Hard Drive Failure - Monitoring Software
Oct 1, 2018 12:12:17 #
The "Dual Card Slot Use" topic got me thinking about backups and hard drive failures.
One way I've found to avoid failures is to use hard drive monitoring software.
I use free "Drive Advisor" monitoring software from Schrock Innovations (reputable company here in Omaha where I live - no spam, no viruses, very low overhead) that will monitor drives and will email you when any hard drive (rotating, solid-state, or external) connected to your computer starts failing. For Windows (7, 8, and 10 only). You can check drive(s) status on demand. It works. It alerted on two of my failing drives and I had time to transfer the files.
Highly recommend, especially if you have older drives.
www.driveadviser.com
I'm interested in hearing how this works for others.
One way I've found to avoid failures is to use hard drive monitoring software.
I use free "Drive Advisor" monitoring software from Schrock Innovations (reputable company here in Omaha where I live - no spam, no viruses, very low overhead) that will monitor drives and will email you when any hard drive (rotating, solid-state, or external) connected to your computer starts failing. For Windows (7, 8, and 10 only). You can check drive(s) status on demand. It works. It alerted on two of my failing drives and I had time to transfer the files.
Highly recommend, especially if you have older drives.
www.driveadviser.com
I'm interested in hearing how this works for others.
Oct 1, 2018 13:14:14 #
BradJP wrote:
The "Dual Card Slot Use" topic got me th... (show quote)
Sounds like an ad for this Schrock Innovations (Lincoln and Omaha, NE) by BradJP from Omaha. Any connection?
Oct 1, 2018 13:15:57 #
Just sounds like an ad rather than a free-will endorsement. And I use MAC/iOS platforms.
Oct 1, 2018 13:29:15 #
False.
Just a review of a utility that I found.
I have no association whatsoever with the company.
My only motive was to help save others from the misery of hard drive failures.
Just a review of a utility that I found.
I have no association whatsoever with the company.
My only motive was to help save others from the misery of hard drive failures.
Oct 1, 2018 13:50:43 #
BradJP wrote:
The "Dual Card Slot Use" topic got me th... (show quote)
That's nice and all, but by the time drive issues arise, it probably is too late to save your data. Having a multi drive RAID array or folders backed up to a dual drive NAS is the only safe bet.
Oct 1, 2018 14:49:05 #
My desktop has a disk monitor.
It actually told me a while ago that there was an impending failure with the hard drive.
I got a WD Gold drive and used Acronis to replicate & replace before it actually died.
The monitor software came in handy!
It actually told me a while ago that there was an impending failure with the hard drive.
I got a WD Gold drive and used Acronis to replicate & replace before it actually died.
The monitor software came in handy!
Oct 1, 2018 15:18:20 #
Call me dumb enough to try anything once ---
Downloaded the app. gave it my e-mail address & it told me my 3 drives were all operating at 100% & promises to notify me when one or more starts to crap out -- (which I'm sure they eventually will)
Don't have a clue if it's worth it -- But it was free & (cross all the fingers) no harm - at least for now - has been done to my operating system
Trust me if anything goes wrong or I think goes wrong as a result of this download I'll do my best to notify the world !!!!
So at least for now thanks BradJP for the tip !! --
Downloaded the app. gave it my e-mail address & it told me my 3 drives were all operating at 100% & promises to notify me when one or more starts to crap out -- (which I'm sure they eventually will)
Don't have a clue if it's worth it -- But it was free & (cross all the fingers) no harm - at least for now - has been done to my operating system
Trust me if anything goes wrong or I think goes wrong as a result of this download I'll do my best to notify the world !!!!
So at least for now thanks BradJP for the tip !! --
Oct 1, 2018 16:25:00 #
You're welcome.
I've been running it for a couple of years on multiple PCs, with no issues.
I've been running it for a couple of years on multiple PCs, with no issues.
Oct 1, 2018 20:25:41 #
SW that can read the SMART data on drives that support it can help predict incipient failures when the number of bad blocks/sectors starts to asymptote.
Oct 1, 2018 21:20:29 #
BradJP wrote:
The "Dual Card Slot Use" topic got me th... (show quote)
It absolutely makes sense to track drive errors.
Many problems first show up as re-tries or other minor errors.
However, it's the job of the OS.
Unfortunately, many consumer operating systems try to hide
all hardware and protocol errors from the user, or make it very
difficult to interpret (e.g., "Error 0x73e16da0").
The solution is to complain to the people who sell the OS.
Jan 14, 2019 00:31:09 #
BradJP wrote:
The "Dual Card Slot Use" topic got me th... (show quote)
Do you have any idea how this software compares to the SMART technology built into mechanical hard disk drives? I had a primary disk drive starting to fail and SMART technology reported it as going bad in time for me to clone the drive and replace it. Finally, it got to the point where SMART would no longer allow the desktop to see the drive. Interestingly, I can mount this very disk into a USB docking station and it will function fine but only because the SMART technology on the drive cannot report through a USB interface.
Jan 14, 2019 09:19:50 #
Here is a quote from the FAQ on the Drive Advisor webpage (link above).
"Drive Adviser bypasses the manufacturer lockouts to read the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. information. We then calculate your drive’s health based on the failures it has experienced over time. 100% is a perfect drive and anything less is a drive in failure status."
"Drive Adviser bypasses the manufacturer lockouts to read the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. information. We then calculate your drive’s health based on the failures it has experienced over time. 100% is a perfect drive and anything less is a drive in failure status."
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.