User profile for user: Jack-19
Jack-19
User level: Level 8
(46,098 points)

How to use DriveDx

by:  Jack-19
Last modified: Oct 17, 2021 6:54 PM
5 4720 Last modified Oct 17, 2021 6:54 PM

Introduction

Welcome to this User Tip on how to use DriveDx. DriveDx is a great App for checking the health of storage devices on your Mac.


Getting the DriveDx App

You can get DriveDx here (https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx). For a simple check of your drives, the free trial is fine. No need to pay. However, the premium version does include more features and you can use it indefinitely. You can read more here: DriveDx & DriveDx Store.


Using DriveDx and Uploading the Report

Once you have downloaded DriveDx, open the downloaded App.


In the App, select "Try Now" to start your trial and get the drive information you need.


You will then see a list of devices in the left sidebar. Select the device that you want to get a report for, and click "Save Report". If you have a Fusion Drive, there will be two entries of your internal drive listed, since one is the SSD and the other is the HDD. Click "Save Report" for both in this case.


The report(s) will be saved in a text format.


From here, copy the saved report. You can then use the Additional Text function on Apple Support Communities to paste the DriveDx report. If you have multiple reports, use the Additional Text function multiple times to upload both reports separately.


This should appear:



Give your DriveDx report a Title in the "Title" field, and paste the report in the "Add a note, error log, etc..." area.


This is what the final product of a DriveDx report should look like:

### SYSTEM INFORMATION ### Report Timestamp : August 9, 2021 9:16:37 PM CDT Report Timestamp (ISO 8601 format) : 2021-08-09T21:16:37 Application Name : DriveDx Application Version : 1.11.0.730 Application SubBuild : 0 Application Edition : Standalone Application Website : https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx DriveDx Knowledge Base Revision : 101/101 Computer Name : Jackâ s iMac Host Name : Jacks-iMac Computer Model : iMac16,2 OS Boot Time : 2021-08-09T11:35:31 Time Since Boot : 09h 41m 06s OS Name : macOS OS Version : OS Build : OS Kernel Version : SAT SMART Driver Version : N/A ATA Command Support Tolerance : verypermissive N of drives in report : 1 ### DRIVE 1 OF 1 ### Last Checked : August 9, 2021 9:16:25 PM CDT Last Checked (ISO 8601 format) : 2021-08-09T21:16:25 Advanced SMART Status : OK Overall Health Rating : GOOD 95.8% Overall Performance Rating : GOOD 95.8% Issues found : 0 Serial Number : WWN Id : 5 000cca 82be8b281 Volumes : Device Path : /dev/disk0 Total Capacity : 1.0 TB (1,000,204,886,016 Bytes) Model : APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 Form Factor : 2.5 inches Firmware Version : JA0AB5D0 Drive Type : HDD 5400 rpm Power On Time : 6,576 hours (9 months 4 days 0 hours) Power Cycles Count : 16,532 Current Power Cycle Time : 9.7 hours === DEVICE CAPABILITIES === S.M.A.R.T. support enabled : yes DriveDx Active Diagnostic Config : Base config [hdd.default] Sector Logical Size : 512 Sector Physical Size : 4096 Physical Interconnect : SATA Logical Protocol : SATA Removable : no Ejectable : no ATA Version : ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 6 SATA Version : SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s) I/O Path : IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/SATA@1F,2/AppleIntelPchSeriesAHCI/PRT0@0/IOAHCIDevice@0/AppleAHCIDiskDriver/IOAHCIBlockStorageDevice Attributes Data Structure Revision : 16 SMART Command Transport (SCT) flags : 0x3d SCT Status supported : yes SCT Feature Control supported : yes SCT Data Table supported : yes Error logging capabilities : 0x1 Self-tests supported : yes Offline Data Collection capabilities : 0x5b Offline Data Collection status : 0x0 Auto Offline Data Collection flags : 0x0 [Known device ]: no [Drive State Flags ]: 0x0 === CURRENT POWER CYCLE STATISTICS === Time since computer startup : 9 hours Data Read : 5,793,910,784 bytes (5.8 GB) Data Written : 1,900,242,944 bytes (1.9 GB) Data Read/Write Ratio : 3.05 Data Read/hour : 598.2 MB/hour Data Write/hour : 196.2 MB/hour Operations (Read) : 346,463 Read IOPS : 195 Operations (Write) : 53,585 Write IOPS : 30 Operations Read/Write Ratio : 6 Throughput per operation (Read) : 16.7 KB/Op Throughput per operation (Write) : 35.5 KB/Op Latency Time (Read) : 0 ns Latency Time (Write) : 0 ns Retries (Read) : 0 Retries (Write) : 0 Errors (Read) : 0 Errors (Write) : 0 === PROBLEMS SUMMARY === Failed Indicators (life-span / pre-fail) : 0 (0 / 0) Failing Indicators (life-span / pre-fail) : 0 (0 / 0) Warnings (life-span / pre-fail) : 0 (0 / 0) Recently failed Self-tests (Short / Full) : 0 (0 / 0) I/O Error Count : 0 (0 / 0) Time in Under temperature : 0 minutes Time in Over temperature : 0 minutes === IMPORTANT HEALTH INDICATORS === ID NAME RAW VALUE STATUS 5 Reallocated Sector Count 0 100% OK 197 Current Pending Sector Count 0 100% OK 198 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 100% OK 199 UDMA CRC Error Count 0 100% OK === TEMPERATURE INFORMATION (CELSIUS) === Current Temperature : 34 Power Cycle Min Temperature : 31 Power Cycle Max Temperature : 34 Lifetime Min Temperature : 16 Lifetime Max Temperature : 47 Recommended Min Temperature : 0 Recommended Max Temperature : 60 Temperature Min Limit : -40 Temperature Max Limit : 65 === DRIVE HEALTH INDICATORS === ID | NAME | TYPE | UPDATE | RAW VALUE | VALUE | THRESHOLD | WORST | LAST MODIFIED | STATUS 1 Raw Read Error Rate Pre-fail online 0x0 100 62 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 2 Throughput Performance Pre-fail offline 0 100 40 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 3 Spin Up Time Pre-fail online 1 166 33 166 8/9/21 9:16 PM 79.6% OK 4 Start Stop Count Life-span online 23,189 86 0 86 8/9/21 9:16 PM 86.0% OK 5 Reallocated Sector Count Pre-fail online 0 100 5 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 7 Seek Error Rate Pre-fail online 0x0 100 67 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 8 Seek Time Performance Pre-fail offline 0 100 40 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 9 Power On Hours Life-span online 6,576 85 0 85 8/9/21 9:16 PM 85.0% OK 10 Spin Retry Count Pre-fail online 0 100 60 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 12 Power Cycle Count Life-span online 16,532 90 0 90 8/9/21 9:16 PM 90.0% OK 160 Vendor Specific Life-span online 0x0 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 191 G-Sense Error Rate Life-span online 0 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 192 Power-Off Retract Count Life-span online 0x10000005A 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 193 Load Cycle Count Life-span online 116,513 89 0 89 8/9/21 9:16 PM 89.0% OK 194 Temperature (Celsius) Life-span online 34 176 0 176 8/9/21 9:16 PM 88.0% OK 195 Hardware ECC Recovered Life-span online 0x0 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 196 Reallocated Event Count Life-span online 0 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 197 Current Pending Sector Count Life-span online 0 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 198 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count Life-span offline 0 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 199 UDMA CRC Error Count Life-span online 0 200 0 200 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 223 Load Retry Count Life-span online 0 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK 254 Free Fall Sensor Life-span online 44 100 0 100 8/9/21 9:16 PM 100% OK === DRIVE ERROR LOG === error log is empty === DRIVE SELF-TEST LOG === # | LIFETIME (H) | TEST TYPE | PROGRESS | STATUS | LBA of 1st error 1 5890 Short offline 100% Completed without error - 2 5611 Short offline 100% Completed without error -


If DriveDx reports your Drive is failing

Should DriveDx report your drive is failing, back up all data immediately. Even if your drive isn't failing, it is still a good idea to have a backup. The best way to create a backup is using Time Machine: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support. For Time Machine, you need an external hard drive. Apple sells external hard drives. Here are some options:


Mac computers with USB-A and/or USB-C Connectivity (these drives ship with USB-A and USB-C Cables):


Modern Mac computers with USB-C Connectivity (these drives ship ONLY with a USB-C Cable):


If you need help understanding what connectivity and ports your Mac has, see: Identify the ports on your Mac - Apple Support.


Regardless of which drive you choose, it needs to be formatted. Follow these steps:


  1. Go to Disk Utility (Finder > Go > Utilities)
  2. In Disk Utility, select “View” > “Show All Devices”.
  3. Select the top and non-indented drive in the external section of Disk Utility that matches the name of your external drive. 
  4. Click Erase
  5. Name: any name you want
  6. Format: Use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if you are using macOS Catalina or earlier, or APFS if you are using macOS Big Sur.
  7. Scheme: GUID Partition Map
  8. Click Erase


Finally, setup Time Machine: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support.


After a backup, you can now get support at Apple for your failing drive, or find another solution, such as booting from an external SSD.


Closing

I hope you found this User Tip helpful. If you have any questions, you can ask below, or start a new question thread here on Apple Support Communities.


Thanks for reading!


Cheers,


Jack

Comments

User profile for user: a brody
a brody
User level: Level 10
(84,521 points)

Aug 29, 2021 6:46 PM

Great start. One thing to mention, backup your data more frequently if you believe your drive is closer to failure.


Furthermore, considering a drive closer to failure is likely to result in corrupted backup files, make those last backups to a separate medium than the last known good backup.




Aug 29, 2021 6:46 PM

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