Forums
New posts
Articles
Product Reviews
Policies
FAQ
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Operating System
NTFS for Mac not working
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lifeisabeach" data-source="post: 1528773" data-attributes="member: 38864"><p>We appreciate the update. It always helps to know what the end result was. With your drive clearly "acting up", you really should look at replacing it, or at least testing it more thoroughly. Chances are that it is failing, and you don't want it to bite the dust at an inopportune time. If you want to test it more thoroughly, there are a couple ways to do it.</p><p></p><p>The first way, and the cheapest, is to use a SMART monitoring tool to see what the drive's self-diagnostic tests show. Normally, SMART monitoring isn't supported on external drives, but <a href="https://github.com/kasbert/OS-X-SAT-SMART-Driver" target="_blank">OS-X-SAT-SMART-Driver</a> (an open source package) can enable this for some external drives. So... install that, then use a SMART monitoring tool like <a href="http://binaryfruit.com/drivedx" target="_blank">DriveDx</a> (my personal favorite at this time), <a href="http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php" target="_blank">SMART Utility</a>, or <a href="http://www.corecode.at/smartreporter/" target="_blank">SMARTReporter</a> to check on the drive health. These all have free trials. You may need to run a "long" (aka "full") self-test, which takes a few hours. Bear in mind that the drive may not be supported despite the SAT SMART Driver.</p><p></p><p>The other way to do it is use a tool that can do a surface scan to check for bad blocks. <a href="http://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-pro" target="_blank">TechTool Pro</a> is probably the best one available for OS X, but it is not cheap. <a href="http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php" target="_blank">Drive Genius</a> is another alternative, but again... not cheap. However, a surface scan will be definitive on the health of the drive and these utilities all have other features that may be desirable or come in handy one day. I had a Seagate GoFlex external drive that was acting weird, and a surface scan proved it had massive numbers of bad blocks. In fact, I've been testing another drive since last night for a relative who was having trouble with her external drive and I'm finding large numbers of bad blocks.</p><p></p><p>A little tip worth adding... I often see TechTool Pro in bundles offered by MacUpdate and others for a fraction of what TTP costs on its own ($100). I picked it up myself for something like $30 along with other software in the bundle.</p><p></p><p>If a surface scan proves that the drive itself is ok, then there is also the possibility that the controller in the enclosure itself is faulty. In that case, you can always try removing the drive and trying another enclosure. For Seagate's GoFlex line, there is no controller in the enclosure itself. The dock is the controller.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lifeisabeach, post: 1528773, member: 38864"] We appreciate the update. It always helps to know what the end result was. With your drive clearly "acting up", you really should look at replacing it, or at least testing it more thoroughly. Chances are that it is failing, and you don't want it to bite the dust at an inopportune time. If you want to test it more thoroughly, there are a couple ways to do it. The first way, and the cheapest, is to use a SMART monitoring tool to see what the drive's self-diagnostic tests show. Normally, SMART monitoring isn't supported on external drives, but [URL="https://github.com/kasbert/OS-X-SAT-SMART-Driver"]OS-X-SAT-SMART-Driver[/URL] (an open source package) can enable this for some external drives. So... install that, then use a SMART monitoring tool like [URL="http://binaryfruit.com/drivedx"]DriveDx[/URL] (my personal favorite at this time), [URL="http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php"]SMART Utility[/URL], or [URL="http://www.corecode.at/smartreporter/"]SMARTReporter[/URL] to check on the drive health. These all have free trials. You may need to run a "long" (aka "full") self-test, which takes a few hours. Bear in mind that the drive may not be supported despite the SAT SMART Driver. The other way to do it is use a tool that can do a surface scan to check for bad blocks. [URL="http://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-pro"]TechTool Pro[/URL] is probably the best one available for OS X, but it is not cheap. [URL="http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php"]Drive Genius[/URL] is another alternative, but again... not cheap. However, a surface scan will be definitive on the health of the drive and these utilities all have other features that may be desirable or come in handy one day. I had a Seagate GoFlex external drive that was acting weird, and a surface scan proved it had massive numbers of bad blocks. In fact, I've been testing another drive since last night for a relative who was having trouble with her external drive and I'm finding large numbers of bad blocks. A little tip worth adding... I often see TechTool Pro in bundles offered by MacUpdate and others for a fraction of what TTP costs on its own ($100). I picked it up myself for something like $30 along with other software in the bundle. If a surface scan proves that the drive itself is ok, then there is also the possibility that the controller in the enclosure itself is faulty. In that case, you can always try removing the drive and trying another enclosure. For Seagate's GoFlex line, there is no controller in the enclosure itself. The dock is the controller. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Operating System
NTFS for Mac not working
Top