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What is SMART status?

Recently, I have noticed that my hard drive has been taking longer than normal to use, so I have been monitoring the SMART status of the drive using Tech Tool Pro 5. While it has passed the SMART test, I am very concerned because one of the SMART diagnostic tests came up nearing 'fail!' I have also had to reinstall 10.4.11 two times in the last 6 months [via the genius bar]! I am really concerned that the drive has gotten so bad that I can no longer start up from my internal HD. What should I do?

iBook G4 (Early 2004), Mac OS X (10.4.11), 768 MB RAM, External DVD-RW drive, and a firewire HD (is full!)

Posted on Sep 24, 2009 12:54 AM

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26 replies

Sep 24, 2009 8:42 AM in response to Patddfan

If the S.M.A.R.T. status of a drive is coming up as "failing" this can mean that your hard drive is going to stop functioning and will need to be replaced.

Based on your profile, the hard drive in your computer would be about 5 years old, unless you've ever had the hard drive replaced. Hard drives, especially in portable computers, tend to last 3~5 years, and you're on the tail end of that time period. If you've used your computer frequently in these last 5 years, your hard drive could be at the end of its life.

You need to keep your data backed up--twice if at all possible. If you want to continue using the machine, you'll probably need to replace the hard drive soon. The folks at the Apple store will probably charge you quite a bit of money for this, so check with other Apple repair shops if possible.

~Lyssa

Sep 24, 2009 2:49 PM in response to Patddfan

S.M.A.R.T. stands for "Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology". If you want to read a brief explanation and do a comprehensive analysis of the physical health of your hard drive, check out S.M.A.R.T. Utility:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32454

You can download the demo and run it several times for free. If it says your hard drive is failing or has failed, the drive is toast and you will need to replace it.

Good luck!

Sep 27, 2009 2:34 AM in response to Patddfan

Your hard drive is in the process of failing. If you read the Wikipedia entry about S.M.A.R.T. technology, it's not terribly impressive, because it sort of implies that it misses a lot of stuff.

I, however, can attest from experience the following: IF S.M.A.R.T STATUS SAYS IT'S ABOUT TO FAIL, IT'S ABOUT TO FAIL...REPLACE THE DISK ASAP. We've seen a lot of units come in with this sort of failure and when they get to the point that the disk has finally failed, even though it may still appear to be usable, you can almost COUNT on it dropping dead on you within 12-24 hours worth of actual work.

The best way to verify whether a disk is failing (or is even good to begin with) is to put it into a USB or Firewire enclosure and then do a 7 pass zeroing of the entire disk. S.M.A.R.T disks, when removed from the motherboards direct interface by using the USB or Firewire enclosure instead, will fail (as in lock up) during the zeroing phase of the disk when read/write errors occur. The problem with S.M.A.R.T. technology, IMHO, is that it tends to be far too lenient. The S.M.A.R.T. controlled disks may re-map what appear to be bad sectors (as in those subjected to a disk head crash) when in fact it's a head alignment problem, which will occur over time. S.M.A.R.T. technology only reports these as failures or impending failures when in fact it's really a disastrous failure in the process of occurring, and the failure will only be reported by S.M.A.R.T. when a statistical threshold is met....even though the time that the failure is occurring may be a matter of microseconds to a few hours. One thing, however, is clear: if S.M.A.R.T. says it's failing, odds are it's failing. About the only exception to this rule that I could think of is bad temperature sensors on the disk falsely indicating overheating problems, but even this implies something is wrong.

S.M.A.R.T. status has some shortcomings, but every symptom you've described is characteristic of a hard drive going bad.

Sep 29, 2009 2:27 PM in response to Patddfan

If you want to replace the drive yourself, it will just be the cost of the drive. You can look at drives at OWC and at Newegg. You want a parallel ATA (PATA) drive and NOT a Serial ATA (SATA) drive. You can get a drive up to 320 GB for an iBook G4.

For instructions, You can look at ifixit:

http://www.ifixit.com/

If you don't feel up to doing this, I have heard DT&T highly recommended. I believe they have free estimates and may also have a price list for some things:

http://www.dttservice.com/index.html

However, there is no reason why you can't use an external FireWire Drive as your boot drive and just ignore the internal one, which seems to be failing or has already failed. This might actually be a good course of action for the present. You can continue to use the iBook and be sure that everything else is working, and then can contemplate installing an internal drive at a later time.

If you don't already have an external drive, I would recommend buying a PATA drive and putting it in one of OWC's Mercury on the Go FireWire enclosures, which you can often find at a discount on their garage sale page. The drive will work from the FireWire cable, so the iBook will still be portable. Should you at some later time decide on replacing the internal drive, you can just take the drive out of the enclosure and install it. It will already have all your stuff on it.

You can probably install 10.4.11 yourself by selecting the external drive as the destination, but if you have access to a genius bar, no reason not to let them show you how so you'll know in the future.

Good luck!

Sep 29, 2009 5:55 PM in response to Patddfan

Patddfan:

Fixing the problem means replacing the Hard Disk Drive. You have been given information about what drives are compatible. You can find directions for removing the old HDD and replacing it with a new one at ifixit.com. Here is what you would need to do:
• Purchase new HDD
• Purchare an external firewire enclosure.
• Install new drive in enclosure, connect to computer, format and erase drive, then clone the entire volume from the internal HDD to the new HDD. (Post back for step by step directions if needed)
• Test installation by booting the computer from it.
• Using ifixit or other directions open up computer, remove old HDD and replace with new HDD.
• Close up computer with new HDD.

If you plan to do this yourself, it can be done with a lot of patience and care. Post back for additional tips. Other services will do it for you. The price varies. I recently had a job I did not want to do myself, so I used radservice. Great price and an excellent job.

Please do post back with further questions or comments.

😉 cornelius

Oct 5, 2009 3:16 PM in response to Patddfan

If you anticipate getting a new computer for Christmas, then it sounds like your days with the iBook are limited. A working iBook with a new hard drive will sell for more than one with a dead hard drive.

If you don't want to replace the drive, you can always purchase an external portable firewire hard drive, install your OS on it, and then use the external as a boot drive. If you do this, you can show a potential buyer that the rest of the iBook works without issue and possibly get more money for it. You can either sell the external to the iBook buyer or keep it as a backup drive for your new Mac. In the meantime, you will have a useable computer.

Good luck!

Oct 8, 2009 8:54 PM in response to Patddfan

Is it worth it to me to even consider getting a new drive?

Only you can determine that. Most folk have no option but to keep their equipment going and consider the price of a new HDD a bargain compared to a new computer. You have the good fortune of getting a new computer, and need only to figure how to best dispose of your iBook G4. You might want to give consideration to S.U.'s suggestions.

😉 cornelius

Nov 2, 2009 12:21 AM in response to cornelius

well, I finally took my computer to the Apple Store @ Stonestown San Francisco last tuesday morning. I was told that my iBook G4 required a new logic board, a new power adaptor, new battery and a new hard drive! I was told that I could wait on the Hard Drive, but I was going to need at least $500 worth of work to continue using this mac. when he said that, I explained that I was planning to let this computer run until it dies, and that I was planning to get a new macbook for christmas this year. I was supposed to get one last year, but I wanted to wait until snow leopard was released to get a new laptop.

also, does anyone know what the estimated value of an iBook G4 (early 2004 w/ super drive) is? I was just interested in knowing for my own knowledge. thanks!

What is SMART status?

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