S.M.A.R.T. drive problem

[titus12]

When I boot my computer, an error message appears; Pri Master Hard Disk
S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status Bad. It tells me on the last line to back-up
and replace, press F1 to continue. What should I do? The first time it said
a file was missing, not found or bad.

Thank you;
David

 

[LVTravel]

Totally back up the hard drive (clone it to a new drive) and
replace the drive ASAP. Normally this indicated imminent
failure of the drive.

 

[David B.]

Determine the mfg of your hard drive, visit their website, download and run
their diagnostic tool to confirm that your hard drive is going bad, then
replace the drive.

 

[philo]

When I boot my computer, an error message appears; Pri Master Hard Disk
S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status Bad. It tells me on the last line to back-up
and replace, press F1 to continue. What should I do? The first time it said
a file was missing, not found or bad.

Thank you;
David

Do not ignore that error...
backup your drive AT ONCE!!!!
then replace it...it is just about to totally fail!

 

[JS]

You've had some good advice so far. Just though I'd add the fact that your
drive may still be under warrantee and if so you may be eligible for a free
replacement. But the backup is the very first thing you should do.

JS

 

[Patrick Keenan]

When I boot my computer, an error message appears; Pri Master Hard Disk
S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status Bad. It tells me on the last line to
back-up
and replace, press F1 to continue. What should I do? The first time it
said
a file was missing, not found or bad.

Thank you;
David

There is only one prudent thing to do, and that's replace the drive
immediately.

This message means that the drive is failing. They don't heal.

Take the time that you have to back that drive up.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

You've had some good advice so far. Just though I'd add the fact that your
drive may still be under warrantee and if so you may be eligible for a
free replacement. But the backup is the very first thing you should do.

JS

This is reasonable to do, but one should keep in mind that having the drive
"serviced" in this way will almost certainly remove all data from it. The
warranty does NOT cover the data and there is no reason to assume that any
care will be taken to protect or replace the data.

Assume you will get a blank, unpartitioned drive back.

HTH
-pk

 

[Punjab The Sailor Man]

When I boot my computer, an error message appears; Pri Master Hard Disk
S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status Bad. It tells me on the last line to back-up
and replace, press F1 to continue. What should I do? The first time it said
a file was missing, not found or bad.

Thank you;
David

Backup to a new drive. Then run a virtual machine on that drive and when
it crashes you haven't lost anything.

 

[JS]

Note: I would expect that they will not fix your existing drive and that the
drive will be either a new or refurbished unit as a replacement, if you are
still in warrantee.

If the old drive needs to be returned to the manufacturer do so only after
the new drive has been up and running for a few days (if you cloned the old
drive to the new) and check to make certain that all applications and
Windows run without issues.

Also keep in mind that if there is any sensitive data on the old drive it
should be wiped (not just deleted) using an appropriate software tool.

JS

 

[Bruce Chambers]

When I boot my computer, an error message appears; Pri Master Hard Disk
S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status Bad. It tells me on the last line to back-up
and replace, press F1 to continue. What should I do? The first time it said
a file was missing, not found or bad.

Thank you;
David

Download a diagnostic utility from the hard drive's manufacturer's
web site and use it to test the hard drive.

Having seen the same error, I can only say: "Back up your data
daily until you replace that drive."

On those machines I on which I've seen those S.M.A.R.T. warnings,
catastrophic hard drive failures invariably followed. Some hard
drives lasted for a few days after the warnings first appeared, one
lasted months, and some lasted only minutes. I suppose the one that
lasted months could be considered a false alarm, as months hardly
translate to "imminent," but, on the whole, I'd suggest you take the
warnings seriously.

For the background on S.M.A.R.T., start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis,_and_Reporting_Technology



--

Bruce Chambers

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~ Denis Diderot

 

[Enkidu]

Download a diagnostic utility from the hard drive's manufacturer's
web site and use it to test the hard drive.

Having seen the same error, I can only say: "Back up your data
daily until you replace that drive."

On those machines I on which I've seen those S.M.A.R.T. warnings,
catastrophic hard drive failures invariably followed. Some hard
drives lasted for a few days after the warnings first appeared, one
lasted months, and some lasted only minutes.

I've seen a supposedly dying drive last for well over a year. I've seen
others last more than 6 months before being replaced (and not because
they failed.

But the prudent thing is to back up and replace.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Enkidu]

When I boot my computer, an error message appears; Pri Master Hard
Disk S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status Bad. It tells me on the last line
to back-up and replace, press F1 to continue. What should I do? The
first time it said a file was missing, not found or bad.

I've seen drives with similar errors last ages. However, I would not
test this possibility. I would replace it ASAP>

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Ace]

This is good advice, as in the past harddrives, memory cards and their
kin have shown up in the hands of others who thought they received a new
device, but found the previous owner's data on the device.. a very
embarassing and dangerous situation for the previous owner and the
manufacturer of the device that took it in and sent it right back out
again after refurb.

 

[Swifty]

I've seen a supposedly dying drive last for well over a year. I've seen
others last more than 6 months before being replaced (and not because
they failed.

But the prudent thing is to back up and replace.

Exactly my sentiment. Hope for the best, but expect the worst. The
S.M.A.R.T monitor watching one of my previous system said it was
anticipating a drive failure within 30 days.

It persisted like this for over five years. It also said that my drive
was hotter than the surface of the sun, so I turned my central heating down.