Level 2

379 points

iMac 2021 M1 possible internal drive replacement

I'm starting to see the spinning wheel often, when saving a Pages document or a Numbers spreadsheet. Have run First Aid via Disk Utility. There were some errors but reported ok. As far as I understand, this means that my internal hard drive is going to crash at some point in time.

My question is: Can the internal drive be replaced on an iMac 2021 M1? Or do I need to replace it altogether for a new machine?

24" M1 iMac, 16 GB memory

macOS: 26.2

iMac 24″

Posted on Feb 4, 2026 4:38 AM

Top-ranking reply

D.I. Johnson

Level 7

34,181 points

Posted on Feb 4, 2026 8:15 AM

-g wrote:

D.I. Johnson >> When it fails, you will have to replace the computer, or the logic board at the very least.

are you saying m-series iMacs cannot be used from an external ssd when the internal ssd fails?

Yes, I am saying that. The storage is soldered to the logic board and is integrated to the cpu. If the storage fails, it compromises the secure functions of the OS and the cpu. If the Mac cannot communicate with its on-board storage, it will not boot from an external drive, either.

Make sure you have up-to-date backups of all your stuff. Always.

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46 replies

KiltedTim

Level 10

226,482 points

Feb 4, 2026 7:26 AM in response to JohnTh

If by "crash" you mean "hardware failure", then yes.

Otherwise, the "crash" could be software related.

You have multiple VPNs installed. get rid of them completely. They serve no legitimate purpose and do absolutely nothing to protect your privacy or secure your data.

They will interfere with normal operation and each other.

-g

Level 4

3,521 points

Feb 4, 2026 7:48 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

D.I. Johnson >> When it fails, you will have to replace the computer, or the logic board at the very least.

are you saying m-series iMacs cannot be used from an external ssd when the internal ssd fails?

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 4, 2026 8:56 PM in response to HWTech

Have done so. Seems to come up with the same errors.

Here's the latest done right now:

Running First Aid on “Data” (disk3s5)

Verifying the startup volume will cause this computer to stop responding.

Verifying file system.

Volume could not be unmounted.

Using live mode.

Performing fsck_apfs -n -l -x /dev/rdisk3s5

Checking the container superblock.

Checking the checkpoint with transaction ID 22330295.

Checking the space manager.

Checking the space manager free queue trees.

Checking the object map.

Checking the encryption key structures.

Checking volume /dev/rdisk3s5.

Checking the APFS volume superblock.

The volume Data was formatted by newfs_apfs (1933.80.3) and last modified by apfs_kext (2632.40.17).

Checking the object map.

Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

Checking the snapshot metadata.

Checking the document ID tree.

Checking the fsroot tree.

warning: inode (id 6090827): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6091919): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595276): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595278): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595279): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595280): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595281): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595296): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595297): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 6595298): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8012)

warning: inode (id 7224409): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: inode (id 7224604): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: inode (id 7224654): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: inode (id 7224869): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: inode (id 7225048): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: inode (id 7225184): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: inode (id 7225330): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: inode (id 7225425): dir-stats key xf does not exist, despite internal_flags (0x8412)

warning: descendants (27272) of dir-stats object (id 324428) is greater than expected (18948)

warning: physical_size (1194053632) of dir-stats object (id 324156) is greater than expected (20242432)

Checking the extent ref tree.

Checking the file key rolling tree.

Verifying volume object map space.

The volume /dev/rdisk3s5 with UUID CD438273-5748-4D9F-82E6-782F9E2B9F99 was found to be corrupt and needs to be repaired.

Verifying allocated space.

Performing deferred repairs.

The volume /dev/rdisk3s5 with UUID CD438273-5748-4D9F-82E6-782F9E2B9F99 appears to be OK.

File system check exit code is 0.

Restoring the original state found as mounted.

Operation successful.

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 4, 2026 7:41 AM in response to -g

Currently 768.96 GB of 994.66 GB is in use. Which is a 1 TB space.

Will offload a bunch of pics and videos anyway to start with to ... and then see if I still have this issue.

Old Toad

Level 10

215,954 points

Feb 4, 2026 11:28 AM in response to JohnTh

Remove/delete all of the files that have vpn in the file name.

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 4, 2026 8:04 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

Yes, I was using Pages and had about 8 or 9 documents open when this first surfaced a few days ago! And yes, they are and were from iCloud drive! I was building templates and needed the same positions of certain elements across all 8 templates. Maybe, that is the issue!

On my phone, the Proton VPN was installed but since I don't ever use it, will get rid of it. Have no idea how it came to the computer as I hadn't asked for it. The same for the Duck Duck Go VPN. Had installed the browser but rarely used it. Got rid of that too.

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 4, 2026 8:36 AM in response to Servant of Cats

Thanks for all the info!

So, I'll be looking at replacing the machine in case of a hardware failure! Got it!

Seems to be a shame to throw the whole iMac away just because of a critical part that failed. But thats the way the world seems to be headed, something I'm not in agreement with btw. But ... here we are!

Feb 4, 2026 9:46 AM in response to JohnTh

JohnTh wrote:

Have run First Aid via Disk Utility. There were some errors but reported ok. As far as I understand, this means that my internal hard drive is going to crash at some point in time.

Disk First Aid errors often have to do with some corruption of the data structures stored on a volume – rather than indicating any failure of the hardware itself. They aren't necessarily an indication that your drive is going to fail.

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 4, 2026 9:46 AM in response to Servant of Cats

Yes, we do take a lot of things for granted! But don't get me wrong! I am not discounting failures, which are bound to happen!

In PRINCIPLE, I'm just against throwing out the whole computer because of ONE CRITICAL main failure. But since the related costs don't justify doing it any other way, I suppose we have to live with throwing stuff that doesn't work out. Imagine however if we did that to aircraft. That would be a whole different level of junk to deal with.

den.thed

Level 10

91,894 points

Feb 4, 2026 9:57 AM in response to JohnTh

JohnTh wrote:

Is it essential that the machine be restarted every now and again? If so, how frequently?

Yes, especially if you run multiple App's that use a lot of RAM.

Right now your report shows very little free RAM and a fairly large Swap Used.

After a restart you will notice a big change in those numbers.

Then gradually they will climb back up.

So with that in mind, there is no magic time or frequency.

It is all based on how much RAM the Mac has and what type of App's you run.

One way to gauge the need for a restart, is when the Mac starts bogging down and spinning it wheels.

The best way to gauge RAM usage and need for a restart, is to use the Activity Monitor.

Check if your Mac needs more RAM in Activity Monitor - Apple Support

JohnTh Author

Level 2

379 points

Feb 4, 2026 11:14 AM in response to Old Toad

Just used FAF. And have copied them onto a separate folder under Downloads.

Do I remove all these files?

I can remove the executables, text, pdf and png files related to both Proton and Duck Duck Go. What about the rest?

Feb 4, 2026 2:18 PM in response to JohnTh

JohnTh wrote:

Yes, we do take a lot of things for granted! But don't get me wrong! I am not discounting failures, which are bound to happen!

In PRINCIPLE, I'm just against throwing out the whole computer because of ONE CRITICAL main failure.

If one blows up the critical engine in the car because they don't change the oil, the options are: replace it at great cost, but less than a new car, or replace the whole car at greater cost. Many would replace the car.

One can replace the logic board for less than the cost of a new computer, for some limited time, of course. Many would replace the computer.

For better or worse, we seem to be living in a disposable world, my friend.

Feb 4, 2026 4:01 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

Mr. Johnson do you have another way of contacting you that you can share. I ran the ertc report you recommended twice and it says something different each time so I don't know how to figure out what is really wrong although I do suspect I will have to replace the whole insides! you can contact me at ***************@gmail.com. I was wondering if you could possibly look at the two reports and give me your opinion. Thank you.

[Edited by Moderator]

Feb 4, 2026 4:39 PM in response to JohnTh

JohnTh wrote:

Yes, that is true! But how does one fix such problems?

Disk First Aid can repair some types of volume corruption.

There used to be other third-party utilities that could do a better job than Disk First Aid, but that was in the days before APFS.

Another option is to erase a damaged volume, then restore macOS and your data – by downloading macOS over the Internet using Recovery Mode, and/or restoring a backup. The details of how to do this safely are a bit more complicated than just running Disk First Aid, especially given the complicated structure of macOS startup disks these days. But the idea would be to try to get things back to a "clean" state.

Feb 4, 2026 4:58 PM in response to CARRANZOOMZOOM

My friend, I and others will be happy to look at your EtreCheck report, but you really should start your own thread rather than try to jump into this one with your own issues. That way you can get the full attention of those trying to help, and it won’t confuse the issue of the author of this thread.

Please post your EtreCheck report in your new thread.

Please note you must upload the full report. To see how, please click > How to use Add Text when posting… EtreCheck Report.

iMac 2021 M1 possible internal drive replacement