Drive failed after OSX upgrade?

Weirdest thing. I upgraded my OSX to 10.4.x and immediately after the disk utility show the Maxtor drive with a S.M.A.R.T. failure. Not the system disk either, the work disk. Highly unlikely in my opinion. (All the files are there and have backed up the drive.)

Yet there is no SMART utility for Macs ? Anybody have experience with this?

thanks,
td

What's the drive format?

Koz

Maxtor are Highly unreliable in my experience and a hardware failure on one is VERY possible. Especially where heat is concerned. Try cooling your work drive and backing up your data before you attempt to fix any problems. Better still, get a new HDD and throw out the maxtor.

In the last 10 years I have only had 3 HDDs hardware fail...

Guess who made them.

The drive format should not cause the SMART error reporting although you might want to back up and reformat it as HFS+ (without Journaling) if it isn't already, run a few checks and test on it once you do this.

For those reading this thread and who don't know what we are talking about here SMART or Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology is built into all modern hard disks and is a small piece of software designed to forewarn of any hard drive issues and potential failures. As far as I understand it, about 70% of problems can be identified before they become damaging. So act quickly if you get an error report.

*TechTool Pro 4 can read and diagnose SMART data from HDDs some minor problems can be fixed

**Drive Genius can also read and repair HDDs and uses SMART data to help pin point the problems

There is a free SMART reporter here: [homepage.mac.com] but it won't fix any problems.

If you haven't got TTP* or DG** get a copy ASAP - all Computers need regular checking & maintenance to ensure performance and reliability - especially on drives that are used to store lots of files and are regularly updated & changing such as video & audio storage.

Ben





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

It's also very possible that a major version change of MacOS X can corrupt a firewire drive. I have had it happen to me!

1 - Always disconnect any Firewire device from your computer when updating software! Apple has sent that warning out with every update!

That still might not keep you from having the drive mount and then unmount, never to return when restarting your new version of OS X.

Firewire drives have been to sustable for my use, and that is why I am against them for any use except storage of files.