A S.M.A.R.T. error has been detected...

A S.M.A.R.T error has been detected, press a key to continue...

I've started getting this error when my computer boots up. Looking on the web I see it appears to deal with some internal error detecting feature of many new hard drives. All the links I got pointed to linux/unix tools that could be run to look at and examine what the problem was. I have XP SP2 and would like to know if there is some way to enter a command at Start->Run or is there something under Accessories->System Tools that I run and have something come up that explains what specific errors I may be getting so I can possibly fix it?

I have seen this post and the answer there seems to say, just turn off S.M.A.R.T from the BIOS but isn't that ignoring a potentially serious problem? Might I need to eventually buy a new hard drive and copy all my data on to it and reinstall the OS on that new drive?

A few months ago, my old Windows drive started giving me S.M.A.R.T warnings (though I got, unlike you, a specific errormessage*). Since about a week later I was finally free of Windows :-)

I guess what I want to say is, back up your data if you need it.


* "S.M.A.R.T. Hard disk status: Very bad. Backup and replace."

Don't use a Compaq. Voilá, no more SMART errors. :p

I've never understood it myself. Either there's a way of checking the hard drive for some sort of mysterious "disappearing data/messed up drive telemetry" or the they've made psychic silicon. :eek:

Run chkdsk /r from the command line. However it will probably say that it can only be done after the next reboot so say yes to that. Or you can just run it from the recovery console.

Go to the site for the disk manufacturer. They will often have a standalone diagnostic program. You build a floppy and boot from it. I have Maxtor disks and use PowerMax.