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

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.

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.

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.

I've been receiving the SMART failure notification since October 25, 2021.....so well over a month now and I have no performance complaints and have not noticed any events that make me think it's about to fail. As a side note, I WAS able to install macOS Big Sur update 11.6.1 today w no SMART errors......but then I again tried to install Monterey and was again hit w it.

When I run DriveDX, it also flags my SMART failure and SSD Lifetime Indicator doesn't look promising.....but no other errors and my CPU is still working just fine. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If the Mac is using a third party drive, then there is a chance the third party drive does not support SMART health monitoring.

I have an APPLE SSD SM0128L Firmware: CXS7KA0Q

Thoughts on how to best proceed?

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.

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

Thanks for the useful comments. The CCC clone was bootable right away presumably because I'm on macOS 10.15.7. I have also made a TM backup on a separate drive out of paranoia now too though. I attach the DriveDX report, can't interpret it myself so any help is appreciated.

I have the same issue on my 2015 13" MacBook Pro.

My SSD has been replaced with larger aftermarket SSD though so I wonder that's related. Are you all running non-Apple drives too?

I'll be waiting a few weeks as I expect Apple may fix this sooner or later.

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.

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.

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.

E-X-A-C-T same issue, mid-2017 iMac and tried all the prescribed steps to remedy. I've also had multiple calls w Apple Support and spoken w several support specialists....each has claimed that I'm the first to report this issue. They've had no explanation for why the install identifies a SMART issue but disk diagnostics indicate no issues whatsoever.

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.

After coming up empty, Apple support's only suggested next step was for me to need to take my iMac in for a physical inspection......which is never convenient.

Any luck on your end getting Montery installed or riding yourself of the SMART errors?

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.

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.