Corrupt external SSD

[Steelo]

Hi guys,

I'm really not clued up on computer stuff so please bare with me...

So I run a Mac Mini and have always used old spinny external drives as back ups but I bought an external Crucial SSD drive which was working perfectly up until recently. It's basically saying it needs reformatted before I can write to it again. I can still read and copy from the drive for now but can't even move folders into each other etc..

I've bought a new external SSD now and backing everything up onto the new drive (I run 3 external drives, 2 back ups and 1 to work from)

My question is once I've backed up the files from the corrupt drive and reformatted it, do you think it is likely to happen again?

I've never had this issue with any old spinny drives in the last 12 years, and if the Crucial drive is likely to go again, I'd rather not use it.

I hope this makes sense...

Thanks

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

If you use the OS-X disk utility to erase and reformat it, you should find out if the fault is permanent.

Solid state drives are statistically more robust than hard disk drives, so if it will reformat successfully, you should be good to go. By the way, check how much power you're drawing from the Mac Mini. One source of disk corruption is, especially on USB, overloading the power line.

I'll also suggest that, if you're not already using Carbon Copy Cloner ( https://bombich.com/ ) you should consider using it. I use it to duplicate my main backup to a secondary backup on a regular basis. I also make a third full copy every day or two. Disks are cheap these days but your data is priceless.

 

[ancient_mariner]

My feeling is that it's likely failing and I'd not isk it except as a backup of a backup of a backup (maybe not even then). There is no data recovery from a failed SSD.

 

[SsSsSsSsSnake]

Hi guys,

I'm really not clued up on computer stuff so please bare with me...

So I run a Mac Mini and have always used old spinny external drives as back ups but I bought an external Crucial SSD drive which was working perfectly up until recently. It's basically saying it needs reformatted before I can write to it again. I can still read and copy from the drive for now but can't even move folders into each other etc..

I've bought a new external SSD now and backing everything up onto the new drive (I run 3 external drives, 2 back ups and 1 to work from)

My question is once I've backed up the files from the corrupt drive and reformatted it, do you think it is likely to happen again?

I've never had this issue with any old spinny drives in the last 12 years, and if the Crucial drive is likely to go again, I'd rather not use it.

I hope this makes sense...

Thanks

which OS are you using?

 

[SsSsSsSsSnake]

Which Mac File System Is Best for an External Drive?

Formatting a hard drive for use with your Mac? Here are your macOS file system options and how to pick the best one for you.

www.makeuseof.com

 

[Steelo]

If you use the OS-X disk utility to erase and reformat it, you should find out if the fault is permanent.

Solid state drives are statistically more robust than hard disk drives, so if it will reformat successfully, you should be good to go. By the way, check how much power you're drawing from the Mac Mini. One source of disk corruption is, especially on USB, overloading the power line.

I'll also suggest that, if you're not already using Carbon Copy Cloner ( https://bombich.com/ ) you should consider using it. I use it to duplicate my main backup to a secondary backup on a regular basis. I also make a third full copy every day or two. Disks are cheap these days but your data is priceless.

View attachment 373247

Thanks Andrew, I'll look into all of that.

My feeling is that it's likely failing and I'd not isk it except as a backup of a backup of a backup (maybe not even then). There is no data recovery from a failed SSD.

Thanks Toni, considering it wasn't expensive, I'm considering just binning it tbh, as I've bought a couple of new SanDisk G Drives now to try and streamline my whole system too as it was a bit of a mess.

which OS are you using?

BigSur 11.6

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Thanks Toni, considering it wasn't expensive, I'm considering just binning it tbh, as I've bought a couple of new SanDisk G Drives now to try and streamline my whole system too as it was a bit of a mess.

I had a nice failure of sandisk a while ago. not G, but what difference does it make. Data on nvmes must be backed up. External ones appear to be pretty unreliable in particular.

 

[Steelo]

I had a nice failure of sandisk a while ago. not G, but what difference does it make. Data on nvmes must be backed up. External ones appear to be pretty unreliable in particular.

Everything is backed up on 3 separate drives, so if one goes it isn't the end of the world.