SMART Error

[Nicholas86]

Hey guys, been here for about 5 or so years, lost my account and havent posted in years. I just got a new system, used, but new to me.
It has a 120 Gig ata100 drive, its getting a smart error. Now I have sensitive data and cannot afford a new drive, so i installed XP on a 5400RPM 10gig and i am using the 120gig as storage. My question is, after getting a smart error, how long do they usually last? I even have games installed on it and the games run fine, no corrupt files or anything. It just freaks out when i put xp on it and try to boot. Thanks for any input.

 

[youngbuck]

If you have sensitive data on it, you need to back it up. Depending on how critical this data is to you, I wouldn't use the drive at all until you have means to back it up (i.e. another drive, multiple DVDs, etc.).

Not sure how long they last after SMART errors, but SMART is there to let you know that drive failure is fairly imminent.

 

[Mycobacteria]

yep dont used SMART FAILED HDs for important sutff...

 

[4GHZ_or_bust]

I agree with the other poster, plan on getting a new drive ASAP. If you have CD or DVD burner, back up all sensitive data NOW before you lose them to dead hard drive.

a failed SMART data could be nothing just an odd hiccup but then again it could signal impeding doom and disaster. When the hard drive dies, they usually die hard and you could spend a lot of time trying to recover lost data if you are lucky. Or spend a few thousands on pro hard drive recovery service if you can't even use salvage software.

 

[Enablingwolf]

While I have had a drive that has been failing S.M.A.R.T. For about 4 years now. Not on my primary. It has yet to fail.

To use smart. We should know what it is and how it works to our advantage.
Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology

I can do a number of things for us consumers. One thing it can do against us is mislead with an invalid reply. Hey it happens.

As the first part, we have to understand why the report is generated. Then find out if the firmware is just not bieng a crapper. Is it the platter, bearing? Is it something else like overall platter speed? A damp spot like a burn?

If you answer .. Huh>? To any of this grab a new drive. Do your backups and such. Do not do an image, it can take any issues with it. Back the data up. Images are kick butt, but do not benifit in all cases.

You cannot go by monitoring alone, sometimes it lies. If you really know your machine you can almost tell if something is wrong/ Depending on experiance level.