Steps to check SSD status on macOS

The hard drive is one of the extremely important components on any PC system, and the Mac is no exception. Any problems or failures related to the hard drive will cause your computer to stop working completely. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to regularly check and monitor the 'health' of the hard drive.

This article will show you some effective methods to check the health of SSD drives on your Mac.

Check SSD status with SMART Status System Reports

Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) is an automated testing system for SSDs and other traditional hard drives. By checking the SMART index, you can get an overview of the current status of the hard drive, thereby making the appropriate treatment plan. macOS has a built-in tool that monitors the SMART status of all hard drives on the system by default. In addition, there will also be a number of tools to help you analyze this state with different levels of detail.

The process of checking SSD health on macOS is generally very simple and fast. You just need to follow these steps:

Step 1. Click the Apple icon in the top left corner of the screen (in the toolbar), then hold down the Option key. You should see the 'About this Mac' section change to 'System Information'.

Step 2. When the 'System Information' screen opens, look for the Storage section in the Hardware section on the left side of the screen.

Step 3. Next, select the drive that you want to check from the list on the right side.

Step 4. You will find the SMART status at the bottom of the list on the right (usually the last item in the list).

The 'Verified' status you see in this example indicates that the device's hard drive is currently in a working state, with no reported problems. Conversely, a status showing 'Failing' indicates that the hard drive is showing signs of abnormal activity, and may soon enter the 'Fatal' state, which means that the hard drive has failed.

In addition, SMART's numerical error code system will also provide you with more information about the specific problem that the hard drive is experiencing.

Check SSD health with DriveDx

If you feel that the built-in hard drive testing tool gives a bit of sketchy information, use specialized third-party hard drive monitoring applications, such as DriveDx.

This is a hard drive health diagnostic tool that can give you the most detailed view of your SSD's health. This application can scan all connected drives on the system and provide a complete picture of the health of your storage system.

Download DriveDx and install it on your Mac like any other regular application.

While the DriveDx application is open, the application continuously monitors the SMART status to identify any abnormalities or problems that appear on the hard drive in real time. All relevant information will be displayed in an extremely intuitive and easy-to-understand manner.

Micah Soto

Update 19 July 2021