How to Check SSD Health on Mac | 3 Free Ways

Updated by

Sherly 

Updated on Nov 20, 2024

Are you concerned about the health of your Mac's SSD? Over time, SSDs can wear out, leading to potential data loss if not monitored. Fortunately, checking your SSD's health on Mac is straightforward and can be done using built-in macOS tools or third-party applications.

In this guide from EaseUS Software, we'll explore effective methods to assess your SSD's condition, ensuring your data remains safe and your Mac runs smoothly. Let's dive into learning.

How to Check SSD Health on Mac

This section gives you three ways to check the health of your SSD on Mac/Windows, including third-party software, Terminal, and SSD SMART status.

Method 1. Use EaseUS Partition Master for Mac

Compared with Terminal and System Information, EaseUS Partition Master for Mac is easier to use and offers more detailed SSD health info. It's also completely free to check the health of your Mac's SSD. This tool can check SSD speed to help check if your SSD is healthy or running properly.

Check its features from the list below:

• 💡Completely free to check SSD health and test SSD speed
• 💡Support SSDs/HDDs, external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc.
• 💡Compatible with all MacOS
• 💡Easy to use, without requiring any command lines
• 💡Test hard drive speed on Mac

Here is how to use EaseUS Partition Master for Mac to check disk health for free:

Step 1. Run EaseUS Partition Master for Mac, select your target disk, and you'll see a few options.

Step 2. Locate the option related to Disk health.

• If it shows "Disk health is Unknown (Request to install extension)," click on "Learn more" and move to Step 3.
• If it shows "Disk health is valid," click on "S.M.A.R.T" and move to Step 5.

Step 3. In the new window, you'll be prompted to enable the EaseUS extension. Click the "Follow Guide" buttons below to get the detailed steps of each.

• 1: Restart Mac to Recovery Mode and allow user management kernel extension in Recovery mode.
• 2: Install the extension and click "Allow" in your Privacy & Security.

Step 4. Once you've completed the installation, the option will presented as "Disk health is valid." Then, click "S.M.A.R.T" to check your disk health.

Step 5. Then, the health condition of your disk will be presented on the new window.

To check SSD health on Mac M1/M2/M3 or learn the detailed SSD write cycles on Mac, download this free SSD health check software for Mac.

Method 2. Use SSD SMART - System Information

You can use System Information to check the SSD SMART status on a Mac. Without downloading any software, you can know if your SSD is healthy. But if you want to learn the detailed write cycles, temperature, or more other info, you need to use EaseUS Partition Master for Mac.

Step 1. On your Mac, click the Apple menu and select About This Mac.

Step 2. Hold the Option key and click System Information.

Step 3. In the sidebar, select Storage under the Hardware section.

Step 4. Then, check the S.M.A.R.T. Status at the bottom of the right panel. If it shows "Verified," your SSD is healthy; if it says "Failing" or "Failed," it means your SSD is going to fail soon, and you need to back up your data immediately.

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Method 3. Use Terminal and Smartmontools

If you have Homebrew installed, you can use Smartmontools to perform a more detailed analysis. This storage utility is available for several platforms, including macOS and OS X.

But it's not a simple process. So, please back up your important data in advance. If you are a novice user, please don't hesitate to turn to EaseUS Partition Master for Mac.

Step 1. Go to Finder > Select Applications > Click Utilities > Launch Terminal. (Or, navigate to Launchpad > Other > Terminal.)

Step 2. You need to Install Smartmontools here; type the following command lines in Terminal: brew install smartmontools

Step 3. Type "diskutil list" to find the drive identifier for the correct volume.

Step 4. Type "smartctl -a disk1s2" to get the SMART status of the specific SSD. You should replace the placeholder BSD name with your own.

Regardless, this will produce a detailed S.M.A.R.T. report in standard output.

You can check the detailed SMART Info from the list and check if the SSD is working properly. The three methods also work in checking hard drive health on Mac.

Conclusion

If you want to keep your computer running optimally and keep your data safe, it's very important that you check the health of your Mac SSD on time. While SSDs don't have any moving parts inside them and experience less wear and tear, like all technologies, SSDs have a limited lifespan. But, like all technologies, SSDs have a limited lifespan. This article describes three options to help check SSD health. But what's the best way to do it? If you just want to know if your SSD is healthy, then you can use built-in macOS tools. If your SSD is already showing symptoms of damage, or you want more SMART information, you should choose EaseUS Partition Master for Mac.

Every user is free to use this Mac disk health management tool because of its clear and easy-to-use interface.

FAQs About Check Mac SSD Health

How to check disk health on a Mac? What do you do if your SSD fails on your Mac? Check the following content to get more details.

1. How to check SSD health in Windows?

You can follow the instructions below to check SSD health in Windows:

• Click the Search icon in the taskbar and then type Command Prompt in the search box.
• Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
• Type the following command and press Enter.
• Check the health of your SSD by typing the following command and pressing Enter.

If the SSD Status displays OK, your SSD will run normally. If Pred Fail is displayed, your SSD has likely failed, and you should back up your data as soon as possible.

2. What should you do if the SSD fails on a Mac?

If your Mac's SSD is showing signs of failure, follow these steps to protect your data and fix the SSD:

1. First, backing up all important files using Time Machine. 
2. Next, run "First Aid" in Disk Utility to check for errors. If issues persist, consult a professional for repair or replacement options to prevent data loss and maintain system functionality.

3. How to check Macbook SSD size?

To check the SSD size on your MacBook, click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of your screen and select "About This Mac." In the pop-up window, navigate to the "Storage" tab, where you'll find a visual representation of your storage usage. This section displays the total capacity of your SSD, along with how much space is currently being utilized.