Checking SMART drive for possible failure

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I can’t remember how to check a SMART hard drive for possible impending failure. I don’t think I have a virus or malware as I have checked pretty much for those. But everthing is really slow and if 2 things try to happen at once, everything stops. I run MSE and Malwarebytes for security. I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop, 6 years old with XP and SP3 and 1 gig of RAM. All updates including using Secunia to make sure every program is up to date. I don’t want to have to buy a new unit until I have to, but I don’t want a crash and be out of luck until I can get another one. Suggestions appreciated. Thank you.
Ken Hess

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OldGeezer,

You can try the free Pririform utility Speccy for a start. Check out the Hard Disk section.

Of course there are paid utilities that give you much more information but free is good. :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Looks a lot like CrystalDiskInfo’s report as well, same measures and then it color codes the condition of the drive; red means replace pronto.

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Hard Disk Sentinel is another tool that checks on a drives health and reports on SMART values.

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If your BIOS includes SMART monitoring (almost certainly it does), it will show an error during the boot up process (power on self test/POST). You may need to disable Full Screen Logo or equivalent to see the POST results. If Wait for ‘F1’ If Error is Enabled (default), the boot up process should halt and show an error message if a SMART problem is found.

You will then need one of the disk checking utilities to identify the actual problem. I have happily used the free PassMark DiskCheckup for some time.

Chris

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Acronis Drive Monitor is another option.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/drive-monitor/
Dave

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I’ve also noticed that Secunia PSI version 3 is, in my opinion, not very resource friendly or fast. I reverted to version 2 and set it to only run when I tell it to. My computer is much happier now
Dave

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