Get S.M.A.R.T. information on external USB hard drive

[HL0105]

Looking for a freeware utility that will give me S.M.A.R.T.
information on an external USB hard drive. I did find HD Tune <http://
www.hdtune.com> but that works on internal drives only.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Squeeze]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]

This is not possible, as USB does not transfer the relevant
commands. The only way os to open the enclosure, remove the disk
and connect it directly.

Ignore the clueless babblebot. It's on a trolling spree lately.

Note that some known incompetents here claim differently, but
have as of now failed to provide any proof.

Like that he would know. Anyone that does is or goes in his killfile.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Looking for a freeware utility that will give me S.M.A.R.T.
information on an external USB hard drive. I did find HD Tune <http://
www.hdtune.com> but that works on internal drives only.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is not possible, as USB does not transfer the relevant
commands. The only way os to open the enclosure, remove the disk
and connect it directly.

Note that some known incompetents here claim differently, but
have as of now failed to provide any proof.

Arno

 

[Squeeze]

HL0105 wrote in news:33acc230-8e7d-4fdf-a02c-88594fcd510e@a70g2000hsh.googlegroups.com

Looking for a freeware utility that will give me S.M.A.R.T.
information on an external USB hard drive. I did find HD Tune <http://
www.hdtune.com> but that works on internal drives only.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Depends on your USB drive chipset.
Some chipsets from Cypress and Oxford do support passing S.M.A.R.T. ,
others do not.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=smart+cypress+oxford+chipset&btnG=Google+Search

 

[HL0105]

HL0105 wrote in


Depends on your USB drive chipset.
Some chipsets from Cypress and Oxford do support passing S.M.A.R.T. ,
others do not.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=smart+cypress+oxford+chipset&btn....

Thanks for the replies.

I'm buying a new Seagate FreeAgent external USB hard drive on Ebay. I
wanted to use S.M.A.R.T. to confirm that it is in fact a new drive. If
S.M.A.R.T. won't work on a USB drive, is there any other way I can
confirm that the drive is new?

Thanks.

 

[Bear Bottoms]

...

Thanks for the replies.

I'm buying a new Seagate FreeAgent external USB hard drive on Ebay. I
wanted to use S.M.A.R.T. to confirm that it is in fact a new drive. If
S.M.A.R.T. won't work on a USB drive, is there any other way I can
confirm that the drive is new?

Thanks.

Don't buy from Ebay?

 

[Arno Wagner]

Squeeze wrote:

You do have a point, there...

I see quoted replies, just not the original nonsense. As most
idiocities produced by said individuals do not get replies or
only replies from the other trolls, this cust down on noise
significantly. However on the rare occasion a troll said
something useful, typically a non-troll responds and I see it.

Not surprisingly, this one troll does not understand how a
killfile works.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm buying a new Seagate FreeAgent external USB hard drive on Ebay. I
wanted to use S.M.A.R.T. to confirm that it is in fact a new drive. If
S.M.A.R.T. won't work on a USB drive, is there any other way I can
confirm that the drive is new?

The only way is to open it. As it is Ebay, you might not have warranty
anyways. One it is open, connect it directly to get SMART data,
and look on the label to see the manufacturing date and a possible
refurbishing date.

However I would strongly advise not to buy HDDs on Ebay.
All it takes is one good drop to kill a drive, possibly weeks
or months after the event.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

HL0105 wrote:

S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring Tools
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartmontools/>

As there is no standardized vau to transport SMART over USB, these
do not work. Only some (few) chipsets have non-standardized
ways and they work only with the respective tools for specifically
that chipset.

Arno

 

[Craig]

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Guy


As there is no standardized vau to transport SMART over USB, these do
not work. Only some (few) chipsets have non-standardized ways and
they work only with the respective tools for specifically that
chipset.

Arno

It looks like only certain Cypress chips provide the necessary

The current USB mass storage specification is based on a version of
SCSI (SPC-2) that can't support SAT. But some chips manufacturers
implement proprietary SCSI commands that allow ATA pass through
(similiar like for SAT). Well known is the cypress chipset, that
contains an ATACB proprietary pass through (for ATA commands passed
through SCSI commands) for which some information is publicly
available...

But it looks like external monitoring /can/ get better in the future (ibid):

The SCSI to ATA Translation (SAT) standard (ANSI INCITS 431-2007) may
solve many problems in this area. It defines how SCSI commands will
be translated to the corresponding ATA commands and defines a
pass-through mechanism.

Interesting topic. Thx Guy, for the s/w pointer.

-Craig

 

[fang]

I see quoted replies, just not the original nonsense. As most
idiocities produced by said individuals do not get replies or
only replies from the other trolls, this cust down on noise
significantly. However on the rare occasion a troll said
something useful, typically a non-troll responds and I see it.

You wouldnt know if that happens or not because of your killfile.

 

[Floyd63]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]

The only way is to open it.

Obvious lie.

As it is Ebay, you might not have warranty anyways.

Not a clue what Ebay is.

One it is open, connect it directly to get SMART data,
and look on the label to see the manufacturing date and a possible
refurbishing date.

However I would strongly advise not to buy HDDs on Ebay.
All it takes is one good drop to kill a drive, possibly weeks
or months after the event.

Yeah, obviously it makes a whole lot of a difference if you do that with
a drive not bought from an Ebay store.

 

[Floyd63]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]

I see quoted replies, just not the original nonsense.

Weird how you say next that you only see it when it's not nonsense.

As most idiocities produced by said individuals

do not get replies

Because it's not an "idiocitie" at all, just a simple thruth everyone
agrees with, without feeling a sick need to express their agreement.
Only babblebots feel ever so selfimportant that they must verbally agree
with someone else, like that their stamp of approval is so important to others.

or only replies from the other trolls, this cust down on noise significantly.

You mean the noise that it causes in your head when you are confronted with
your frequent stupities.

However on the rare occasion a troll said
something useful, typically a non-troll responds and I see it.

And of course you got that backwards again.
Actually it's only selfimportant trolls like yourself that do that.
Anyone else silently agrees or doesn't care.
It's when someone *strongly* disagrees that you get a response.
But then those go in your extensive killfile.

Not surprisingly, this one troll does not understand how a
killfile works.

Indeed you don't, babblebot.

 

[Floyd63]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]

As there is no standardized vau to transport SMART over USB, these
do not work.

And where exactly does it say that app only uses "standardized vau".

Only some (few) chipsets have non-standardized ways and they work
only with the respective tools for specifically that chipset.

Pity you said it wasn't possible at all. Guess you lied then.

 

[Squeeze]

HL0105 wrote in news:ce77f8fb-83d5-4860-9e69-45959015659e@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com

Thanks for the replies.

Which apparently whooshed right by you.

I'm buying a new Seagate FreeAgent external USB hard drive on Ebay.

I wanted to use S.M.A.R.T. to confirm that it is in fact a new drive.

So do. Run the Seagate diagnostics.

If S.M.A.R.T. won't work on a USB drive,

And what exactly made you think that.
What part about ignoring the Babblebot Troll did you not get.

Here's that link again

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=smart+cypress+oxford+chipset

Now what does it say there under "Download EVEREST ....".

is there any other way I can confirm that the drive is new?

Define 'new'.

 

[Arno Wagner]

It looks like only certain Cypress chips provide the necessary
pass-through <smartmontools.sourceforge.net/faq.html#testinghelp>:

But it looks like external monitoring /can/ get better in the future (ibid):

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Craig wrote in news:[email protected]

It looks like only certain Cypress chips provide the necessary pass-through
http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/faq.html#testinghelp :

"The current USB mass storage specification is based on a version of
SCSI (SPC-2) that can't support SAT. But some chips manufacturers
implement proprietary SCSI commands that allow ATA pass through
(similiar like for SAT). Well known is the cypress chipset, that contains
an ATACB proprietary pass through (for ATA commands passed through
SCSI commands) for which some information is publicly available..."

But it looks like external monitoring /can/ get better in the future (ibid):
"The SCSI to ATA Translation (SAT) standard (ANSI INCITS 431-2007)
may solve many problems in this area. It defines how SCSI commands will
be translated to the corresponding ATA commands and defines a
pass-through mechanism."

Interesting topic. Thx Guy, for the s/w pointer.

-Craig

Of course the Babblebot already knew about that:
http://groups.google.com/groups?&q="SCSI+to+ATA+Translation"+"folkert+rienstra"+usb+satl

 

[Squeeze]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]
Babblebot left in utter confusion.

 

[Dan Lenski]

As there is no standardized vau to transport SMART over USB, these do
not work. Only some (few) chipsets have non-standardized ways and they
work only with the respective tools for specifically that chipset.

Arno

Hi all,

Here is a page that claims to list all known USB-to-IDE bridge devices,
and whether or not it is possible to transport SMART data over them:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/usbharddisks.php (from the makers of "Hard Disk
Sentinel" software).

Of course, as others have pointed out, this relies on non-standard
extensions of the USB mass storage protocol, since the official standard
does /not/ support SMART-over-USB. As far as a I know, the only free/open-
source software support for these non-standard extensions is in
smartmontools' support for some Cypress chips: http://
smartmontools.sourceforge.net/faq.html#testinghelp

Dan

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi all,

Here is a page that claims to list all known USB-to-IDE bridge devices,
and whether or not it is possible to transport SMART data over them:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/usbharddisks.php (from the makers of "Hard Disk
Sentinel" software).

Interesting. A short look at all my enclosures shows that
- Cutie 2.5" case (0x067b/0x2507): supported
- Revoltec Alu Book Ed. 2 (0x04fc/0x0x15): supported
- Agrosy HD360U-P (0x0840/0x0098): not listed, i.e. unknown
- Jou Jye Venus DS3 (0x152d/0x2336): supported
- WD Elements 1TB (0x1058/0x1001): supported

4/5 supported and 1/5 unknown according to their list. Not bad.

In addition there is a lot of good and honest SMART information on
their pages. They do "get" it, including that for useful disk
healt assessment you have to look at the raw attributes.

This looks like a pretty good product for a very reasonable price.
I think we should recommend this to anybody looking for something
commercial under Windows (that may also work with USB in many cases)
in the future.

Of course, as others have pointed out, this relies on non-standard
extensions of the USB mass storage protocol, since the official standard
does /not/ support SMART-over-USB. As far as a I know, the only free/open-
source software support for these non-standard extensions is in
smartmontools' support for some Cypress chips: http://
smartmontools.sourceforge.net/faq.html#testinghelp

The problem here is that you basically need a new implementation
for each chipset. Takes time and is annoying. Hopefully vendors
will move to the now-defined passthrough standard soon.

Arno