DriveDx shows "Advanced S.M.A.R.T. status: FAILING (2 issues) - will AppleCare change my hard drive?

[lars666]

The second check was another kind of test, not the same one. Don't know what the difference is though. As said before, the Genius claimed that I won't give another result, but ran it anyway and was very surprised.

On my repair confirmation he wrote something like: "diagnostic test without errors, however: memory test shows SMART failed" – but don't ask me how a memory test (if this really refers to the RAM) is connected to the SMART status ... Maybe the "memory" of the hard drive where the SMART data is saved.

 

[chscag]

The same thing happened to me with my 2011 21.5" iMac while it was still under Apple Care. The genius who checked it told me to just reinstall macOS and everything would be OK. They ran the second diagnosis using a special program and it came back and said the hard drive was bad. Of course I already knew that since I could do nothing with it at home. They replaced the hard drive under warranty. I firmly believe that DriveDX is the very best program to use at home for checking your hard drive. Apple might have better software to do it but their stuff is so proprietary you would think they're hiding Atomic Secrets. Anyway, glad to hear they're replacing your hard drive although the three week wait is a real PITA.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Just coming back from the Apple Store - what a ride. Explained the problem, showed the "S.M.A.R.T status: Failing" from my two third-party programs, bad sectors and even data loss on unrepairable bad sectors (which CCC couldn't copy and recreate because of this) - but the Apple diagnostic test said: Everything fine. The genius told me that there is nothing they can do in this case as they have to rely on their own diagnostic program and can't accept third-party app error messages (which I would understand if the Apple diagnostic would be as accurate as those). He already wanted to send me back, then ran another specific hard drive test, claiming: "but this will give the same result". While the test was running, he went talking to the manager if Apple was willing to pay chaging the hard drive although the diagnostic doesn't justify that. They both came back and the manager already started explaining to me why they can't do that when suddenly the second test gave an error on the hard drive. "Never saw something like that", the Apple genius said. "But in this case, we'll change it."

They are now ordering the new 3TB hard drive. Changing it will take another two or three weeks (!) after delivery as they are very busy at the moment.

Definitly my worst Apple Care experience by now – especially as the genius wanted to get rid of me by telling that some bad sectors are normal and that reading out the S.M.A.R.T. status by DriveDX does nothing else than wearing out the drive even faster. I'm glad that the HDD gets replaced though.

Thanks again for all the input!

Glad to read your drive will be replaced.

In regards to the time frame, I find that unacceptable, unless there is a parts shortage, As a paying AppleCare customer, you should be taken care of in a very prompt manner. The local store being busy should not be your problem. I suggest you be polite and firm about the length of repair being too long. If he doesn't budge, make a phone call to Apple and let them know what is happening. You shouldn't be without your iMac for 2 - 3 weeks.