Damaged Fusion Drives

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Level 1

33 points

Damaged Fusion Drives

Hello all, I'm coming to the communities with the sad news that my iMac a few days ago started acting up, upon running a few 'repair disk permissions' tasks, I learnt that there was something unusual as it started showing messages like these:

Open error 5: "Input/output error" on…

and

Open error 1: "Operation not permitted" on…

Around the same time many apps would quit unexpectedly, I was unable to log out, and basically all I did would take an awful long time. Looking up the errors on the internet I learn that they likely had to do with a drive that had gone defective. As I had DIYed a fusion drive myself, I was unable to know which one was going south, so I de-fused them and I've now reinstalled Mavericks on the SSD.

I would appreciate if anyone has a comment to make as to whether you've experienced the same errors as I have and how did you solve them. I also would like to know if there is a utility out there (free, preferently) to put both drives to the test, to be able to confirm if there's something wrong with any or both of them. What surprises me though is this...

My 2010 iMac qualified for a HDD replacement, so the new one has been in for roughly just 6 months. On the other hand, the Crucial-branded SSD has similarly been installed for only 8-9 months. The fact that any or both of them are becoming un-reliable is more than disappointing, really sadenning.

All/any help you provide will be much appreciated.

Jorge...

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion, 27in iMac . 2.8GHz i5 . 14GB RAM

Posted on Nov 16, 2013 11:12 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Nov 17, 2013 8:13 AM in response to jorgefgr

Are you still getting the error messages?

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Answer 2

jorgefgr Author

Level 1

33 points

Nov 18, 2013 6:45 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi there, it's been just a couple of days since the two drives were individualized, I've been doing the regular tasks with Mavericks on the SSD and I haven't seen anything weird. The HDD I've used only as repository for EyeTV archive, knowing that that requires intensive writing and reading. Nothing that I see gives me a clear clue that there's anything wrong with the HDD either.

Is there utility out there that I can use? Do you know?

Thanks..!

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Nov 18, 2013 8:24 AM in response to jorgefgr

This diagnostic procedure will query the log for messages that may indicate a system issue. It changes nothing, and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator. I've tested them only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, they may not work as described.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'GPU |I/O e|find tok|n Cause: -|NVDA\(|timed? ?o' | tail | open -ef

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).

The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.

A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Normally the command will produce no output, and the window will be empty. If the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window) has anything in it, post it — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the TextEdit window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.

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Answer 4

jorgefgr Author

Level 1

33 points

Nov 18, 2013 9:18 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hello, I've follow your instructions on both, the HDD and the SSD. On the HDD, the result was a empty text edit window. On the SSD, however, the result was the following:

Nov 17 00:52:17 localhost kernel[0] <Debug>: disk0s2: I/O error.

--- last message repeated 18 times ---

:-O Oh boy, please don't tell me my SSD is dying. :-S

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Nov 18, 2013 9:30 AM in response to jorgefgr

Unfortunately, it is. It should be under warranty.

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Answer 6

jorgefgr Author

Level 1

33 points

Nov 18, 2013 9:36 AM in response to Linc Davis

Nooooooooooooooo!

Do you think it could be the SATA cable I installed with the drive that is causing the problem? At first I had physically installed the SSD at a location within the case. I later opened it and moved to a different location which required a longer SATA cable that may not be of a good quality or which connector may not be fully inserted into the SSD's terminal.

I guess I'll have to go through the pain of openning it up. If it was the SSD (and not the sata cable) it'd leave me worrying that the SSD are absolutely not reliable when compared to a HDD. This would be second SSD that fails me in less than a year after I started using them :-S

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Nov 18, 2013 9:51 AM in response to jorgefgr

An SSD couldfail spontaneously. A cable would not be likely to do that. It would fail after being manipulated. If that's what happened, then the cable could be damaged.

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Answer 8

jorgefgr Author

Level 1

33 points

Nov 18, 2013 10:10 AM in response to Linc Davis

Can I never trust SSDs again, then? First it was the SanDisk SSD within my work computer. Then, it was the Crucial SSD within my iMac. I'll just wait till the Kingston SSD currently installed within my work laptop fails on me. Most saddenning!

Thank you very much!

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