[SOLVED] question bout hdd health and monitoring tools

WINTERLORD

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first i was wondering what are the best HDD monitoring tools and should any of them be running starting with windows ect?

also gsmart not sure how good it is but i read some people recomend it however shouldnt this tool be running in the backgrounbd starting with windows or is that not nessicary?

are there any hdd drive health monitoring tools recomended to be running in the background?
 
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first i was wondering what are the best HDD monitoring tools and should any of them be running starting with windows ect?

also gsmart not sure how good it is but i read some people recomend it however shouldnt this tool be running in the backgrounbd starting with windows or is that not nessicary?

are there any hdd drive health monitoring tools recomended to be running in the background?
Put a copy of crystal disk info some place easy to get at.
Once a month or so start the app and take a look at the smart data.

Most folks do not need some kind of real time monitor running.
You do not need to be that paranoid about hdd health unless your data is worth millions of dollars.
HDDs work for years and years before they even get to a state where you should be worrying (more than normally) .
Just back up all your important stuff to some external device that will only use for that reason.
 
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first i was wondering what are the best HDD monitoring tools and should any of them be running starting with windows ect?

also gsmart not sure how good it is but i read some people recomend it however shouldnt this tool be running in the backgrounbd starting with windows or is that not nessicary?

are there any hdd drive health monitoring tools recomended to be running in the background?
Put a copy of crystal disk info some place easy to get at.
Once a month or so start the app and take a look at the smart data.

Most folks do not need some kind of real time monitor running.
 
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WINTERLORD

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Sep 20, 2008
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well my drive is old and i dont currently have a backup was going to buy another but may want to try and stretch it a month before doing so so am wondering how or even if its nessisary to use a drive health monitoring tool and if any of them start up with windows and give you a alert. either way i dont want to loose my data is a bunch of it
 
Monitoring tools don't have a lot of predictive value.

I wouldn't take much comfort from the fact that I had a monitor running at all times.

Get a backup ASAP. Even if it is just a USB stick for your most important data only. Pronto. Get another HDD or SSD when you can afford it.
 

WINTERLORD

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Monitoring tools don't have a lot of predictive value.

I wouldn't take much comfort from the fact that I had a monitor running at all times.

Get a backup ASAP. Even if it is just a USB stick for your most important data only. Pronto. Get another HDD or SSD when you can afford it.

is what i figured and read that you cant really predict with smart data will backup, however for curiosity sake is there a program the alerts you to any potential smart data errors that can be started with windows for HDD storage drives? or is it common practice to just check the smart data every so often? honestly if is the later i wouldnt worry bout it back it up and when it fails it fails
 

USAFRet

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is what i figured and read that you cant really predict with smart data will backup, however for curiosity sake is there a program the alerts you to any potential smart data errors that can be started with windows for HDD storage drives? or is it common practice to just check the smart data every so often? honestly if is the later i wouldnt worry bout it back it up and when it fails it fails
Drives die.
All of them, eventually.

Sometimes, very suddenly.

My most recent dead drives:
3TB WD HDD - went from seeming great to absolutely dead in about 36 hours. 5 weeks old.
16TB Toshiba Enterprise - Started throwing bad sector errors...went from 30 sectors to 14k+ over about 5 days. 7 months old.
960GB SanDisk SSD - Died instantly. Zero warning. 3 years old.

In all 3 cases, the drive was replaced by warranty.
In all 3 cases, the data was recovered from my normal backup routine.


Do NOT rely on software to tell you a drive is going bad.
Backup backup backup.

So then, when it does die....you simply slot in a new drive and recover your data.
 
is what i figured and read that you cant really predict with smart data will backup, however for curiosity sake is there a program the alerts you to any potential smart data errors that can be started with windows for HDD storage drives? or is it common practice to just check the smart data every so often? honestly if is the later i wouldnt worry bout it back it up and when it fails it fails

I'm not aware of any such program. Might be one.

I do what you suggest....back up religiously and check SMART data from time to time.

I am slightly haunted by the notion that I might over-write a good file with a corrupted version of the same file. I do have multiple backups, but if I did that I might go 10 years without noticing it. Or never notice it if I never attempted to open the file again.
 
backups in depth.

My system has 30 days of Incrementals.
If it captured a corrupted file, I could recover the previous, uncorrupted version.

Absolutely.

Problem is....I have 110,000 data files....with several copies of most of them.

I will never again open 90,000 plus of them, so would remain unaware of corruption.

Obviously, only a small percentage are highly significant. I could have 50% corruption right now and be unaware of it.

Every couple of years, I will attempt to open a file and it will be corrupt....always a jpeg or a video file going from memory. Not a big deal.

These corrupt files were fine at one time or I would not have saved them in the first place. I assume they became corrupt maybe in a copy or move process? Doesn't really matter how.

There is probably a tedious way to ID these "corrupt" files, but it isn't worth the effort considering the rarity of the issue.
 

Zerk2012

Titan
Ambassador
well my drive is old and i dont currently have a backup was going to buy another but may want to try and stretch it a month before doing so so am wondering how or even if its nessisary to use a drive health monitoring tool and if any of them start up with windows and give you a alert. either way i dont want to loose my data is a bunch of it
Then back up your data today. Any monitoring software can say your drive is fine and it's dead 1 minute later.