# [SOLVED] Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad



## arisler

POST error = Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad,
backup and replace. Press F1 to resume.
PC boots up in Windows 7 OK, backup OK.
I have read that the hard drive may be going bad, or "the SMART implementation may need to be patched". Does anyone know how to obtain and apply said patch? Nothing found from e-machine, PC is two months out of warranty = no free phone support. No setting for this feature found in CMOS.

Since I can run ScanDisk and Defrag and the PC runs fine other than said error message, I have been treating this message like the "check engine light" which turns out to be a bad sensor, making sure PC is backed up on a regular basis. 

Has anyone ever had this error, changed the hard drive, and still had this error?


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## Networks

*Re: Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad*

Where did you hear their is a "patch" for SMART errors ? 
You can download hddscan from hddscan.com and click on the SMART then post a screen shot back here. If you know the make and model of the hard drive then go to the manufacture website to download the diagnostics to test the drive. At the end of the day the bad smart error is a sign the drive is going bad and time to replace it.


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## Rits

*Re: Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad*

Hard drive make and model?


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## arisler

*Re: Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad*

Where did you hear their is a "patch" for SMART errors ? 

According to computerhope.com

Receiving S.M.A.R.T. status bad backup and replace error.

"Backup your information and contact the manufacturer of the computer or hard disk drive for replacement or additional help. In some very rare cases the S.M.A.R.T. implementation on your computer may have issues of its own and may need to be patched before replacing the hard drive."

This was a 14 month old Seagate Barracuda ST3500418AS. No Free support available from E-Machine and I have not checked Seagate yet.

Is the SMART function a feature of the Hard Drive or the motherboard?

I did replace the drive with a new Western Digital with no more errors.
I did download hddscan from hddscan.com and will post the results here.
After that I will probably reformat the drive and see if it is usable.

thanks!


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## Networks

*Re: Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad*

SMART function is on the hard drive itself however some motherboards have the "ability" to monitor the HDD. In most ALL cases if the SMART is tripped the drive is failing and needs to be replaced don't trust it to hold valuable data it may fail completely at any time.


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## Rich-M

*Re: Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad*

Just to support Networks here when you see a SMART alert it is time to replace the drive, I mean after all knowing the drive may be going bad, what is it you would risk losing on it anyway?


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## arisler

*Re: Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad*

I was unable to Format the hard drive, so it appears SMART technology really works.
Feel free to close this thread.


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## Rich-M

*Re: Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T. status bad*

You can do that yourself in the first post under "Thread Tools".


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