Pri Master HArd disk

[AlienGreen751]

Pri Master Hard Disk SMART Status: BAD F1 to continue


what does this mean i got it todahy when i starte dmy computer up

[Revenent]

SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a technology that HDDs have which, in essence, run self-diagnostics on itself.

What that message means is the drive has determined itself to be near or at failure state.

For you, that probably means it's a good time to do those backups...

[AlienGreen751]

Hahahahahah wow this compter... well i got my computerb ack a week ago form the shop so rather than back up im just going to run this into the ground.... play it till it fails i guess... is there any wya it could be wrong? what would cause it to fail?

[AlienGreen751]

cause everythign seems fine and in tip top shape..

[Olli]

SMART can sometimes not be so smart - I disable it in all my rigs ...

[AlienGreen751]

what are signs of a failing hard drive?

[BadCS]

Originally Posted by AlienGreen751

what are signs of a failing hard drive?

< 1.0 GPA on their report card.... (Horrible, I know)

Really slow access times, files/folders not being where you know they should, files/folders being renamed or having gibberish characters...

(below stolen from pcstats.com)

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.c...id=1583&page=4

SMART: What it is and what it does

SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. This capability is standard on all modern hard drives, and provides each device with a degree of internal status monitoring. Used in conjunction with software, this can alert users to the impending failure of the disk.

The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) of most computer motherboards contain SMART monitoring software which can interpret the information from drives attached to the system and warn of potential trouble. However, this function is generally disabled by default since it slightly adds to the boot up time of the system.

The SMART monitoring system built into your computer's BIOS is rudimentary, usually only capable of telling you whether or not the drive is 'OK' based on the conclusion of its internal SMART diagnostics. The more advanced analysis features of this monitoring system can be accessed by using a drive analysis program that can fully query the drive's status.

SMART works by comparing a hard drives current performance in a number of areas to its ideal parameters. For example, the time it takes a drive to spin up to speed in order for data to be read from it is recorded by the SMART monitor and compared to the factory rated time. A discrepancy here could indicate problems with the motor or the bearings. SMART monitors up to 30 separate attributes of the disk (the actual number varies depending on how the manufacturers of both the drive and the motherboard have implemented the system).

It is advisable to turn on your computer's SMART monitoring option if you are worried about the status of your hard disks. This feature can be accessed though the system's BIOS settings page. To access this, press DEL repeatedly immediately upon powering up your system. Some manufacturers use other keys (like F2, or F6) or key combinations to access the BIOS. This information should be presented in the manual or on the POST screen of the system. SMART options are generally found within the 'advanced BIOS options' section of the BIOS.

Note that SMART is by no means reliable when it comes to predicting drive faults. First of all, it analyzes the physical attributes of the disk only, nothing else. SMART's effectiveness also depends on the way monitoring in implemented on your motherboard. There is no real standard for which SMART attributes should be monitored, or even what acceptable thresholds are. These variables are up to the manufacturer to provide, so there in no universal standard set of values. SMART should always be used in conjunction with a more in-depth disk monitoring tool like the ones we detail later in the article.

[Olli]

I had a hdd fail in one of my laptops a while back. The symptoms were

- freezes
- blue screens
- sometimes i would hear a clicking sound that would repeat for a while before booting