Hard disk S.M.A.R.T..back up and replace?

[Guest]

Hello
just working on my computer when suddenly it reboots and comes up with this
message:
3rd master hard disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad, back up and replace.
the computer is only 5 months old .pentium 4, 3.2 120 gig hardrive
partitioned 40gb & 80 gb.
no problems whatsoever before ,no irregular noise, etc .is my machine /
hardrive doomed?
thanks for any advice.
Regards
Alan.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Visit the support web site of the manufacturer of your hard
drive and look for a hard drive fitness diagnostic utility tool.

Example:
http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/be_hdd2.html

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Gibraltar" wrote:

| Hello
| just working on my computer when suddenly it reboots and comes up with this
| message:
| 3rd master hard disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad, back up and replace.
| the computer is only 5 months old .pentium 4, 3.2 120 gig hardrive
| partitioned 40gb & 80 gb.
| no problems whatsoever before ,no irregular noise, etc .is my machine /
| hardrive doomed?
| thanks for any advice.
| Regards
| Alan.
| --
| Alan

 

[Frazer Jolly Goodfellow]

Visit the support web site of the manufacturer of your hard
drive and look for a hard drive fitness diagnostic utility tool.

Good advice.

Example:
http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/be_hdd2.html

Bad advice. Why risk downloading from an intermediary when you would
be safer getting it from the manufacturer's site.

 

[Bubba]

Good advice.

Bad advice. Why risk downloading from an intermediary when you would
be safer getting it from the manufacturer's site.

Moronic reply. Carey *CLEARLY* stated "Visit the support web site of the
manufacturer of your hard" Since the OP didn't mention the manufacturer
he/she gave an example of the type of thing to look for there. (also very
clearly)

 

[Yves Leclerc]

AS previously stated, check the hard drive with the manufacturer's hard drive
diagnostics. If this also signals an error, then back up your files. It will
fail.

Hard drives can fail in various ways. Not always would there be "noise" with
the problem.

 

[Jim]

Hello
just working on my computer when suddenly it reboots and comes up with
this
message:
3rd master hard disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad, back up and replace.
the computer is only 5 months old .pentium 4, 3.2 120 gig hardrive
partitioned 40gb & 80 gb.
no problems whatsoever before ,no irregular noise, etc .is my machine /
hardrive doomed?
thanks for any advice.
Regards
Alan.

This is a hardware failure indication. Hardware fails whenever it does for
whatever reason. Some examples fail almost immediately; others wait for
years.
Jim

 

[Plato]

3rd master hard disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad, back up and replace.

SMART notices are generally a good indication that the drive is going
south. As with any utility tho, it's not perfect. First step is to run
the diagnostic for your hard drive model, which one can get for free
from your hard drive makers website.

Still, as a precaution. Make sure any data on "that" drive is backed up
on a regular basis, just in case.

 

[Plato]

This is a hardware failure indication. Hardware fails whenever it does for
whatever reason. Some examples fail almost immediately; others wait for
years.

True. A hard drive can fail at ANY time. A month after you buy it. A
year after you buy it. Or ten years after you buy it.

 

[Frazer Jolly Goodfellow]

Moronic reply. Carey *CLEARLY* stated "Visit the support web
site of the manufacturer of your hard" Since the OP didn't
mention the manufacturer he/she gave an example of the type of
thing to look for there. (also very clearly)

Thank you for your moronic reply which totally misses the point.

 

[Steve N.]

Hello
just working on my computer when suddenly it reboots and comes up with this
message:
3rd master hard disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad, back up and replace.
the computer is only 5 months old .pentium 4, 3.2 120 gig hardrive
partitioned 40gb & 80 gb.
no problems whatsoever before ,no irregular noise, etc .is my machine /
hardrive doomed?
thanks for any advice.
Regards
Alan.

Ingore all the other replies for now. They are speculation (if well
intended) at best. Back up important data and files from the failing
drive _NOW_, _before_ you do anything else, don't test it, don't try to
fix it, get your important stuff copied off of it _NOW_ while you still
can! Then test the drive with whatever utilities you can get your hands
on. Testing the drive is not the point; keeping your important data
intact _IS_!!!.

I repeat! Don't run manf diags on the drive yet, BACK IT UP! While you
still can! If you want, I'll explain later. Just back up your stuff -
and do it NOW!!!

Steve N.

 

[Guest]

hi all
thankyou everyone for your replies ..im in the process of backing everything
up at this very moment.
thankyou again.
Regards,

 

[Steve N.]

hi all
thankyou everyone for your replies ..im in the process of backing everything
up at this very moment.
thankyou again.
Regards,

Very good. The reason I said not to test the drive first is that such
tests can result in data loss. I've used a manuafacturer's drive test to
check for bad sectors and it happily marked them bad without warning nor
attempting to recover any data from them first, the result was
unrepairable corruption of several files. Not good.

Steve N.

 

[Steve N.]

Thats DEFINITELY the best advice so far.

Thank you very much, mikesg. I appreciate it.

Steve N.