S.M.A.R.T. Reports Drive Status as "BAD"

[thenoo]

I have XP PRO - SP2 and , recently , on Bootup , the machine stops at the black initial screen with the message :-

"Ultra DMA MODE-6 S.M.A.R.T. Capable & Status BAD - Backup & Replace . Press F1 to continue "

This is the No2 Drive and , fortunately , I have everything backed up on it but I was wondering what steps I'd be advised to take here , ( apart from replacing it that is ! )

It seems to be otherwise operating OK and , had I not had S.M.A.R.T. turned ON , I would have been unaware of anything untoward !

How about running Chkdisk ? - the Disk is formatted in NTFS

 

[edfair]

The message you are getting is a result of something within the drive that chkdsk or any other utility is unable to resolve.
It could continue like this forever or it could fail the next time you access it.
You could try running the drive manufacturer's diagnostics to see if anything shows there. If so, you could make a more informed decision about the urgency or replacement.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[garebo]

First thing might be to get all your data off that drive as you have been warned that its going to fail, you just dont know when.
Edfair has said all the rest.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[jlockley]

considering the price of drives compared with the value of data, I chose to go with a new one when I experienced the same thing, although I doubt that the drive was in any danger.

 

[garebo]

Best thing to do with these drives is use them in a secondary fashion for a while but backup everthing you put on them. If they run ok for a month and can be scandisked and defragged and their respective h drive utils pass them, they are likely ok.
So far, though, i havent ever heard of anyone coming back a month later and saying the drive was ok after they got s.m.a.r.t messages like that.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[micker377]

The last time I got a "SMART" error: I got everything off immediately. Rebooted and went into BIOS to tell the system to ignore SMART. Rebooted to "play" with the drive. Looked to see if there was any corruption I could identify. Rebooted, and drive died!!!! Would not even spin up. Be afraid - be very afraid!