SSDReporter FAQ

Q: Is SSDReporter compatible with external SSDs?

Q: Is SSDReporter compatible with all internal SSDs?

Q: What does the 'low-accuracy' thing mean?

Q: I already have 'SMARTReporter', do I need SSDReporter too?

Q: Do I need SSDReporter if I don't have a SSD?

Q: How do i find out if my Mac has a SSD (Flash Storage)?

Q: How does SSDReporter calculate its 'SSD Health' value?

Q: I've previously purchased the app but now I am seeing promotions! Why?

External SSDs are not "supported" by SSDReporter. That said, you may still get them to work: eSATA or Thunderbolt connected disks may work if they are 'S.M.A.R.T.' compatible. If they are not, there is nothing you can do about this. USB & FireWire SSDs usually don't work but some can be made to work if you install a 3rd party driver. If your external SSD does not show up in the SSD list and you made sure it supports S.M.A.R.T. you can try this to get SSDReporter to recognize it - try to enter this in the 'Terminal' to make SSDReporter check all disks regardless of it believing them to be SSD or not:

defaults write com.corecode.SSDReporter CheckAllDisks -bool true

SSDReporter is compatible with most but not all SSDs. Please try our DEMO version prior to buying. SSDReporter tracks SSD lifetime by observing the health attributes #202, #226, #230, #231 and #233. Most recent SSDs support at least one of these attributes. Sadly some of Apple's own SSDs do not include these important health attributes. In this case SSDReporter falls back to using the also-valuable attributes #5 and #173. If only attribute #5 is supported you'll see '{low-accuracy!}' appended to the SSD status information to signify that the health information is inaccurate. If your SSD supports none of these 7 attributes, it is not supported by SSDReporter.

Note that some SSDs do not support S.M.A.R.T. at all or only incompletely therefore do not work with SSDReporter - refer to the section 'Limitations & Compatibility' in our ReadMe for specific information.

Also note that Apple has decided on dropping S.M.A.R.T. support for their SSDs ('Flash Storage') going forward sometime around 2016, so the built-in internal SSDs on new Macs often do not work with SSDReporter - refer to the section 'Limitations & Compatibility' in our ReadMe for specific information.

If you have an internal SSD but it is not seen by SSDReporter try to enter this in the 'Terminal' to make SSDReporter check all disks regardless of it believing them to be SSD or not (while SSDReporter is not currently runnning):

defaults write com.corecode.SSDReporter CheckAllDisks -bool true

See the above question.

Probably.

SMARTReporter does have some limited SSD-checking functionality:

• SMARTReporter does track the S.M.A.R.T. summary status which probably also turns 'FAILING' is a SSD is at the end of its lifetime and notifies you if this happens. However this will probably happen quite late.

• SMARTReporter tracks the most important SSD health indicators #231 and #233 and displays these in a tooltip and its menu if you enable 'S.M.A.R.T. attribute checking', but there is no notification if these values fall.

• You could manually add thresholds for important SSD health indicators and be notified if those are reached

Additionally SSDReporter:

• Observes 7 SSD lifetime attributes and calculates a SSD health summary status ranging from 100% (good) to 0% (end-of-life).

• Can notify you with configurable notifications each time the SSD health decreases or if it reaches configurable warning and error thresholds

No.

• Select 'About This Mac' from the Apple menu.

• Select the 'Storage' tab

• You have a SSD if at least one of the listed disks is labeled as 'Flash Storage' or 'Solid State SATA Drive'

We look at the SSD health related S.M.A.R.T.-attributes #5, #173 and especially #202, #226, #230, #231 and #233. Also, if the S.M.A.R.T. summary status of a disk is "FAILING" we report the health as zero percent.

While the app has been commercial previously, it is now free and supported by showing information about our apps. If you've previously purchased the commercial version, you should not see those promotions! In case the automatic detection of your purchase did not work, just click the 'Register' or 'Disable Ads' button in the 'Documentation' tab. Then either enter your license-code (if you have purchased on 'Paddle') or select your commericial copy which has been downloaded from the Mac App Store. Upon success, the promotions should be disabled permanently.