Do I turn on S.M.A.R.T. feature on HD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rev E
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Rev E

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Slack2K and everyone,

I've been curious about the S.M.A.R.T. feature on my hard disk. Mine is not enabled. I really don't know what it is, since the computer is working fine (40+ tracks per song), I never bothered with it. What is this feature AND should I turn it on?

Rev E
 
Turning this feature on will do nothing for performance.

Both your hard drive and bios must support this feature. Most newer drives do. It's a feature built into the drive (and computer BIOS) that will warn you of impending failure. Never used it myself, - Probably too late by that point anyway - sorta like the plug on your oilpan falling out, and being warned by the blinking "low oil" light. - But I may be wrong, maybe does warn in time.
 
I have SMART enabled. It once, during one of the many bootups during a NT4 install DID actually tell me that I had some bad clusters of some crap. So, it works I guess.

Emeric is right, no performance issues with enabling it. Although, I suspect too that it is a warning late in coming.... :)

Ed
 
Oddly enough I believe that S.M.A.R.T. was developed by WD. So instead of improving the physical reliability of their crappy drives, they design a system to warn a user of the drive's imminent failure. Too perfect!

Smart is simply a warning system that will notify you if your drive is operating out of specifications...thereby giving you time to backup the data and possibly replace the drive.

Shouldn't do much for performance either way, as stated above.

Note that you do need monitoring software that will monitor SMART messages. It's not something bred into the OS.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I worked for Seagate for a while in production control and though this not a technical position, I learned that S.M.A.R.T. is more than just a warning light. Its a sophisticated built in diagnostic that can warn you well in advance of HD trouble. It shouldn't slow your drive at all. Use it if your bios supports it.
 
Rev E...just curious; Do you playback 40+ tracks at once? Which software? Is that at 16-44?
 
Thanks Guys for all of your help! I guess I'll go ahead an enable it, since both my bios and drive support it. (At least I think so)

BTW, Monty - Yes, that track cound was for 40 continuous tracks. I only have this on one song so far... Multiple mics, multiple takes, etc... some of the tracks are 16 bit/44.1 kHz and some are at 24/44.1 kHz (about half and half)

I work with Emagic Logic Audio Platinum. I've found it to be a very "deep" program that can do anything that I have time to do. Also.. very customizable. I'm discovering new features everyday as I continue to record.

Rev E

[This message has been edited by Rev E (edited 06-30-2000).]
 
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