Need troubleshooting help with solid-state external for Mac

[Trey]

Hi . . . drive is out of warranty, so I gotta find a solution from the Knowledge Base (no luck) or here (am I lucky?).

I don't know much about computers but I can grasp a few things.

I have a Mac laptop running the most up-to-date OS.

Overall, haven't had many problems with this drive, which is solid-state, but now it's making me nervous:

- Takes longer to mount
- When it mounts, it won't show my files. A few days ago, it only showed a few.
- It won't back up files
- Won't eject unless I pull the cord

I have attachments that will show the following (oh, it won't allow me to attach? WTF!):

- I ran FirstAid and it says "unable to unmount volume for repair"
- Clicking on the drive's icon at the top margin, it says "waiting to complete first backup." Ironically, it still shows that even though the drive is not connected.

Sound familiar to anyone? Any solution or point me in the right direction with the Knowledge Base?

Thank you!

[Texturtle]

What is the model of the drive?

[Trey]

I'm trying to figure that out! :-D

MiniStation™ Thunderbolt - HD-PA1.0TU3

Thank you!

[Texturtle]

I'm afraid that is not a solid state drive, those were made with 2.5" spinning drives. It sounds like it may be failing.

[Trey]

Thank you.....maybe my memory is off, as I know the HD in my computer is solid state.

Needless to say, not happy about this. Sounds kinda dumb to think I'd need an external hard drive for my external hard drive.

[Texturtle]

Every hard drive will eventually fail, including SSD.

[Trey]

Is SSD more reliable since it has no moving parts?

[Texturtle]

Not necessarily. Solid state drives have a limited number of read/writes per bit. They are designed to work around bits that go bad, but eventually they run out of spares. If a solid state drive is used in an environment that has a lot of writes they can die fairly quickly. SSD is designed for speed, not necessarily for increased reliability. A well built spinning drive will generally have a longer lifespan.

[Trey]

OK, thank you for your help. Much appreciated!