Hi,

I'm in the midst of a Crucial SSD (maybe) failing. SMART says it is. Crucial wants me to run the firmware updater. But there are issues.

1. Crucial's updater program runs natively through its manager, which is a Windows app.

2. Alternately, there is a downloadable file which can be burned to a CD and booted from there. They specify an "internal" CD. I pulled the optical a long time ago and use it for a second internal drive. I do have an "external" CD but I'm told that doesn't work for bootable stuff.

So, my choices are narrowing, and I've checked other SSD makers — they're the same as Crucial, running everything on Windows.

If anybody has been down the road on this, will Parallels run the firmware app? I'll get it if it will work.

Thanks.

No. Those updaters need hardware access that software emulators cannot provide. Borrow a PC.

It's been a while since I saw one run, but there was an emulator (I think it was WINE). You could boot your Mac in the emulator from a USB drive in the and run the software updater. Anybody have experience with this?

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

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PeterW
No. Those updaters need hardware access that software emulators cannot provide. Borrow a PC.

Hi Peter, I'm an intermediate user, not expert by any means.

If I borrowed someone's PC laptop, how would I connect that up to my mac and the failing drive?

Or, are you suggesting to put the drive into an enclosure and connect it to a PC? If I did would it be read or would the PC want to initialize it?

Just looking for some light here. Thanks.

Ask them for a link for the Mac OS version - if they don't have one - game over - honor the warranty.

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hal
Ask them for a link for the Mac OS version - if they don't have one - game over - honor the warranty.

I like this!

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space-time

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hal
Ask them for a link for the Mac OS version - if they don't have one - game over - honor the warranty.

I like this!

What they claim works on a Mac has to be downloaded and burned onto a CD, to be bootable. My problem is that I replaced the optical with a second internal drive...and the external superdrive isn't bootable.

Honoring the warranty, if you allow the return, would have them replacing the drive with a new one. So we'd start all over again. Unless they change their system of updating firmware, it would end up the same.

It appears all SSD makers are the same.

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dmag
My problem is that I replaced the optical with a second internal drive...and the external superdrive isn't bootable.

Why do you think that you can't boot from that drive?

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dmag
What they claim works on a Mac has to be downloaded and burned onto a CD, to be bootable. My problem is that I replaced the optical with a second internal drive...and the external superdrive isn't bootable.

If it can boot from a CD, it might also boot from a USB thumb drive. Worth a try.


Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.

Tried to run both...the thumb drive and the external CD — neither are recognized to boot from. So both of those options are out.

If I could get help from someone with another Mac, would it be possible to connect the two — and through target disk mode — read the updater from the other computer and update the disk on mine?

Just grabbing at straws here...thanks.

1. Boot camp?

2. Pull the SSD, attach via usb to PC.

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dmag
Tried to run both...the thumb drive and the external CD — neither are recognized to boot from. So both of those options are out.

If I could get help from someone with another Mac, would it be possible to connect the two — and through target disk mode — read the updater from the other computer and update the disk on mine?

Just grabbing at straws here...thanks.

If you could find someone who has Windows on a Mac (via Boot Camp, Parallels, VMWare Fusion) I'd think that using Target Disk Mode on your Mac would work.


Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.

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anonymouse1
1. Boot camp?

2. Pull the SSD, attach via usb to PC.

The problem with #2 is that the PC probably won't recognize a Mac formatted drive. So it would want to reformat the drive. If dmag has a backup and can deal with having to then again reformat the drive, and then restore it, that would work. But a lot of trouble.


Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.

Fair point. But you can boot the Windows machine into the burned CD-ROM or USB stick--that's how i did it on my Crucial a couple of years ago....

Also, some free and paid options:
[www.makeuseof.com]

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Winston

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anonymouse1
1. Boot camp?

2. Pull the SSD, attach via usb to PC.

The problem with #2 is that the PC probably won't recognize a Mac formatted drive. So it would want to reformat the drive. If dmag has a backup and can deal with having to then again reformat the drive, and then restore it, that would work. But a lot of trouble.


Good luck.

- Winston

I appreciate the tips and the followup guys. When I bought the 1TB SSD it was almost $300 (18 months ago). Today, the newer version is $125.

We're just about at the point where SSDs are becoming disposable, like regular drives did a few years ago.

What I've decided to do is buy a new one and clone the current drive over to it. Then RMA the failing drive back to Crucial. I'm constantly backed up and if the drive fails before the cloning and I have to restore from Time Machine to the new one, it's not as efficient as a clone but I can deal with it.

Their tech just told me they'll likely just give me a new one. There's also a small chance they'll try the firmware updater to see if that solves the problem and return it to me.

Thanks again.