware problem that can't be repaired. Back up as much of the data as possible and replace the disk"
However, when I run disk utility, it says that the disk is fine. What should I do?
thanks in advance
A.

Disk Utility checks the disk directory that keeps track of all your files. S.M.A.R.T. status checks some hardware stuff and attempts to warn you before the disk just flat-out dies. The directory can still be fine on a failing disk but don't count on it staying that way if you continue to write to the failing disk. Make a miniumun of one copy of your data on the failing drive immediately. Two or more copies would be much better. Having only one reliable copy of your data is very unwise.
You can use Carbon Copy Cloner (donationware) or Super Duper! (free and paid versions) to make a bootable clone of your failing drive to use as one of your copies. In System Preferences > Startup Disk select the clone as your startup drive. You can use the clone for your work until you can get your Mac in to have the hard drive replaced. When you get your Mac back Setup Assistant will be equally happy to restore all of your data from a Time Machine backup or a clone.

This drive has a hardware problem that can't be repaired

Hello all! I'm using a late 2009 27" iMac (2.8 GHz, 12 GB Ram). I've been noticing a lot of insanely slow speed lately, mostly in opening new folders or restarting. I ran the Disk Utility and it maked my internal 1TB drive as "This drive has a hardware problem that can't be repaired". Thankfully I have a 2tb backup external that has all my data on it, but now it's time to decide what to do.
1. Try and reformat my hard drive and reinstall the backup
2. Replace the drive with a new internal drive (and look for the best solution... thinking either a hybrid drive, SSD+internal or a 7200 RPM drive)
3. Throw my iMac into the sea.
4. Cry
So basically my question is:
Is my drive dead and should i even try to help it? (I don't qualitfy for the TB repair from Apple and my Applecare is up)
What are the best performance upgrades for an internal. 7200 internal? 7200 Hybrid? both an SSD and an internal drive?
Thank you in advance.

You will have to see what the SMART report is for the drive in Disk Utility. If it says "Verified" then the drive should be OK. All you need do is repartition and reformat the drive. On the other hand if DU reports the drive has an I/O problem then the drive is probably bad.
Initially why not just try this:
Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
7. Quit DU when formatting has completed. Install Snow Leopard.

New Drive has a Hardware Problem?

Hi,
The old hard drive in my iMac finally failed (it was a Seagate with a known issue, but I never got it replaced). Today I put in a brand new drive, exactly same model as the old, but I still get the S.M.A.R.T. error "This Drive has a Hardware Problem that can't be Repaired".
Any clue what could possibly be wrong? I may have misplaced the EMI foam slightly (after some time, the fan spins up), but could that really be the cause? There were no fan problem with the old drive installed.
I follewed this iFixIt guide:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2309+and+2374+Hard+Drive+Repl acement/1634/1
Thanks!
Michael Knudsen

I don't understand the SMART report, but unless you got a replacment directly from Apple, it wouldn't have been an exact replacment. That drive, even if it's the same model, has to have a special firmware for the internal temperature sensor and that's only available from Apple. If you've read the OWC blog for the late 2009s that says that you ony need to replace the drive with one from the same manufacturer in order to use the same sensor cable, I believe that's not correct.
The spinning up can be cured by using the free SSD FAN Control. But no idea if that's related to the SMART error. I only know about the temp sensor issue related to this. If this doesn't fix it, maybe you got a bad drive or the problem is located elsewhere, maybe on the SATA controller on the logic board. No idea.
http://exirion.net/ssdfanctrl/

Drive has a hardware problem that can't be repaired?

I have had a Lacie 1TB 7200RPM external drive for about 3 years now. In the last two days I got this message when I went into disk utility. "drive has a hardware problem that can't be repaired". I was able to back up all the info off of the drive.
Is this a drive problem or a hardware problem. I am using esata and an esata card. Not sure what the card is.
Any diagnostics.
I ran a verify and repair permissions and was told the drive is OK.

Do this:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.

I updated iPhoto and now can not burn a cd on iPhoto. I am getting error message: The burn to the SuperDrive drive failed. The disc drive didn't respond properly and can't recover or retry.

I updated iphoto 9.4.3 and now it will not allow me to burn pictures on disc. I am recieving the follwing message:
The burn to the SuperDrive drive failed. The disc drive didn’t respond properly and can’t recover or retry.
I have tried to do a SMC Reset and PRAM reset and it still will not work. Before the update I was burning pics onto the same dics with no problem.
Any suggestions on what to do?
Thanks!

Hey MGRUBE,
Thanks for the question. I understand you are experiencing issues with burning a disc. The following resource may help to resolve your issue:
Disc Burning Quick Assist
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1152
Thanks,
Matt M.

S.M.A.R.T status failing??? Drive has a hardware problem?

I bought my iMac in June,
Just went into disk utility and I noticed that the 1TB drive was red.
I've clicked on it and it says that
"This drive has a harware problem that can't be repaired.
Back up as much of the data as possible and replace the disk. See an authorized apple dealer for more information."
Down the bottom it says the S.M.A.R.T status is failing?
Can anyone please explain what is going on and why this would be happening on an iMac that is only about 6 months old?

Before going to the trouble of taking your Mac in, give AppleCare a call and tell them what S.M.A.R.T. reported. They'll probably walk you through another test or two and if it's really on the way out you should ask them to send a technician to your house to change the drive. Here in the U.S. they will do it if you live within 50 miles of their service provider. They did it twice for me in the past. It may also be the case in Australia. Can't hurt to ask and you can save lugging the Mac in if they will do it. And as the other posters pointed out, back up your data from that drive first because when they change it they will keep the old one.
Rick

Internal hard drive/repair: SMART status; Disk Utility, Tech Tool & More

machine: 12" PowerBook 1.5 GHz PowerPC G4 (Aluminium) with 80GB internal HD
internal hard drive (original): Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 series HTS541080G9AT00
hard drive firmware: MB4AA5AJ
ATA version: 6
ATA standard: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a
I have monitored the SMART status etc. of my internal drive with smartmontools for some time. Occasionally, I would see an error or a failed self-test but later testing always succeeded and things did not seem to be problematic.
At the beginning of this week, I started to see a lot of failed self-tests (though some still passed), a rising number of bad ("pending") sectors and reallocation attempts (though no reallocated sectors) and various other errors. The computer seemed to have trouble reading from the disk at times and Carbon Copy Cloner reported two I/O errors when cloning (a later clone succeeded). fsck showed errors although running fsck -fy repeatedly seemed to resolve them.
The Apple hardware tests initially reported an error (2STF/8/3:ATA-100 ata-6-Master) but I hadn't realised I should disconnect peripherals before running it so I did that and repeated the test which found no issues. I ran the extended test a total of three times with no errors.
As I continued to have problems, I booted from my clone and had Disk Utility wipe the drive by writing zeros to it. (I thought trying to get it to write everywhere would either finish the drive off or force it to reallocate the bad blocks. As I understand it, in normal use, the drive won't reallocate the blocks unless it can recover the data in the hopes of reading it at a later time.)
I then continued monitoring the disk using smartmontools. At this point, short self-tests succeed but extended self-tests "disappear". They don't fail, they simply vanish. They begin and smartctl shows the test in progress but then no error or result is logged - it is as if the test was never run. The first time I did this, I got an error saying the SMART attributes could not be read but subsequent tests do not trigger even an error. Short self-tests continue to pass.
There are now (according to SMART) zero bad ("pending") sectors but zero reallocated sectors, which seems odd. The raw read error rate fluctuates (zero one minute, many thousands a while later) although I am not sure it did not do this before.
Disk Utility claims the disk does not support SMART status even though smartctl clearly shows it does. Disk Utility claims the volume is "OK".
I ran Tech Tool Deluxe 3.04 from CD and 3.1.1 from my clone. In both cases, I ran all available tests on the drive. No problems were found.
I am seeing some problems even while booted from my clone - yesterday, the system froze completely and I had to force a shut-down by switching off the power (fsck then found a minor error but repaired it). Just before this happened, I was unable to mount a disk image and was trying to rectify the situation when the system froze. It is possible that the errors fsck corrected were implicated in the freeze, rather than caused by it, since Disk Utility found and repaired similar errors for the other two clones I have (on different partitions of my external drive - yes, I know this is sub-optimal).
Here is some current output from smartmontools:
---output: smartctl -q noserial -a disk0---
smartctl version 5.38 [powerpc-apple-darwin8.11.0] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 series
Device Model: Hitachi HTS541080G9AT00
Firmware Version: MB4AA5AJ
User Capacity: 80,026,361,856 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 6
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a
Local Time is: Sat Jul 3 20:28:52 2010 BST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 645) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 55) minutes.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 RawRead_ErrorRate 0x000b 100 100 062 Pre-fail Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 SpinUpTime 0x0007 142 142 033 Pre-fail Always - 2
4 StartStopCount 0x0012 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 5793
5 ReallocatedSectorCt 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 SeekErrorRate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 SeekTimePerformance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 PowerOnHours 0x0012 039 039 000 Old_age Always - 26720
10 SpinRetryCount 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 PowerCycleCount 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 4168
191 G-SenseErrorRate 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Power-OffRetractCount 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 201877487644
193 LoadCycleCount 0x0012 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 2209599
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 141 141 000 Old_age Always - 39 (Lifetime Min/Max 16/46)
196 ReallocatedEventCount 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 194
197 CurrentPendingSector 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMACRC_ErrorCount 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 2138 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
PoweredUpTime is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.
Error 2138 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26716 hours (1113 days + 4 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
10 51 00 09 4f c2 a0 Error: IDNF
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC PoweredUpTime Command/Feature_Name
b0 d6 01 09 4f c2 a0 00 08:30:04.500 SMART WRITE LOG
b0 d5 01 09 4f c2 a0 00 08:30:04.300 SMART READ LOG
b0 d1 00 00 4f c2 a0 00 08:30:04.000 SMART READ ATTRIBUTE THRESHOLDS [OBS-4]
b0 d0 00 00 4f c2 a0 00 08:30:04.000 SMART READ DATA
b0 da 00 00 4f c2 a0 00 08:30:04.000 SMART RETURN STATUS
Error 2137 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26682 hours (1111 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
40 51 28 18 95 98 e4 Error: UNC 40 sectors at LBA = 0x04989518 = 77108504
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC PoweredUpTime Command/Feature_Name
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:37.600 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:30.600 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:22.600 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:16.300 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 40 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:14.700 READ DMA EXT
Error 2136 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26682 hours (1111 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
40 51 21 1f 95 98 e4 Error: UNC 33 sectors at LBA = 0x0498951f = 77108511
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC PoweredUpTime Command/Feature_Name
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:30.600 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:22.600 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:16.300 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 40 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:14.700 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 93 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:14.100 READ DMA EXT
Error 2135 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26682 hours (1111 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
40 51 22 1e 95 98 e4 Error: UNC 34 sectors at LBA = 0x0498951e = 77108510
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC PoweredUpTime Command/Feature_Name
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:22.600 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:16.300 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 40 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:14.700 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 93 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:14.100 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 40 93 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:13.500 READ DMA EXT
Error 2134 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26682 hours (1111 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
40 51 28 18 95 98 e4 Error: UNC 40 sectors at LBA = 0x04989518 = 77108504
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC PoweredUpTime Command/Feature_Name
25 00 80 c0 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:16.300 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 40 94 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:14.700 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 93 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:14.100 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 40 93 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:13.500 READ DMA EXT
25 00 80 c0 92 98 e0 00 1d+01:30:12.100 READ DMA EXT
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBAof_firsterror
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26717 -
# 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26717 -
# 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26717 -
# 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26717 -
# 5 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26716 -
# 6 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26715 -
# 7 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26714 -
# 8 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26697 -
# 9 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 26692 75071682
#10 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26687 -
#11 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 26676 77108511
#12 Short offline Completed: read failure 40% 26663 296917
#13 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26657 -
#14 Short offline Completed: read failure 10% 26646 296918
#15 Short offline Completed: read failure 70% 26645 296905
#16 Short offline Completed: read failure 10% 26644 296910
#17 Short offline Completed: read failure 10% 26644 296910
#18 Short offline Completed: read failure 40% 26643 296916
#19 Short offline Completed: read failure 20% 26643 296909
#20 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 26620 -
#21 Short offline Completed without error 00% 26618 -
Warning! SMART Selective Self-Test Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENTTESTSTATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
---end output---
Self-tests 1-8 were all run after I erased the disk. The others were run before I did so. Not listed are the extended self-tests I've started since erasing which, as I say, have simply disappeared.
The checksum error regarding the log is normal for this disk. At least, I've got that error ever since I started using smartmontools for monitoring so I assume it is normal. (I installed this version of the software in about April 2008 and have used it since.) Also, starting offline testing has never succeeded on this disk (I think I checked into this at the time but can't quite remember - this is not new, anyway).
Questions
how should I interpret all this? (Why does Disk Utility say SMART is not supported while smartctl clearly shows it is at the same time? Why do the extended tests simply vanish? Is the drive definitely dying?) I do not want to replace the disk unless I absolutely have to because I understand that replacing disks in 12" PBs is no small matter and cost is an issue. I do not want to replace the machine unless I have to because cost is an issue and, also, I really like this computer and have no idea what I would want in its place, even if expense were no obstacle.
if it isn't clear whether the drive is dying or not, is there some further strategy I can use to establish this?
if the drive is dying, is a machine of this age worth repairing and, if it is, under what circumstances is it worth doing so? For example, it might be worth doing if you can do the job yourself, but that might be quite impractical for non-expert (not to mention, inexpert) users.
if there is a hardware problem (which I obviously think is very, very probable at this point), is it definitely a dying hard drive? (I've seen people write ominous things about disk controllers etc. which I gather are more serious - or less repairable - than a "mere" dying disk.)
what questions should I be asking you and what are the answers to those questions?!
Many thanks for your patience in reading this far.
- cfr

The 12" PB internals are a bit more complex, for PB's. If you don't want to replace the hard drive yourself or pay someone to install it, you could always get an external firewire hard drive, and use it to boot from and for general usage. Would have to be firewire, since the PB won't book from a USB device. One example of what you could get is a 160GB external hard drive: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MS4U5160GB8/ . All the choices with that case are listed here: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
Have you called any Apple Authorized Service Providers to see what they would charge to install a drive for you? Whether you bought it or they supplied it? You can find a local one in the US at http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/

New iMac 750 GB Hard Drive Fail Smart Drive Test - Glitch or Problem

Greetings!
I have a new 24" imac with 750 GB hard drive which has had problems out of the box (system crashing several times a day/unable to re-start/application crashes/general sluggishness).
Five re-installs of Leopard (upgrade/clean install/install and erase)in five weeks when I finally used the latest version of Drive Genius and TechTool Pro (4.6.1). Both claimed hard drive problems. Specifically, TechTool Pro reported smart drive failure (see report below, please).
This seemed to confirm my suspicions that something was flawed with my iMac from the start.
I have returned the computer for a new hard drive.
The Apple-approved repair shop says they've installed a new 750 GB had drive sent by Apple and when they run TechTool Pro, they get the same smart drive failure report. The techie claims this is either a glitch with TechTool Pro, or with the hard drive, but that I have nothing to worry about.
What's your opinion?
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.
SMART
Saturday, December 29, 2007 1:18:12 AM US/Pacific
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks <Failing!>
Model: ST3750640AS Q
Mount Point: /dev/disk0
Capacity: 698.64 GB
Writable: Yes
Ejectable: No
Removable: No
Bus: Serial ATA
Bus Location: Internal
Revision: 3.BTH
Serial Number: 5QD2JVNE
disk0s2: Ma
disk0s3: Pa
disk0s4: Peppi
S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. This test checks and reports on the status of the S.M.A.R.T. routines built into your drive. These routines monitor important drive parameters as your drive is operating. An examination and analysis of these parameters can aid in the prediction of drive failure. This will allow you to back up your data before your drive fails and the data becomes inaccessible.
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks
Attribute Normal Worst Threshold Status
1 Read Raw Error Rate
100 253 6 Okay
3 Spin Up Time
95 92 0 Okay
4 Start/Stop Count
100 100 20 Okay
5 Reallocated Sectors
100 100 36 Okay
7 Seek Error Rate
78 60 30 Okay
9 Power On Hours
100 100 0 Okay
10 Spin Retry Count
100 100 97 Okay
12 Power Cycle Count
100 100 20 Okay
187 Unknown
100 100 0 Okay
189 Unknown
100 100 0 Okay
190 Unknown
41 37 45 Failing!
194 Temperature
59 63 0 Okay
195 HW ECC Recovered
63 61 0 Okay
197 Current Pending Sector Count
100 100 0 Okay
198 Off-Line Scan Uncorrectable Sector Count
100 100 0 Okay
199 Ultra DMA CRC Error Count (Rate)
200 200 0 Okay
200 Write Error Count
100 253 0 Okay
202 DAM Error Count
100 253 0 Okay
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks <Failing!>
Tests Completed
Threshold levels are exceeded occasionally. You should consider backing up your data from the hard drive. You should continue to check the hard drive for failures.
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Checks <Failing!>
-end-

Greetings, all!
This has been my first posting, despite having owned 5 Macs over twelve years - which goes to show you how reliable they are, most of the time.
I am very impressed with the thoughtful responses, and I really, really appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Here's an update since my last posting. I picked up my repaired(?) iMac from the Apple-approved repair shop. The technician's report said (referring to the original hard drive Seagate ST3750640AS Q) "The drive has passed and boots into the OS without issue. Confirmed the smart status of the hard drive shows failed, but this is for an unknown attribute. This may not really indicate the drive is failing, but could be a possibility. Since all of the other tests have passed, I feel it is best to replace the drive under warranty for the customer.
About the new hard drive, the technician wrote: I have run a third-party smart utility on the (new, replaced) hard drive again and I have found that it is failing with the same error. The Apple test shows the smart status as OK.
I have researched this error and I have found that this attribute appears to be for temperature. Since both drives showed the exact same error, this attribute can be safely ignored for smart status. I was not able to replicate any issues with this machine other than the smart status failure so I do not think there is any other hardware failing in this machine.
If the customer continues to have issues, I would recommend reinstalling the OS one more time. If the issue still persists after this, then the customer should bring in the computer when issues are still happening so we can try to determine the cause of the problem better.
At first, my iMac was performing much better, but as I began to migrate data from back-up, I was not able to connect/re-establish my iphoto library, or re-establish my Apple mail accounts( both of which I have done countless times in the past without hassle).
I decided to run Apple's Disk utility which reports it cannot repair the new drive.
Just prior to my original posting, I had sent a copy of my posting to Micromat (TechTool Pro) asking for their opinion/advice.
Their response was: The SMART routines are built into the hard drive by the drive manufacturer. They are proprietary and different for each drive manufacturer. TechTool Pro just reads the status of the built-in SMART parameters and reports their status. Basically, a threshold exceeded indicates that the drive has exceeded what the manufacturer thinks are proper operating parameters for it and it may be getting close to failing. For an interpretation of the seriousness of a specific attribute failure you would need to contact the drive manufacturer. A failure is a warning to be sure to keep good backups and consider replacing the drive. If you get a SMART failure on a drive that is under warranty, the drive manufacturer will typically replace the drive.
Following are two links that might be of interest:
http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/docs/glossary.html
http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/docs/smart-attribute-meaning.html
I also took your (Looby) advice and called Seagate. (I also visited their web site, which recommends replacement of their hard drive under these circumstances!)
Within a couple of minutes, the tech person agreed that this is a serious concern and I should replace the drive.
Regarding Wiil's post, Apple's Disk utility says: smart status verified.
The SmartReporter utility reports the smart status is OK.
The SmartUtility application says:smart status failed. ID: #190 Unknown attribute.
For all other posters, this was not a New Egg purchase, which was not relevant to my post. Thank you just the same.
I've left a message for the Apple-approved store and will ask for another drive, and that, if possible, it be tested before I bring my iMac in to reduce the inconvenience.
I'm also wondering if I should switch to a 500 GB hard drive, although that would defeat the purpose of buying the larger drive for all the video I work with ( I have another 2 Terabytes storage with external drives).
Any further comments welcome - and thank you all again for taking the time!

Does MBA Hard Drive have longer warranty? Smart Status says drive is poop.

I know the Apple systems come with a 1 year warranty but I seem to remember in the past, many hard drive manufacturers actually warranty the hard drives longer than that. Of course label to remove them is not covered but curious, is the hard drive found in the original Rev A MacBook Air have a longer warranty from that manufacturer? If yes, who makes them, and who can one send them to for replacement. I would guess there are date codes found on them and if that is the case, I would think sending the drive to them, and a date code less than what there warranty is, one can get a replacement???
My MBA is still running but Disk Utility tells me there is a problem that can't be fixed. Recommends I back-up and take it to Apple for service. I have not tried to erase it and format it to see if that corrects issue but I take it this SMART Status is looking at something about the drive that a format will not fix.
I want to get ready to replace the drive if that happens. I have owned this MBair for 1 year 8 months so out of warranty from Apple but if the drive has longer warranty, I will take it out myself and get a replacement.
Or, is the drive only covered by Apple ONLY for 1st year and that is that?
tj

Hi,
I read we have never been to the moon... but I just don't believe it.
Hard disks have moving parts and are - while we can already fly to the moon - still not error resistant. You may experience hard disk failures usually within the first 24 hours, or never. Long believed. Google used its data from data centers (where the search engine lives) and saw that neither smart nor any other mechanism will be able to tell when a drive fails. I am using hard drives that run now for 9 years in daily use, without problems... of course it is sad if it fails after 1,5 years... but you can get it replaced easily. A common problem it is not. Go to the Apple dealer of your choice, bring your invoice and maybe you leave happy again. sometimes it works, sometimes not, better then whining here at least.
volker

Failing SMART status

I've been having several issues over the past few days, including a computer crash, reinstalling the OS, having that freeze and inability to update.
When checking my disc repairs, I was greeted with this message
This drive has reported a fatal hardware error to Disc Utility If the drive has not failed completely, back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a working drive.
Does this mean my harddrive is on it's way to failing me yet again for the second time in four months? I live a good several hours away from a Genuis bar. Help?

Kaydi
YES.Your Hard Drive is failing.
If you can't get to an Apple Store or Authorized Service Center,call AppleCare.
They'll ship you a replacement.D.I.Y. Installation is VERY easy on a MacBook.
Jim

2.3 year old iMac (27inch) Hard Drive failing. Does the drive have its own warranty?

My imac that is 2.3 years old is now having the S.M.A.R.T system saying the drive is "failing". Does the drive have its own warranty? That's not very old for a failure and most HD manufactures have a 3 year minimum. Now I wish I had bought the extended warranty period. Shish.

TKRWH wrote:
Does the drive have its own warranty?
No.

Failed Reader Install - AdbeRdr910_en_US.exe has encountered a problem

XP Home
IE 8
*.tmp files cleared
Virus scan passed (Norton Antivirus)
I'm trying to upgrade from Reader 8 to Reader 9 due to some PDF display issues in IE. Immediately as soon as I start the install, I receive the error "AdbeRder910_en_US.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close".
I tried uninstalling Reader 8 first, and that didn't work.
I dug up a Reader 8 download & get a similar message.
I now have no reader at all and I'm getting the same error across multiple versions.
I've attached a couple of screen grabs of the error.

Different product, with a different form
Reader Forum http://forums.adobe.com/community/adobe_reader_forums

Any chance this is NOT a hardware problem?

I have a PowerBook (17", 1 gHz, 10.4.7) which has started having Kernal Panics and having the screen suddenly going black, requiring a forced restart to get back on. The PB is not shutting down (the num locks and cap lock keys still light) and the drive is still spinning.
In addition I am getting an occasional Kernal Panic. The one in which a report was written says,
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.GeForce(4.1.8)@0x2fb84000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.7)@0x280cc000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.4.1)@0x31f6c000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.4.1)@0x31f90000
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(4.1.8)@0x31fa6000
Which to me indicates a graphics board problem. I am also having some screen redraw problems which seems to back this up. Running the Apple Hardware Test (long version) gives me all passes.
Is their any possibility this could be a software problem?
TIA,
Bill

Just a little insight, that might help.
More often than not the Kernel Panic's are caused by bad or incompatible Ram. (Not Always) but most of the time.
Running Hardware test, will not always show an issue with bad ram.
The first thing I would try is Repair Permissions, here is Gullivers Link on System maintence.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607640&#607640
Next Dr. Smoke also has an excellent site that covers Kernel Panic's and how to work through finding the issue.
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/maintainingmacosx.html
Cheers Don

Drive fails SMART status-"this drive has a hardware problem"

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