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Investigating Problems with Disks
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Topic starter
Good afternoon,
This question is about understanding how SoftRAID determines a disk is failing. Please see the attached SoftRAID message regarding the system disk on my computer. This disk is the boot disk, and was not formatted or managed by SoftRAID. However, SoftRAID reported the problem a couple weeks ago and has been rechecked.
To try and verify the potential problem (it is a major issue to repair as I don't believe the disk can be replaced locally; it is in a 2014 Mac Mini), I ran diskutil verifyVolume using live mode (yes, I understand that only checks the partition) and SMARTReporter/smartmon long test. Neither of those reported problems.
Here are my questions:
1) What is SoftRAID disk check analyzing on installed disks that other tools are not?
2) Are there other tests I can do that would provide more information/confirm the automated findings?
Thanks in advance....
Posted : 22/08/2016 6:11 pm
1) What is SoftRAID disk check analyzing on installed disks that other tools are not?
2) Are there other tests I can do that would provide more information/confirm the automated findings?
SoftRAID is telling you that your disk is failing. This is a serious issue in this particular instance, as lots of sectors are failing.
To answer question 1, SoftRAID is like going for a laboratory workup of comprehensive tests and the results being "if you don't do something, you will die soon" (except disks cannot be "fixed" like people can)! By comparison, Disk Utility is like your high school nurse checking "can you breathe” (when the answer is obviously “yes").
To answer question 2, the best thing to do is back up your machine and bring it to the Apple store for drive replacement, as it is a relatively new drive. Apple may decline to replace it, but your argument is "this machine carries mission critical data, I cannot trust it with my data".
If your machine is out of warranty, then get a new drive and replace it yourself. There are instructions on YouTube and at Macsales.com (support forums) that will help you replace it.
good luck!
Posted : 22/08/2016 6:37 pm
Topic starter
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm looking for more detail, please.
How is SoftRAID analyzing the disks to detect errors? Yes, as I put in my original email, I know diskutil's verify isn't much, but I understood SMARTReporter/smartmon to be good. But, I realize now I need to verify the smartmon install.
Does SoftRAID use S.M.A.R.T data? And other proprietary data?
Posted : 22/08/2016 7:05 pm
SoftRAID uses both its own tracking of disk information and also SMART extended data.
The failure data is right in the disk tile. even ONE reallocated sector means the disk should not have critical data.
Posted : 22/08/2016 7:37 pm
