This disk has S.M.A.R.T errors while installing Monterey

I have been fighting with the same problem since the release of Monterey. Tonight I solved it.

I have a 2017 MacBook Air with a WD 500 Gb SSD drive. I was getting the S.M.A.R.T. errors as well. I read a number of posts that said a firmware update would resolve it, reinstall the original apple drive, install Monterey which would include the firmware update. Next reinstall your non apple SSD drive and you should be able to install Monterey. That did not work for me.

I did confirm it is related to the drive because I was able to reinstalled the original apple 128 Gb drive, reinstall Big Sur and then upgraded to Monterey. I repeated the process on the non apple SSD and I still had the same S.M.A.R.T. errors when I tried to upgrade from Big Sur to Monterey, so the firmware upgrade part of Monterey was not the solution.

Next using disk utility, I removed all partitions on the 500 gb drive, created a new partition, formatted in APFS format and went to install Big Sur, intending to try upgrading to Monterey on a fresh install of Big Sur. The firmware update must have happened, because now I was getting the same S.M.A.R.T error installing Big Sur.

Next came the solution:

• I reinstalled the 128 Gb drive in the MacBook with the working copy of Monterey.
• I placed the non apple SSD 500 Gb Drive in a USB enclosure I had purchased from amazon. (M.2 NVME SSD USB Enclosure Adapter)
• Connected the usb ssd hard drive enclosure to a USB port
• Downloaded SuperDuper!. (free cloning software and that will clone an active drive)
• Using my MacBook, I cloned the 128 Gb Apple Drive with fresh Monterey install onto the non apple 500 Gb drive
• Reinstalled the 500 Gb non apple ssd drive in the MacBook
• Booted perfectly

I would first try deleting the installer you downloaded and try again.

Disk utility can't really check/repair a mounted disk so the only way to check it is to boot to Recovery and then check/repair w/Disk Utility that is present in Disk Utility.

If you continue get SMART errors then fix is to replace the SSD.

NOTE: the Monterey upgrade on your Mac and some others too include a firmware update. The firmware update requires an Apple SSD be installed. One the firmware is updated you can install Monterey on nonn=Apple SSDs.

fixnmymac wrote:

If it were a true SMART issue, it seems like the CPU should be failing in noticeable ways and on its way out....but I see no issues and have been using it daily since first getting the SMART error/warning over a month ago.

The SMART failure that macOS is detecting is caused by the hard drive or SSD reporting a failure. With a hard drive if macOS detects a SMART failure, then I'm amazed the system is still usable since I've only seen macOS report a SMART failure twice in 20 years. Most drive failures are noticed long before macOS receives the SMART failure notice from the drive. macOS could detect most hard drive failures very early if macOS actually bothered to monitor the drive's SMART attributes instead of waiting for the hard drive to be near death. SMART failure warnings with an SSD may not be as cut and dried, although it is risky using an SSD after a SMART failure warning is detected. At the very least I would expect the drive to run slow (usually very slow).

If you want to check the health of the drive(s), you can run DriveDx which should provide more details on the failure. You may post the DriveDx health report for each internal drive here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

If the Mac is using a third party drive, then there is a chance the third party drive does not support SMART health monitoring. It has been reported that the Monterey installer will not work if a third party internal drive is installed because of a required system firmware update which requires an original Apple internal drive. Users have reported installing an original Apple drive will allow Monterey to install & update the system firmware, then reinstalling the third party drive in order to install Monterey again, but this time to the third party internal drive.

macOS does take full advantage of the SMART health reporting feature many drives have. Some of the Apple Diagnostics do check some of the SMART features, but again Apple really doesn't take advantage of the drive's SMART health monitoring feature. Apple support knows even less of the SMART health feature of drives. Even many techs are not aware of it.

Apple Bobber wrote:

Also, can some SMART errors be fixed by formatting the disk?

No. Besides using Disk Utility to "erase" the SSD does not overwrite the entire drive as it only rewrites the partition table and creates two partitions with a couple hidden default files.

With an SSD it is sometimes possible to use the SSD's built-in hardware secure erase feature to reset the SSD to factory defaults which can sometimes fix a misbehaving SSD. However, not all SSDs have a built-in hardware secure erase feature.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about the reporting of the SMART Failing status with your SSD since even using the SSD's built-in hardware secure erase feature would not help here. Plus I'm not sure the SSD in your MBPro 2017 laptop even has the hardware secure erase feature built-in.

The health report for your SSD shows the SSD is well used and has actually written more data than it was designed to write. Normally we have no clue how much data an Apple SSD is meant to write for its lifetime as this value is affected by the drive size and type of NAND used, but to me it seems like this SSD has most likely written about 45% more data than it was designed to write (Attribute# 5 "Life Percentage Used"). While it does not mean the SSD cannot be used, it does mean that if you are having any problems with the SSD, then most likely it is because the SSD is worn out. I've seen reports where people have used their SSDs way beyond manufacturer expectations. However, since the SSD manufacturers don't provide a lot of useful health information it is hard to know how long the SSD will last although I would expect to see the "Available Spares" and "Media and Data Integrity Errors" to change before the SSD actually fails, but I don't believe those two attributes are enough to alert you to a pending failure.

Unfortunately the drive manufacturers don't always report the health information in expected ways so interpreting the health report is sometimes a very inexact science. I'm not entirely certain why the SSD is reported as failing since the health attributes should not have been triggered by how those health attributes are presented here. I'm assuming the SSD's health reporting attributes were not designed to follow standard protocol behavior and the SSD has internally set up the "Failing" flag for the SSD. I don't know why manufacturers refuse to follow standards especially for something so important and useful.

I do advise caution if you continue to use this SSD since it could fail at any time or develop performance issues. Make sure to have frequent and regular backups. This is always good advice especially with SSDs, but in your case it is essential if you value your data.

Since you have a USB-C Apple laptop you will need to have the Logic Board replaced once the SSD fails. Unfortunately at this time it appears Monterey will not install on a laptop with a third party internal SSD or if the internal SSD is reporting a SMART failure. I doubt Apple will change this behavior so if you want to install Monterey you will need to have Apple or an AASP replace the Logic Board.

lllaass wrote:

In the interim you can also install Monterey on an external SSD and migrate data and boot for the external SSD.

Unfortunately this is not likely to work since the Monterey installer will still want to use the internal SSD for the system firmware update which it will refuse because the internal SSD has a "SMART failing status". However, if the OP has access to another working Mac compatible with Monterey, then your idea should work when the OP connects & boots the Monterey drive to the OP's laptop.

Your SSD is failing.

Might want to keep current backups, and consider your options for storage repair or Mac replacement.

Inferring from your comments, I’d assume this warning is about the imminent depletion of over-provisioning.

Post the complete DriveDX report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. Click the "Save Report" icon on the top right of the app, then paste the contents of the report file into the "Additional Text" box. It really depends on which SMART attribute is reporting a failure. Most likely with an Apple SSD you will need to be prepared for the SSD to stop working at any time so make sure to have frequent & regular backups. One of our organization's SSDs on a similar model is also reporting a SMART failure and I'm trying to determine if that failure is the reason it was sent to me for repair since at the moment I'm unable to identify any issues.

Unfortunately at the moment macOS Monterey won't let you install so that means you won't be able to use a third party SSD with Monterey unless Apple fixes the installer (I wouldn't count on this) or if you can access an original Apple SSD which is compatible with your laptop so you can install Monterey in order to update the laptop's firmware (some Apple SSDs which fit the connector may not work at all or may not work with macOS). After the laptop's firmware is updated, then you can install Monterey with an internal third party SSD installed.

Mark G Apple wrote:

Glad you found a workaround well done I bet you’re pretty chuffed right now. Although having said that it sounds like a whole lot of work, I think I’ll just wait for Apple to fix it their end. I can wait a few weeks, I don’t think there’s anything groundbreaking on Monterey anyway.

Don't hold your breath. This is not the first time that a macOS installer would not work with a third party internal boot drive. Apple did not fix it then, so don't expect a fix now. Apple does not care about or support modifications to the Macs. Apple only designs macOS to work with the original hardware which shipped with a Mac from the factory. You are always taking a risk when using third party items internally on a Mac.

I wish I would be wrong, but I doubt it. Here's to be proven wrong by Apple.

In the interim you can also install Monterey on an external SSD and migrate data and boot for the external SSD.

I am running my 2013 MacPro from an external NVME blade connected via USB3.0 port on the Mac. It works great. I have not had time to reinstall the the NVE blade internally since I had to reinstall the original Apple SSD to update to Monterey.

writeguyfla wrote:

That’s simply inaccurate. I’ve run every diagnostic program and nothing else except for Monterey installer says I have a problem. You would think something else would show a problem. Besides I have Time Machine backups.

If you are receiving the "SMART Failing" notice from macOS or the Monterey installer, then there is most likely a hardware issue with the drive. Unfortunately as I mentioned already, Apple and macOS do not really take advantage of the SMART health reporting feature. It is disappointing if the Apple Diagnostics are not reporting a drive failure, but maybe this is just an issue with the consumer level diagnostics which are not as good as the Apple service diagnostics. Usually if a drive reports a SMART failure it means the drive has an impending failure at any moment (especially with hard drives) although there may be some rare exceptions with an SSD. FYI, the only useful diagnostic is one which reports a failure.

So far nothing wowing on Monterey, and yes waiting is one solution. I had almost resigned myself to do that as well.

It was a fair bit of trial and error to get to a solution but the actual process didn't take that long. If you have your original apple drive, the most time consuming task is the install of the macOS and upgrade to Monterey. With that in hand you are looking at about 20 minutes to clone and swap the drives. Of course the hard drive enclosure will run you about 20-30 dollars. Fortunately I had already bought one to recover files off of an aftermarket drive in another MacBook that had failed.

I should clarify a couple steps. I just repeated the process on my wife's 2015 air. Again, it worked perfectly.

1 - When you download SuperDuper! the upgraded version does not download, you have to manually upgrade it within the app. Version 3.5 worked for me.

2 - I wasn't able to select the external drive when cloning. Solution was to remove the partition using disk utility and then erase using APFS format.

fixnmymac wrote:

I was hoping to hold off until the 27" iMac M1 shipped.....I have a 2017, so I don't feeling like investing too much to fix it. However, seeing as it's yet to be announced and June is likely the soonest we'll see it.....I don't like my chances of just hoping it doesn't fail during the interim.

Do I run an external SSD or bite the bullet and get a new 27" iMac now?

That's your call. I personally wouldn't go for an iMac 27" Intel right now with the Apple silicon transition underway, though. Well, not unless you also want or need to boot Microsoft Windows x86-64, too. Then now's the time.

Installing and relocating your contents to and booting from an external SSD via Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 is an option for a failing internal storage device, yes.

You'll want an SSD on a faster interconnect here, as the slower I/O interconnects will throttle the available SSD performance.

That's a fairly common solution for those with the iMac 21.5" low-end 8 GB / HDD configuration, too.

There's a user tip: How to Setup and Use an External SSD as your Startup Disk on a Desktop Mac - Apple Community

I have the same problem too. I contacted the SSD manufacturer and they told me to wait several months for more stable version of the OS.

I'm having the same problem. I have a mid-2017 iMac with a fusion drive. I got the SMART error. I followed everything here. Disk Utility in Recovery mode says I have no problems with my computer. I've deleted the upgrade file. Two other updates appeared -- one to Safari and one that appeared to be a firmware. I installed both and have redownloaded Monterey and have again received the SMART error message. Apple is becoming more and more like Microsoft of old.