How does SMART work?

[Eeezee]

I recently had a hard drive reporting SMART errors for about a week and now they are gone. I scanned it with one of Western Digital's tools and it sitll detects a SMART error even though all of the parameters are within acceptable limits (one was below the threshold before but now is barely above it).

Does the drive's firmware remember old SMART errors? Is that why this utility is stating that SMART status has failed even though there's no message during POST anymore? I also used Seagate's online scanning utility and it did not detect any SMART errors. I am worried that if I return this drive to Seagate, they won't find anything wrong with it. Will they be able to identify if the drive has had SMART errors?

 

[Bobthelost]

Your hard drive is probably going to die. Back everything up.

I don't think you can RMA it yet, it needs to die first.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Your hard drive is probably going to die. Back everything up.

I don't think you can RMA it yet, it needs to die first.

Seriously? I have everything backed up off of this 250GB drive (ouch). Is there a way to hurry along the death process?

 

[Bobthelost]

Many ways, but most would invalidate the waranty.

But don't take my word as gospel on this, SMART is not an area of expertise of mine.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Many ways, but most would invalidate the waranty.

But don't take my word as gospel on this, SMART is not an area of expertise of mine.

I've been trying to call Seagate but their tech support has all been outsourced and no one there seems to even know what SMART is. One guy knew what it was, but he couldn't tell me if I could get it RMA'd. He then redirected me to someone in the warranty department, so I asked "Will SMART errors get my drive replaced" and he then tried to redirect me to tech support because he didn't know what SMART errors are

Good luck finding warranty information on their website, it doesn't list anything on SMART

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Many ways, but most would invalidate the waranty.

But don't take my word as gospel on this, SMART is not an area of expertise of mine.

Is it possible to crash my hard drive through software somehow?

 

[Bobthelost]

I dunno, but if you were to power it up, then disconect the power, you'd do some damage to it, as would running it at 55*C (within spec but not recomended).

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
I dunno, but if you were to power it up, then disconect the power, you'd do some damage to it, as would running it at 55*C (within spec but not recomended).

Thanks, I'll leave this as a last resort if SMART isn't covered by warranty. I can't use this drive for fear that it will ruin my data, so they may as well replace it

 

[phisrow]

At least for serious server type systems, worrisome SMART output is commonly covered under warranty. Of course, if you can't get anybody on the phone who has heard of SMART, that doesn't help you much.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: phisrow
At least for serious server type systems, worrisome SMART output is commonly covered under warranty. Of course, if you can't get anybody on the phone who has heard of SMART, that doesn't help you much.

They should RMA the drive if it's giving you SMART errors.

Try to call during the day and see if they can transfer you to someone who has a clue (ask for a manager, or a second- or third-level support person).

You could also try email support if the people on the phone are clueless.

 

[shoRunner]

scan it with DFT or seagates diagnostic utility if it fails then you can rma

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: shoRunner
scan it with DFT or seagates diagnostic utility if it fails then you can rma

Done that, Seagate's diagnostic utility doesn't detect any smart errors and the full drive scan shows up clean.

Their utility sucks, BTW

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: phisrow
At least for serious server type systems, worrisome SMART output is commonly covered under warranty. Of course, if you can't get anybody on the phone who has heard of SMART, that doesn't help you much.

They should RMA the drive if it's giving you SMART errors.

Try to call during the day and see if they can transfer you to someone who has a clue (ask for a manager, or a second- or third-level support person).

You could also try email support if the people on the phone are clueless.

I went ahead and e-mailed them this morning, then hopefully I can get a real response (unlikely?)

Should they RMA the drive if it gave SMART errors and no longer does? I'm wondering whether they can check a log or something with the firmware and see if it has ever reported SMART errors. It definitely has for about a week straight, but now it doesn't, which is probably why Seagate's diagnostic utility doesn't show a SMART error (it must check the most recent SMART report instead of looking at a hsitory)

 

[Eeezee]

Can anyone give me more advice on getting this drive returned? I've been calling Seagate for days and e-mailed them, but I can't get any information on whether or not I'd get a new drive.

What I want to do is kill my drive off, can anyone help me do this without voiding the warranty?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Can anyone give me more advice on getting this drive returned? I've been calling Seagate for days and e-mailed them, but I can't get any information on whether or not I'd get a new drive.

Have you gotten a response from the email support? Did you try to get ahold of someone higher up on the phone?

What I want to do is kill my drive off, can anyone help me do this without voiding the warranty?

Other than running it at 100% load 24x7 at close to the thermal limits, there's not much you can do that won't void the warranty.

 

[Eeezee]

I decided to start copy-pasting random data around on the drive and finally the system rebooted and the drive is reporting SMART errors again. It's packaged and ready to be shipped to Seagate. Thanks for the help all

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I recently had a hard drive reporting SMART errors for about a week and now they are gone. I scanned it with one of Western Digital's tools and it sitll detects a SMART error even though all of the parameters are within acceptable limits (one was below the threshold before but now is barely above it).

Does the drive's firmware remember old SMART errors? Is that why this utility is stating that SMART status has failed even though there's no message during POST anymore? I also used Seagate's online scanning utility and it did not detect any SMART errors. I am worried that if I return this drive to Seagate, they won't find anything wrong with it. Will they be able to identify if the drive has had SMART errors?

Is this an OEM or Retail Box hard drive? Only Retail BOX Hard Drives are eleagable for RMA. That is why OEM is cheaper.

My Hitachi 7K250 does keep a small log of S.M.A.R.T. errors and data but it varies beteen drive makers. I suggest you download Everest Home Edition and see it there is such a thing. Also try booting the PC with the Ulitimate Boot CD to test the drive for S.M.A.R.T. problems.

http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

-PS download and burn this on a PC other than the one that is having problems, but boot the program on the troubled PC.