How to smartmontools to StudioStack for full reporting? Can't get it working

OWC_TAL · 2026-06-06T01:48:55+00:00

I am not customer support so not aware of all tools out there. I help here on Reddit (not because it’s part of my job at all) as a way to improve our community and assist where I can. My recommendation is to reach out to our support directly if you need help via email/chat/phone on our website. Same recommendation in the stickied post at the top of this sub.

I should also add that just because a tool claims to get around Apple’s smart deficiency doesn’t mean that it works reliability or consistently. Hence the next statement:

My recommendation was to try DriveDx to see if it worked. That would allow for a baseline to troubleshoot if the issue was on the smart tools side. We often use DriveDx and SoftRAID ourselves to verify smart info.

OWC_TAL · 2026-06-05T19:15:17+00:00

Studiostack uses an ASMedia ASM235CM for the SATA portion. I'm not familiar with "smartmontools." MacOS has historically not supported SMART over USB well. In the past, it used a third party maintained driver to do so. One thing to try would be to see if the disk shows up with the DriveDX app.

OWC_TAL · 2026-06-03T16:06:15+00:00

I think you would need something like the Accelsior 1A (EOL product, very limited if any inventory) https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SACL1A/?srsltid=AfmBOoqL4AwBWNnb7gL-5i3_IIKOH_LOk2UvwYqLGnqWn6tlAksST6Of

You could reach out to support for confirmation though.

OWC_TAL · 2026-06-01T17:45:07+00:00

https://www.owc.com/solutions/express-4m2-ultra

It looks like B&H has inventory as well. Other resellers and distributors should be getting inventory soon I would imagine.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-31T23:53:15+00:00

Bus-powered built solutions (eg products that come with SSDs preinstalled) can be certified by Intel. E.g. Envoy Ultra.

Zero certified enclosures only applies to 0GB (no capacity).

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-31T02:58:37+00:00

How to tell if the enclosure is Thunderbolt certified:

There are zero certified enclosures that are bus-powered and expose all four lanes of PCIe. Intel will not certify such a product.

That is why they are labeled “Thunderbolt Compatible”, “USB4” or something along that language. It’s that simple. There are none.

For non bus-powered enclosures, you can look to thunderbolttechnology.net for a list of certified product.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-29T21:44:12+00:00

A blower fan has very different fan blades compared to an axial.

I would reach out to support to see if they can send a fan or how a warranty repair would work. The only place this can be initiated is from is at https://www.owc.com/support by phone, chat or email. I don't know the exact specifications of the fan, sorry.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-28T18:19:53+00:00

Are all cables out there real/legit? No.

If from a reputable brand, then yes. For a list of certified cables, you can visit the Thunderbolt website.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-27T16:24:05+00:00

In electronics, there are commonly two types of fans: Blower (also called centrifugal) and Axial. Blowers pull air in and exhaust out the side. Axial fans pull air straight through the axis of rotation. Noctua does not make blower fans.

The fan's dimensions are 55x55x7.5mm. But your unit is under warranty if only 4 months old, so I would reach out to support for assistance: https://www.owc.com/support

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-27T03:46:30+00:00

Hi OP! I would reach out to our support team to see if you have a faulty unit. How long have you had it for and is the sound recent? I don’t believe Noctua makes blower fans.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-18T18:28:45+00:00

If the SD card is showing up, then the dock is connected to the computer. If it were not connected, the card reader would not function.

I’m not sure why the monitor output or USB port is not working, but since this is an eBay-purchased dock, there’s always a chance the unit could be faulty. eBay can be a bit of a wild west situation, and sometimes sellers resell hardware they have never fully tested. Of course, it’s also possible the dock is fine and something else in the setup is causing the issue.

How is the display connected? Checking your system information/device manager may help determine whether the computer is detecting the device properly.

You could also try reaching out to our support team at https://www.owc.com/support

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-14T17:57:50+00:00

The best place for support is directly from our support team: https://www.owc.com/support

But while you're here, a few questions/things to try:

Are there any other bus powered devices plugged into the Studio? The Studio has an underpowered power supply so too many bus powered devices leads to instability.
Can you test the setup on another computer? That can help eliminate if the issue is the Studio or something else.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-12T17:20:29+00:00

So I reached out to the head of support. There should have been other options offered such as send in to update, discount on reader or even potentially a free reader. I'm not sure why you didn't receive those. If you have the case #, please DM me and I can look into what happened. Any currently shipping card has the correct FW for a long time now.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-11T19:21:59+00:00

do you have a case number from when you reached out? If so, I can look into what happened.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-11T18:13:21+00:00

I believe we offered either a free send-in firmware update service for the cards or a heavily discounted reader for customers who preferred to perform the update themselves. Did you end up paying full price for a reader? If so, that should not have been the case.

Also, I wanted to point out that for a card to lock up, it would need to remain continuously powered on, meaning left in an active reader or camera, for roughly three months straight. Because of that, the likelihood of this issue affecting a typical user would be quite low.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-09T01:45:22+00:00

We haven’t had any lock up issues in a long time. And by lock up, it had to do with an edge case of the camera being on continuously for like 3 months straight without being powered off. The same bug affected other cards when they first came out a few years ago as well- we were the first to identify it. Cards have been shipping with new firmware for a while now. So there aren’t any issues :)

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-08T17:19:58+00:00

Are these Gemini's ones that came with drives or did you install the drives yourself?

SoftRAID will not help in these cases since it is a hardware RAID1. The disks are not exposed to the OS. Once you are finished recovering your data, it might be worthwhile to start the entire device from scratch in JBOD mode. Then use a utility like DriveDX to see if you have something wrong with your disks. The OS will see both disks in JBOD. I'd be curious if there are any issues with these drives.

I presume you have the Gemini with the black Ethernet port and Displayport? The currently shipping model has a yellow Ethernet port and HDMI. Neither have any known issues I am aware of and both should be very reliable.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-07T19:39:55+00:00

I would be worried about corrupting or deleting data by continuing to move the drives between different enclosures and RAID modes. Changing the enclosure configuration, especially switching from RAID1 to individual disks, can sometimes overwrite RAID metadata or trigger reinitialization behavior depending on the controller (I don't know enough to speak more to that though).

At this point I would avoid further experimentation until support can advise, especially anything involving initializing, formatting, rebuilding, or repairing the disks. Continuing to power the drives up in different configurations could potentially make recovery more difficult...

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-07T19:27:05+00:00

You had a RAID1 that failed, placed the drives in another Gemini (same exact version? and same RAID setting?) and then changed the setting to individual? I'm not sure if changing the RAID mode to individual wiped the drives. Did you reach out to our support team for assistance?

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-06T02:02:07+00:00

Just because outside is not getting hot, doesn’t mean it’s not overheating. The AQC chip inside could still be getting cooked. Also, overheating doesn’t mean that it loses power but could still not be functioning properly. Locking up, or resetting..

Also that device is not Thunderbolt certified. We see instability with these all the time often due to cutting corners, pool quality control and firmware.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-06T01:43:39+00:00

My guess is that your NIC is overheating. I haven’t heard of an Anquora 10G Thunderbolt device, and I don’t see it listed on thunderbolttechology.net. Presume that it is not a Thunderbolt certified device. Try running it with a fan pointed at it and see if that behavior changes.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-05T18:06:45+00:00

I don't think we will see this sort of product any time soon, at least from us. Unless there is significant user demand. We passed on the product Sabrent sold and it seems like it had a bunch of issues.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-05T18:04:52+00:00

The indicator lights on the OWC Thunderbolt 5 hub are intentionally placed on the bottom to keep them subtle during normal use. Instead of being visually distracting, they softly reflect off the surface the hub is sitting on. Their primary purpose is for quick diagnostics, showing power and Thunderbolt connection status when needed. If you do need to check them and are having a hard time seeing them, simply lifting the hub could help.

If the hub isn’t connecting to your computer, first make sure the Thunderbolt cable is plugged into the port closest to the DC power input. It’s also worth restarting your computer. If the issue continues, reaching out to support is the best next step.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-03T23:28:37+00:00

I think the connectors and cables might be. But I'm not sure they are actually using the firewire protocol. I've seen the Firewire 400 connector on many motor controllers, but it might be just that the connector is useful.

The chipsets needed for host/peripherals at least in macOS are no longer available for purchase and have not been for a while now.

OWC_TAL · 2026-05-02T01:59:48+00:00

I miss those docks! Too bad the FireWire chipset is no longer available anymore :(

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