Boris Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 A question for the intelligent ones This old machine runs Win 98.I downloaded DiskCheckup recently and by adding the included smartvsd.vxd to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS I have at last (after many years) got the ability to see the SMART info re. my H/D :D BUT I was a bit alarmed to say the least that I had a warning flagged by it ! :o :o :o for :-0A Spin Retry Count WARNING Threshold 97Value 100 Worst 100 Data 0 So I checked it with AIDA32 which says - OK: Value is normalDO I HAVE A PROBLEM - as my values are near the threshold ? :unsure: Any advice gratefully received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 Generally I trust Aida but I do think I would be backing up like crazy now and looking round for a replacement H/D just in case !! :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 Don't know if I can even get a new H/D that my mobo will support !Current H/D is a UDMA 2 (ATA-33) Seagate 8.2 MB (unformatted) and the mobo is a Gigabyte GA-686BX.Which antique shops sell 8 gig drives nowadays ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 I would be backing up like crazy nowIts a bit tricky with no CD/RW ! :( My "back-up" facility is a USB Card reader + 64MB compact Flash card ! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 Any access to another PC to copy across files etc ?ps I see the problem with the size of the drive maybe ebay or local comp shop for second hand drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ellas Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 boris what do you mean a question for the intelligent ones :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 Aida gives me this on my system Spin retry Threshold 20Value 100worst 100Data 0 OK: Value is normal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 boris what do you mean a question for the intelligent ones :oThat includes you ! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 I've just tried out DiskCheckup and AIDA on another 20 Gig Seagate H/D (down the road) which unlike mine's 5 years of hard graft is only 2 years old and hasn't had a lot of use !Surprisingly, the results for it on that particular test from DiskCheckup was WARNING !Threshold 90Value 100 Worst 100 Data 0 AIDA though gave it a clear bill of health.I've borrowed/installed Ontrack SystemSuite 4 and am just running its SmartDefender - extended test at the moment.I'll post back with the results, but I just wonder if the problem is to do with the relatively high thresholds on Seagate drives ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ellas Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 thats ok then boris :nerd: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 SystemSuite didn't tell me anything except that it didn't fail any tests.Anyone know what the thresholds mean ? Are they set in the drive at build ?Anyone want to try DiskCheckup - free from http://www.passmark.com - only 40k zip, as well - to see if they get any different answers to AIDA ? and post the results.Madboy would be a good tester - with his new kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 just downloaded Boris , did you note they have a forum there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 Yes, was 15 and is now 16 members. You can post there as a guest I discovered !Somehow lost my ID when posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 Have run it on this laptopwhich gives spin retry Threshold 0Value 100worst 100Data 0 Will try it out on the old/maybe Kn*****d works comp tomorrow see what it tells me ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 Thanks mark2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 This from the site DiskCheckup displays the current values of the SMART attributes, along with the Threshold value for that attribute. If any attribute value is close to or below the threshold, the drive is no longer reliable and should be replaced. Possibly as an older system the threshold and pass values will be close anyway :huh: At least the figures are still higher than the threshold. <_> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 I've been doing a bit of research on this and have put together from various sources - what all the SMART attributes mean.0A Spin retry count Indicates number of times disk was unable to spin platters up on first attempt (lower values mean more retries). The raw value indicates the amount of retries.My raw value is Zero, which I think means I haven't had any retries yet ?If so, I just have a very high threshold ? (for extra-safety ?)This would seem to be the same as the other Seagate drive we tested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2003 mark2The answer I got from the Passmark Forum !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 11:37 pm Post subject: DiskCheckup "WARNING" When we originally wrote DiskCheckup, we thought that it might be a useful feature to warn users when an attribute fell to within a certain limit close to the threshold (within 10%, I think). We called this a WARNING. The idea was that a warning would alert users to imminent failure before an actual fail condition was detected. However, due to the recent amount of support mail concerning warnings, and the huge variety of drives and attribute thresholds, we believe that the feature is most likely misleading and we will be removing it in the next version, which will be available from the PassMark website within the next few days. I agree that the threshold value of 97 seems strange, but many thresholds we've seen in testing are not 'rounded' numbers. This is the threshold value that the drive manufacturer has set. SMART attributes and thresholds represent a normalised set of values based on reliability metrics which vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and drive to drive. Though these values give the end user an approximation of drive reliablility, their full meaning is best understood by the manufacturers. As to whether your hard drive is on the way out, it is difficult to say. The 'Spin Retry Count' attribute is certainly dangerously close to the threshold, however, it may have been sitting at this level for some time now. I would suggest monitoring this attribute over the next few weeks to see if you notice a decline. If the attribute does indeed fall below the threshold, then it is time to start worrying._________________Regards, Fergus Deffely, PassMark Software --------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'll be watching it closely then !!! :( :( :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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