S.M.A.R.T. warning

[yarish]

I'm getting a SMART warning when I boot up...
It tells me my drive is SMART Capable and Status BAD. What does this mean? Is the HD beyond repair? What is SMART anyway?

[VHockey86]

Its a technology built into newer hard drives that are soppoesd to allow it to predict eminent failures, so you can backup your data b4 its too late.

Not sure how well it works... but Id definately backup any critical data on your hard drive

[yarish]

Originally posted by VHockey86
Not sure how well it works... but Id definately backup any critical data on your hard drive

Already imaged... I wonder how much life I have left in this drive.

[paul9]

this means it's time to back up all of your important data and start saving for a new drive however if you go to the manufacturers website, they may have utilities to recover your drive. Self Monitoring And Reporting Technology so the drive checks itself for potential problems and tries to warn you in advance that it's gonna die,

[yarish]

Thanks... I'm off to the website right now!

[yarish]

Maxtor's site is DOWN?!?!?!?

[paul9]

try http://grc.com and look into spinrite. very good site, informative and useful. when people like (i believe it was) nuke mention Gibson, this is who it is.

[elroy]

If it is still under warranty the SMART warning may be enough to get an RMA from the manufacturer.

[Nighthawk]

Maxtor didn't hassle me either time I called in one of their drives with a SMART error code.. Just run the diagnostic program from their site, call them up, and tell them the error code.

If you've got a credit card, ask for an Advance RMA so you can copy everything off your current drive and erase it all using something like Autoclave before you send it back.