SMART, which stands for Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, allows a hard disk to detect its own malfunctioning so that the anticipated detection of failures may allow users to take the necessary measures and avoid data loss. However, two important conditions must be met. First, the hard disk itself must support the technology; and second, your computer’s BIOS has to be compatible with it.
DiskChekup can collect and process information about hard disks, including SMART attributes. Fortunately, it supports multiple types of connection interfaces, such as ATA, USB and Firewire. The program is actually very simple, but the real complication appears if you don't know how to interpret the data provided. Fortunately, the tool shows not only SMART attributes but also their threshold levels. Among the data shown, you can find Spin Up Time, Raw Read Error Rate, Seek Error Rate. Moreover, as a snapshot of the current data may not be enough, DiskCheckup also allows you to access a history of those values. Self-test routines also have a great importance in detecting failures. Two types of these tests are supported: the short one, taking 1 to 5 minutes to produce results, and the extended one, which needs about ten minutes to complete. It is a blessing that the application lets you configure email alarms to be sent or popup messages to appear when a given SMART attribute is outside the recommended range. more
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