A possible hardware error was encountered while checking AppleAPFSMedia. (Failed to open the device).

Question

Level 1

17 points

A possible hardware error was encountered while checking AppleAPFSMedia. (Failed to open the device).

Running an old version of Drive Genius 3.2.4 on my iMac with macOS Catalina installed, I keep getting these messages from Drive Genius 3 DrivePulse:

A possible hardware error was encountered while checking AppleAPFSMedia. (Failed to open the device. (1))

A possible hardware error was encountered while checking APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E632 Media. (Failed to open the device. (1})

So, I've run Disk Utility from the Recovery drive and from an external, bootable, backup HD as well, and the results come back good. There seems to be no problem.

While I purchased the iMac back in 2018, I only put it into service this year on September 19, 2020, so a month ago. I've been getting these messages since the beginning it seems, and I would be surprised if the machine has a hardware problem with the HD for the one month of its operation.

I'm wondering if the Drive Genius version 3.2.4 may be inadequate for newer machines running the latest OS like Catalina. There are features that do not work adequately or at all with that version. I've looked into updating to the latest version of Drive Genius, but that has proven problematic in itself.

So, here I am asking if anyone has any knowledge and thoughts on the matter. Should I be worried?

iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 19, 2020 10:32 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

yazzthe1st Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 21, 2020 12:51 PM in response to BDAqua

I got the following reply back from Prosoft:

Please note that Drive Genius 3 is not compatible with Catalina. We recommend you check Drive Genius 6 ……

The problem with Drive Genius 6 is that it is now a subscription service, which means paying every year, but more importantly is this:

Notice to macOS 10.13+ Users:

The Defragment, Repartition, and Rebuild utilities are not supported on APFS and a separate Startup Drive is needed to perform Physical Check and Repair on your normal Startup drive.

So, it hardly seems worth it, since it was precisely for those utilities that I got Drive Genius in the first place. I guess I'm through with Drive Genius.

DG4 will surely not work with macOS 10.13 if DG6 won't work.

Thank you for your interest.

Reply

Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Oct 21, 2020 1:07 PM in response to yazzthe1st

DG4 works in 10.13.6, just not with APFS... just HFS+

Not even DiskWarrior can repair APFS yet. :(

Yep, I'm opting out of all subscriptions myself.

Reply

Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Oct 20, 2020 11:11 AM in response to yazzthe1st

I'd be surprised if Drive Genius version 3.2.4 worked with APFS. :)

Reply

Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Oct 21, 2020 8:14 AM in response to yazzthe1st

Good idea. I have DG4 & don't trust it for APFS.

Reply

Answer 5

yazzthe1st Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 20, 2020 9:47 PM in response to BDAqua

I was thinking the same thing, but I would just like some confirmation of that from someone having some experience in the matter. I'm going to give Prosoft Engineering, the makers of Drive Genius, a try and see what they have to say.

Thanks.

Reply