SMART status showing Samsung SSD failing?

[echelon4]

Hi, had a random "disk eject" on my cMP 2012. It's a Samsung SSD 830 connected via SATA cable... it's not my boot drive. I ran Apple First Aid, it thinks the disk appears OK. Ran a SMART test, it thinks it is failing [see attachment].

How do things look to you guys? Looks like I lost one (text) file to corruption. I might have had it open in the background, and the file just shows gibberish now.

 

[crjackson2134]

Hi, had a random "disk eject" on my cMP 2012. It's a Samsung SSD 830 connected via SATA cable... it's not my boot drive. I ran Apple First Aid, it thinks the disk appears OK. Ran a SMART test, it thinks it is failing [see attachment].

How do things look to you guys? Looks like I lost one (text) file to corruption. I might have had it open in the background, and the file just shows gibberish now.

Make sure you have a current full backup, check for firmware updates, verify trim status. Delete the partition and reformat the drive. Put your data back and keep a close eye on it.

Nothing to due further but keep backups at this point. I suspect it’s going out.

 

[h9826790]

Hi, had a random "disk eject" on my cMP 2012. It's a Samsung SSD 830 connected via SATA cable... it's not my boot drive. I ran Apple First Aid, it thinks the disk appears OK. Ran a SMART test, it thinks it is failing [see attachment].

How do things look to you guys? Looks like I lost one (text) file to corruption. I might have had it open in the background, and the file just shows gibberish now.

If SMART says your hard drive is dying, most likely it's correct.

Anyway, did you enable TRIM? Even 830 is a 2011 product, just 6 years life span seems still a bit short (unless you really use it hard).

 

[b0fh666]

poweron time not even 2 years according to SMART. bad luck.

edit : and why almost 6000 power cycles? something odd in there.

 

[h9826790]

It's a Samsung SSD 830 connected via SATA cable

poweron time not even 2 years according to SMART. bad luck.

edit : and why almost 6000 power cycles? something odd in there.

His screen capture also suggested that it's actually connected via a USB cable. Most likely this is the reason why it has high power cycles, and no TRIM support (which makes the cells wear out much quicker than normal).

 

[bsbeamer]

Make sure you clone your data to another drive ASAP. SMART has correctly reported pending drive failures several times for clients and they always call me when they see the "error". Basically have them run Carbon Copy Cloner to a standard external hard drive and replace the SSD within the next several days.

Samsung firmware:
https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

Shows latest 830 Firmware is CXM03B1Q, which looks like the version you are running.

Screenshots from DriveDx from my two oldest Samsung 840 SSDs show much less wear. Both with 10,000+ hours of power on time and with 2,000+ Power Cycle Count.




HFS+ or APFS format?

 

[BrianBaughn]

If you have a Windows machine to which you can connect the SSD, Samsung has software to check it (or secure erase it in an instant).

 

[echelon4]

Yes, TRIM is enabled. It’s formatted as HFS+.

For the power cycles, could it be that high if the machine frequently goes to sleep? I tend to put my cMPs to sleep a few times a day to save on power.

It’s not a USB cable, just a SATA extension cable. I’ve been migrating data around, so I just use a SATA cable since it’s much faster when I need to transfer a lot of data and to swap disks. I also mentioned it since other threads mention cables as a source of failure.

Thanks for those images bsbeamer… very interesting.

@brian - I will check things again with the Samsung software… thanks for the link.

 

[Earl Urley]

Retired block count of 4,096? If I'm reading that right, that means that SSD has run out of spare blocks to assign to data from failed blocks.. so the drive can no longer compensate for its cells dying, if that were me I'd back up everything and just get a new SSD.

MicroCenter has the 500 GB 860 on sale for $84, you can get an Inland 500 GB for $65.. NewEgg has 500 GB Crucials for $100.. just get a new one..

 

[bsbeamer]

Generally speaking if there is NO or LITTLE space free on SSD it will start to fail more quickly because it cannot be managed properly. If the system (or firmware) can detect a dead sector, there are ways for it to flag and no longer use. I'm not 100% certain if macOS abides by this with non-Apple issued SSDs, but it should be dependent on the drive's firmware. TRIM plays into this, but some firmware does additional work.

Personally do not mess with things like this. If the drive is failing, I'll clone and replace (for system drives) or transfer data elsewhere (for media/storage drives). Simply not worth the cost/risk involved, especially when 250GB SATA SSD drives can be found under $40 on sale.

Worth mentioning in case helpful - have seen several Windows machines with Crucial 120/240/250GB replacement drives fail in the past few months. Not sure if it's because of upgrades from Windows 7/8>10 or another issue. It's enough of a pattern to not recommend smaller SSD drives these days. If you've ever used Windows on that drive, check the partition map.

For 500GB drives I always try to leave at least 50GB free. For 1TB drives I always try to leave at least 100GB free. Sometimes goes above that threshold, but that's the nature of working.

 

[NoBoMac]

Nothing to add re: what to do as others have covered it well.

In the area of commentary, that drive has really been put through the wringer. I have the exact same drive, also installed in 2012, and heck of a lot less erase cycles to it.

 

[kohlson]

especially when 250GB SATA SSD drives can be found under $40 on sale.

This ^^^^^

 

[Oldmanmac]

^^^ Are they reputable?

 

[bsbeamer]

^^^ Are they reputable?

ADATA, Kingston, SanDisk and some others from Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, etc. have been below $40 for SATA SSDs. They are not brands I would choose for my system SSDs, but if you're dealing with drive failure ANY functional drive is better than the one failing.

Latest generation Samsung SATA SSDs have been as low as $60 in the past two weeks. Crucial SSDs as low as $50. Personally choose Samsung for my machines and have not had issues.

 

[kohlson]

@echelon4 posted about a Samsung 830, so a good brand for it's time. But SMART is reported to have very low False Positive, so if it's failing it's best to get something to replace it as quickly as possible.

 

[echelon4]

I routinely end up with little space left on this disk, so I do have that poor habit. I have Samsung 840 laying around, I guess I will use that as a replacement. Thanks for all the replies, it's been very informative.

 

[crjackson2134]

I routinely end up with little space left on this disk, so I do have that poor habit. I have Samsung 840 laying around, I guess I will use that as a replacement. Thanks for all the replies, it's been very informative.

This is a much better device.