tests all data and all sectors of a drive by using 'off-line data collection' to confirm the drive's health during periods of inactivity. The latest 'S.M.A.R.T.' technology not only monitors hard drive activities but adds failure prevention by attempting to detect and repair sector errors.Īlso, while earlier versions of the technology only monitored hard drive activity for data that was retrieved by the operating system, this latest S.M.A.R.T. If there is an immediate need to update the offline attributes, the HDD slows down and the offline attributes get updated. online attributes are always updated while the offline attributes get updated when the HDD is not under working condition. provided failure prediction by monitoring certain online hard drive activities.Ī subsequent version of the standard improved failure prediction by adding an automatic off-line read scan to monitor additional operations. (2003) comments that the technology has gone through three phases: These may include increased heat output, increased noise level, problems with reading and writing of data, or an increase in the number of damaged disk sectors. While the eventual failure may be catastrophic, most mechanical failures result from gradual wear and there are usually certain indications that failure is imminent. Mechanical failures account for about 60% of all drive failures. Unpredictable failures which occur without warning due to anything from electronic components becoming defective to a sudden mechanical failure, including failures related to improper handling.

Monitoring can determine when such failures are becoming more likely.

Predictable failures which result from slow processes such as mechanical wear and gradual degradation of storage surfaces.

Hard disk and other storage drives are subject to failures (see hard disk drive failure) which can be classified within two basic classes:

Interpreting crystaldiskinfo results