My SMART status says the disk is failing

The s.m.a.r.t. system is part of the hard drive itself, not Apple hardware or software. Getting these errors means your hard drive is starting to fail and should be replaced ASAP. That being said yours is the second report of s.m.a.r.t. errors after downloading Mountain Lion and attempting to install. Two reports doesn't make an issue but it does deserve closer attention to see if others are experiencing the same issue.

The other report is here...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4137496?answerId=19024612022#19024612022

Then there is this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

This happened to me a few weeks ago (SMART Drive failing) and the same error. It is to do with your hard drive and not your operating system. I was able to back up my computer (thankfully) and the tech came out to my place and replaced the drive and used the backup to reinstate the computer. Took no longer than an hour to replace the drive - about 8 hours to restore from backup (I was still on Apple Care). He said it's a common occurence around 3-5 years (mine was only just 2!). If I hadn't have burned a DVD, I may have never noticed the SMART status and very likely would have lost everything. They said once you get the error, there's no telling how long before the system actually fails. Could be days, weeks... So I guess the onus is on you.

I've got the same issue. ****, I can't even install Mountain Lion. The install won't let me since I've got S.M.A.R.T. errors.

I really hate to have to pack up this thing and take it to the Apple Store (27" is pretty big to be toting around). I was hoping that I wouldn't have hardware issues with this machine. Fortunately, I've a backed-up copy of the drive via Time Machine, but this is plain ridiculous, and I've no idea how long the drive has been in this state...it's not like I was prompted during regular usage.

SMDH

Above lkrupp wrote on Jul 26, 2012 at 3:56 PM:

"Yours is the second report of s.m.a.r.t. errors after downloading Mountain Lion and attempting to install. Two reports doesn't make an issue but it does deserve closer attention to see if others are experiencing the same issue."

The other report is here...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4137496?answerId=19024612022#19024612022 "

My report adds to that pattern, and I also noticed Apple knows about an issue between WD disks and Mavericks, at:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5518936?tstart=0

For documentation, here is my disk:

--Mark

G4CRU wrote:

. . .

This disk has S.M.A.R.T. errors. This disk has a hardware problem that can't br repaired. Back up as much of the data as possible and replace the disk.

. . .

I have a full time machine backup, so I guess it's either reformat the primary of off to the repair centre?

Reformat won't help. 😟 You need a new drive.

Most likely, the repair center will install either Lion or Mountain Lion, and there should be a (hidden) Recovery HD, too.

If there isn't a Recovery HD, and if your backups are on an external HD with the GUID partitioin map, Time Machine should have copied one to your TM drive. To start from it, start up while holding the Alt/Option key and select the TM drive.

Either way, start up from the Recovery HD and restore your most recent backup. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14 for details.

(Do not use Migration Assistant, as you'll end up with an extra user account and the transferred user account(s) may lose permission to the backups.)

When your Mac restarts, use either copy of the Mountain Lion Installer to do the upgrade.

Easy way to tell would be to boot back into Lion and run Disk Utility. If it also shows a bad SMART status, the drive is probably on its last leg. If it only fails in Mountain Lion, it might be a bug.

I did a clean install of Mountain Lion on my MBP and was able to restore files/apps/settings through my time machine backup (Lion OS) with no problem at all. The only issue I'm having now is installing some of the printer drivers since they won't load through software update.

Maybe ML is being more accurate or doing a better job...?

Looking at the number of used and spare blocks is a great indicator and confirmed by multiple studies, but was not always cause of failing status (but maybe it should).

Most of the time good to use the vendors own tools, may require creating a boot CD and of course full format and zero the drive. The drive may just have an error or bad block where it can only be 'fixed' by re-initialize.

Older versions of GUID in OS X would give a "pass" if a backup volume information block could not be created, and only during initialize are some areas of the disk blocks tested thorougly and have to pass.

Which is why I always go through and reformat (clean install) and let Setup Assistant finish. Nice to start fresh also, and then clone the drive as soon as necessary so I have a good backup to use.

un1xfool wrote:

. . .

I really hate to have to pack up this thing and take it to the Apple Store (27" is pretty big to be toting around).

In the U.S., if the Mac is covered by AppleCare, and you're within 50 miles of the AppleStore, they'll ship the drive directly to you and send a tech to install it.

I also got the "S.M.A.R.T. Status = Failing" from Disk Utility, only because I happened to launch Disk Utility! When I did, and selected the entire drive, it said, "The drive has reported a fatal hardwardware error to Disk Utility. If the drive has not failed completely, back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a working drive."

The drive is a WDC WD5000AAKS-65YGA0, that came with my iMac when I bought it from eBay. The computer was manufactured in 2007, and the drive probably was original then.

This happened a couple of months after I loaded Mountain Lion, but I'm seeing the error on Leopard on the same computer, an iMac:

I have 3 partitions, one with Leopard, one with Snow Leopard, and one with Mountain Lion. I never would have known about a problem if I hadn't launched Disk Utility. And each of the 3 partitions showed in black (not red), and verified "seems to be working OK."

I backed up all my data using the Snow Leopard install disk.

Now several hours later, Disk Utility reports ALL THREE partitions in RED, with the same horrific message as above. After reading the other posts in this thread, it seems my drive got sicker very quickly! Apparently I backed up the data just in time, because now, Disk Utility will not LET me create a new disk image (.DMG) from any of the logical volumes.

Obvivously I will replace the drive immediately.

Is there any mechanism to get the operating system to notify me WHEN such events happen, WITHOUT my having to go looking for them??

--Mark

Mark_the_K wrote:

...Is there any mechanism to get the operating system to notify me WHEN such events happen, WITHOUT my having to go looking for them??

You could install SMARTReporter, which can run in the background polling your HD for SMART status. Or, you could make it a habit to take a couple of seconds every time you boot up to launch DU and check the SMART status just like you check your email.

Thanks, FatMac\>MacPro, SMARTReporter is just the kind of tool I was looking for!

I will also add that after my initial post, I ran TechTool Pro 6 by Micromat. It gives finer detail into the cause of the SMART pending failure. My cause is "Reallocated sectors count" (apparently the drive is running out of spare blocks to replace bad blocks). Other possible causes are Spin-up Time, Start/Stop Count, Seek Error Rate, Power-On Hours, Drive Calibration Retry Count, UltraDMA CRC Error Count, Write Error Count, etc.

For each sub-cause, it also reports a continuum from "Pass" to "Fail". My "Reallocated sectors Count" is all the way to Fail, and my Internal Temperature is 25% of the way from "Pass" to "Fail."

The bottom line is that my hard drive is rapidly moving machinery, and all such ultimately wears out. I will replace it ASAP with a solid-state drive that will probably outlive me.

Thanks for the help of al who went before me.

--Mark

I have the same problem. An authorized apple store replaced my original hard drive just over a year ago. I hardly use my MacBook Pro (less 5x/months perhaps) and the new hard drive SMART is failing again?
I ever wonder and doubted that the technician ever replaced the old one or this is an ongoing issue that most never thought of as an operating or a more serious issue.

So I just got a late 2009 21.5 IMac, and as soon as I booted it up I noticed that the S.M.A.R.T Status was failing and it hindered me from updating to El Capitan. Well I looked up what the problem was and found this thread. My initial thought was "crap now i need a new hard drive, thats gonna be expensive". Well yes it is for a good one but I found an easy way to temporarily or if you don't really mind having an external hard drive connected at all times a permanent fix. All I did was hook up a 1TB external hard drive and installed El Capitan on to it and it runs like a brand new perfect machine. Mine is only temporary until I find the need or time to replace the internal hard drive. It doesn't have a S.M.A.R.T System on it so it will not fail that way but the external is not a case-insensitive filesystem so somethings might not download or install properly but I have not had any issues to date. Hope this helps the frugal Mac owner.

This is good to know. I'm covered under AppleCare (I'm glad I decided to get the extended warranty) and I'm within 50 miles of an AppleStore.