Full read test taking 12hrs (and counting) for 500GB hdd

Question

Level 1

0 points

Full read test taking 12hrs (and counting) for 500GB hdd

BACKGROUND: I have a mac mini server late 2011. It started to act funny and crash on me. After a long hassle of trying to reinstall I finally managed to reinstall the operating system, and format both the hard drives. (One of the hard drives refused to format, so I had to reinstall OSX on the second one and then format the drive and it finally worked) But even then the computer wasn't working fully. Whenever I try to download software and install it (over both wifi and ethernet), the computer crashes. So I've been figure out exactly what the issue is. So far I installed software that I downloaded from another computer with out a hitch, and passed the "Yes" CPU maxing out test. That's when I went into diagnostics, and started to run the hard drive tests first.

ISSUE: As the title says, it's been 12 hours, and I still have not gotten any results back from the Full Read Test on my first HDD. I'm planning to just leave it going at this point (the system has not crashed: I can move my mouse, though it does lag quite a bit). But what I want to know is if this particular result could be any indication. Assuming the full read test never actually finishes, is this indicative of some type of error?

And on another level, any idea what could be wrong with my mac overall? When I tried to install something off of steam, sometimes it would get really far, but then be unable to download the final part of it, indicating a corrupt download. Which seemed to be the same pattern for when I was trying to update my OS. It just would not finish downloading it. I'd say that I should flash the network card's firmware, but I don't think I can. Hopefully this test will end though, so I can move on to network testing.

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1), 2011

Posted on Feb 27, 2015 6:19 AM

Reply

Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Feb 27, 2015 7:40 AM in response to NataliePi

- Sounds like the HD may be failing. It is requiring many reads of each sector in order to get a successful read.

I would try a fresh install of OS on another HD.

- I would also run Apple Hardware test

Using Apple Hardware Test

- When you get it running if still problem run this and post the results

EtreCheck

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 18, 2016 11:37 AM in response to NataliePi

This is remarkable! I am in the exact same situation!

I have a Mac Mini Server from 2011. Just 2-3 weeks ago, almost exactly when you posted this, my primary hard drive began to give me problems. I tried a number of things to no avail, and finally decided to upgrade from 10.7 or 10.8 to El Capitan. But it wouldn't finish the installation. I tried several times, but the hard drive was just not finishing its installations or downloads. Eventually it was clear to me that the hard drive was dead, and I switched to the second hard drive. I wiped the second drive, installed El Capitan, and then installed all my personal data from the old drive. It worked, and the server ran fine for about two weeks.

Now, yesterday, MySQL stops working from out of nowhere. And the OS goes from being smooth to working for 3-5 seconds, followed by the spinning beach ball for 3-5 seconds, constantly, back and forth. I booted in Safe Mode and it worked okay. But after rebooting in regular mode again a few times, it stopped being able to finish booting up. So I ran Apple Hardware Test. Aaaand, you guessed it!

Every test passed, but then the "full read test" on the original dead hard drive, it ran and ran and ran, somewhere between 5 and 12 hours, and apparently it crashed because the mouse position only updated every 3 seconds, and then "Stop Test" didn't do anything.

So I'm starting on the next test in the series after a reboot. But I wonder, has my second hard drive failed now?

And why is my situation exactly like yours?

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 19, 2016 4:49 AM in response to NataliePi

There is a Console application in Launchpad : Other : Console. Use it. Select All Messages, click now in lower right corner, and search for ioerr or just Error. Most recent activity flows up from the bottom of the Console listings.

A failing drive leaves evidence in the Console log.

Reply