S.M.A.R.T. - Should it be enabled?

[Robert M Jones]

My motherboard (Foxconn 760GXK8MC - on board video, sound and ethernet)
- 1 GB of DDR RAM) Setup offers me the option to enable S.M.A.R.T for
the hard drives.
CPU is a Sempron 3000+
At the moment S.M.A.R.T. is DISabled. Is there any advantage to enabling it?
My drive is set up in Windows as an Ultra DMA Mode 5 (Seagate 200GB ATA)
drive, partitioned separately into C for windows, with D and E for data
and programs partitions plus some other "unused" backup and maintenance
partitions that are only accessed very rarely.

If I do enable S.M.A.R.T. is there a down side?

Many thanks.
--
Rev Robert M Jones, Wimborne Baptist Church, UK
http://www.wimborne-baptist.org.uk
Free trial of Mailwasher Pro - effective email spam filter - (commission
goes to our partners in Bulgaria)
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[JS]

There is a utility that worth looking into if you want more info about
S.M.A.R.T.
SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
The SMART tab displays current smart info on the drive you select and at
your option provides an on-line analysis of the drive.

JS

 

[Robert M Jones]

My motherboard (Foxconn 760GXK8MC - on board video, sound and ethernet)
- 1 GB of DDR RAM) Setup offers me the option to enable S.M.A.R.T for
the hard drives.
CPU is a Sempron 3000+
At the moment S.M.A.R.T. is DISabled. Is there any advantage to enabling
it?
My drive is set up in Windows as an Ultra DMA Mode 5 (Seagate 200GB ATA)
drive, partitioned separately into C for windows, with D and E for data
and programs partitions plus some other "unused" backup and maintenance
partitions that are only accessed very rarely.

If I do enable S.M.A.R.T. is there a down side?

Many thanks.

Thanks all - I'll switch it on then.

--
Rev Robert M Jones, Wimborne Baptist Church, UK
http://www.wimborne-baptist.org.uk
Free trial of Mailwasher Pro - effective email spam filter - (commission
goes to our partners in Bulgaria)
http://fta.firetrust.com/index.cgi?id=420

 

[Bruce Chambers]

My motherboard (Foxconn 760GXK8MC - on board video, sound and ethernet)
- 1 GB of DDR RAM) Setup offers me the option to enable S.M.A.R.T for
the hard drives.
CPU is a Sempron 3000+
At the moment S.M.A.R.T. is DISabled. Is there any advantage to enabling
it?

Certainly. It may well warn you before your hard drive fails. 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.

My drive is set up in Windows as an Ultra DMA Mode 5 (Seagate 200GB ATA)
drive, partitioned separately into C for windows, with D and E for data
and programs partitions plus some other "unused" backup and maintenance
partitions that are only accessed very rarely.

Not relevant, in this case...

If I do enable S.M.A.R.T. is there a down side?

None whatsoever.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Certainly. It may well warn you before your hard drive fails. 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.

On the other hand I've had trouble with Netware servers cutting out
perfectly good drives presumably due to S.M.A.R.T. failures. Reboot
and it's back in operation--that went on for years.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

On the other hand I've had trouble with Netware servers cutting out
perfectly good drives presumably due to S.M.A.R.T. failures. Reboot
and it's back in operation--that went on for years.

That may well have been the case, but what does a problem on a Novell
NetWare Server have to do with a WinXP personal computer? Completely
different hardware (I would hope) and very different operating systems.
Does NetWare still use a small MS-DOS partition from which to boot?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Loren Pechtel]

That may well have been the case, but what does a problem on a Novell
NetWare Server have to do with a WinXP personal computer? Completely
different hardware (I would hope) and very different operating systems.
Does NetWare still use a small MS-DOS partition from which to boot?

The point is that SMART can cause problems with phony warnings.


It does still use a small dos boot partition. On my old server that
resulted in the ironic thing of seeing a Windows 98 splash screen as a
Novell server booted.