Smart

[neyo]

will enabling SMART option for the hdd in the BIOS help me know when the hdd is going to crash. btw what is SMART.

[martian]

Yes neyo, enabling SMART option for the hdd in the BIOS will help you know when your HDD is going to crash.

SMART technonogy in HDDs stand for "Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology". It is an effort by drive manufacturers to help users avoid data loss by incorporating logic into their drives that acts as an "early warning system" for pending drive problems.

The HDDs integrated controller works with various sensors to monitor various aspects of the drive's performance, determines from this information if the drive is behaving normally or not, and makes available status information to software that probes the drive and looks at it. It aids in predictable failures.

[neyo]

wo that was real helpful!

[janitha]

Originally Posted by martian

Yes neyo, enabling SMART option for the hdd in the BIOS will help you know when your HDD is going to crash.

SMART technonogy in HDDs stand for "Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology". It is an effort by drive manufacturers to help users avoid data loss by incorporating logic into their drives that acts as an "early warning system" for pending drive problems.

The HDDs integrated controller works with various sensors to monitor various aspects of the drive's performance, determines from this information if the drive is behaving normally or not, and makes available status information to software that probes the drive and looks at it. It aids in predictable failures.

You can have more info here:-
http://www.storagereview.com/guide20...uresSMART.html

But somebody may pl explain why SMART is disabled in bios by default.

[kalpik]

^^ Beacuse S.M.A.R.T. decreases speed a little.

[martian]

Originally Posted by janitha

But somebody may pl explain why SMART is disabled in bios by default.

There's a possibility that enabling SMART may cause spontaneous reboots in networked computers. SMART may be sending packets of data through the network even though there's nothing monitoring those data packets... This may cause spontaneous reboots. So to avoid reboots or crashes while you are on a network, SMART is disabled by default.

SMART is more useful only on server systems where HDDs hardly takes rest! For home users, enabling the SMART capability isn't really useful or necessary.

[sakumar79]

Also, I remember vaguely that using SMART will decrease the life of the HDD a little bit (since it will do read/write operations that contribute to wear&tear of HD)

Arun

[janitha]

Originally Posted by sakumar79

Also, I remember vaguely that using SMART will decrease the life of the HDD a little bit (since it will do read/write operations that contribute to wear&tear of HD)

Arun

So in short can we presume that enabling it is not that necessay, especially since nowadays we keep backups of imp files in Cds/DVDs etc?

[sakumar79]

Yup, that is the main concept these days... very few people use SMART (but majority of them dont use it because of ignorance...)
Arun

[martian]

Originally Posted by janitha

So in short can we presume that enabling it is not that necessay, especially since nowadays we keep backups of imp files in Cds/DVDs etc?

No, I'm not stressing on that Prem... What I say is SMART has minimal use in ones home PC. SMART is like a diagnostic test on HDDs that's often put to much stress (say working 24/7). Our HDDs are never stressed that much!

But well, you enable SMART or not, you have to take back-ups! See, SMART doesn't take back-ups for you...