Displaying system information

The System Information window

The monitor program can display detailed technical information about your computer. Select the menu item Window > Show system info or press ⌘+4. Among the displayed items are:

• Apple model code and name of the computer type
• serial number of the unit
• Production date and place (if available)
• type and number of processors
• nominal, maximum, minimum and current clock frequencies of processor and memory bus
• size of main memory and cache units
• operating system and system kernel version
• boot ROM version

If your computer is equipped with self-contained micro-processing units (MPUs) - this is the case for the top models of the Power Mac G5 series -, or if you are using an Intel-based Macintosh system, you can open a detail sheet which gives you more information. To open the additional info panel, press the button More Info…. If your computer has a built-in system management database compliant with industry standards, pressing the button Management Info… will open a second detail panel with other types of information (see below).

The MPU information sheet (systems with MPU cards only)

The detail sheet on computers using MPU cards has the following information available:

• card slot number
• number of processors per unit
• lot and part numbers of processors
• serial number of the unit and its parent main logic board
• cooling parameters for this unit

If your computer is equipped with multiple MPU cards, each board can be selected by the navigation buttons in the upper right corner.

The information sheet for x86 processors

If your computer uses a processor of the x86 architecture (Intel-based Macintosh systems), pressing the More Info button will give you the following information:

• the identification of the processor typically used when communicating the name to end customers (marketing name)
• the true internal identification of the processor
• family, model, and stepping numbers
• the number of processor cores per processor package

If your computer is equipped with multiple processor packages, each unit can be selected by the navigation buttons in the upper right corner.

The System Management Information sheet (computers with Intel-based architecture only)

The detail sheet on computers containing a system management table has the following information available:

• data about the system unit
• detail information on each processor
• detail information on each cache unit
• detail information on each memory slot or memory device
• data abour the system's firmware
• management data regarding the system board
• management data regarding the system enclosure
• detail information about each connector on the system board and/or system enclosure
• detail information on each expansion slot
• list of built-in system devices
• list of jumpers and switches on the system board

If your computer is equipped with multiple processors, cache units, or memory slots, you can navigate between the different objects by pressing the arrow buttons in the upper left corner of the sheet.

Displaying battery information

When using the full version of Hardware Monitor you can also get detailed information about the batteries used. Select the menu item Window > Show battery info or press ⌘+5. The following information can be accessed:

• current voltage
• current amperage drawn by the system
• total capacity when battery fully loaded
• current capacity
• maximum capacity

The following two items are only available for specific battery units and can be displayed only when using certain operating system versions:

• number of charge/discharge cycles
• current mode of operation and state

On computers equipped with multiple battery slots, data for each unit is available. You can select between different battery units using the navigation buttons in the upper right corner of the window.

If your battery unit is compliant with the industry standard for "smart batteries", you can press the button Details… to display additional manufacturing data like vendor, serial number, or production date.

Please note that the value displayed at Total capacity equals the full capacity that was measured by the power management unit of your computer. This value can be different from the nominal maximum capacity of a brand-new battery. Every battery wears out with use after time and will lose its capacity with age. The nominal "design" capacity of this battery unit is displayed in the line Maximum capacity.

Displaying disk monitoring data

Depending on your computer and the version of Mac OS X it is running, the operating system might monitor the correct function of all connected hard disks to predict whether a disk drive could fail. This function is based on a feature called S.M.A.R.T.

S.M.A.R.T. is the abbreviation of Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology . It is an industry standard introduced in 1992 to react earlier on hard disk failures. A hard disk supporting the S.M.A.R.T. standard monitors itself with its own micro processor and allows the operating system to request information if technical parameters have changed in such a way that the hard disk might become defective in the near future. In this case the hard disk can be replaced before any data is lost.

S.M.A.R.T. is available for all up-to-date hard disk drives that are connected via an ATA or SATA interface. To display the current status of your drives select the menu item Window > Show Drive Overview or press ⌘+8.

The columns in the table have the following meaning:

• Drive: The name of the disk unit as specified by the drive. Note that the vendor and drive names might be abbreviated because the identification texts are limited in length for technical reasons. For example, a drive might identify as "MATSHITA" although the correct vendor name is "Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics (Panasonic)".
• Serial number: The serial number of the drive. The application will display the number for S.M.A.R.T.-supporting drives only.
• Protocol: The bus protocol used to talk to the drive unit.
• S.M.A.R.T.: shows whether this drive is currently capable of supporting the Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology standard. Note that some protocols are unable to transport S.M.A.R.T. data, so a drive unit capable of supporting S.M.A.R.T. might not support it in the current situation because it is connected via an incompatible protocol.
• Status: shows the diagnostic status of the disk drive. Verified means the diagnostic processor of the drive unit has checked the drive with the result that all operating parameters are within normal conditions, diagnosing the drive to be OK. Failing means the diagnostic processor is predicting a failure of the drive in the near future. In this case you should replace the drive as soon as possible. Not available means no diagnostic info is available because the drive cannot support S.M.A.R.T.
• LED: If you are not sure which drive of your system is identified by which model code and serial number, but the drives are equipped with activity lights (LEDs), the monitor application can help you to identify the drives: When pressing the button Test, the drive identified in that respective line will light up its activity LED for one second. The Test button can only be pressed for drives which have readable media online.

The table does not update automatically because continuous monitoring would slow down all drives. If you want to make sure the table is up-to-date, close, then reopen the window.

Displaying hard disk monitoring data for Xserve computers

The S.M.A.R.T. verification status explained in the previous section allows you to check whether the disk drives are OK. The status is based on information acquired by the diagnostic processor of the drive unit's controller. In some cases the detail data on which the verification status is based can be monitored as well. Mac OS X is doing this automatically for Apple Xserve computers.

Select the menu item Window > Show Xserve Disk Info or press ⌘+7. A window like the following will be displayed:

Under normal circumstances, this feature is only available if all of the following conditions are true:

• You are using an Apple Xserve computer.
• You are using original Apple hard drives, manufactured for the Xserve.
• The computer is running Mac OS X Server.

On computers equipped with multiple monitored disk drives, data for each unit is available. You can select between different drives using the navigation buttons in the upper right corner of the window.

The table shows the following information:

• S.M.A.R.T. Attribute: The name of the attribute monitored by the drive's processor. This name is defined by the disk manufacturer and is not interpreted by Mac OS X or Hardware Monitor.
• Current: The current value of the attribute, as measured by the drive. The meaning of the value is defined by the disk manufacturer. Higher values mean better performance or reliability.
• Worst: The worst value of the attribute that has been recorded during the drive's lifetime.
• Threshold: The threshold value for the attribute, as defined by the disk manufacturer. If the measured value is equal or below the threshold, this will indicate a problem with the drive.
• Status: The interpretation of the current attribute value.

There are three possible cases:

• OK: the monitored attribute is within specifications for this drive.
• Failure imminent: the disk drive has detected a problem, because the currently measured value does not fall within specifications. A failure of the disk drive could be imminent. The drive should be replaced as soon as possible.
• Lifetime exceeded: the currently measured value indicates that the drive has exceeded the lifetime it had been designed for. It is recommended to replace the drive.

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