If you ’ve been using and supporting computers as long as I have , you know that just as computers have gottenfasterand tatty , so too have arduous thrust gottenbiggerand cheaper . But drives have also gotten more true — even the cheap I . Nowadays you could get a 250 GB hard drive for not much more than $ 100 , and it ’s expect to last at least five long time . sure enough , there are lemons , but if you look at the number of grueling drives out there and then view how many masses have in reality had a cause failmechanically , these thing are pretty honest .
Still , this overall reliability is little consolation if you happen to be one of the luckless few who fall victim to a “ forged ” ride . So most hard drives these Day also let in a system of sensors that supervise various parameter of the drive ’s performance and can provide the outcome to the boniface estimator . This organization , calledSMART(forSelf - Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology ) ca n’t observe every problem ; for case , it ’s better accommodate to identifying gradual performance debasement and increment in the figure of read / write error than it is at foretell instantaneous , catastrophic bankruptcy , and it wo n’t discover software issues such as a corrupted magnetic disk directory . But it ’s a utilitarian instrument that can importantly lessen your hazard of devolve victim to data loss : If the SMART organisation indicates problems , you should back up your crucial data and then believe replacing the drive . ( If the drive is still under warranty , many private road / computer maker will substitute the drive establish solely on a “ failed ” SMART test . )
There ’s just one problem with SMART — it ’s useless on its own . It require software package on the host computer that actively communicates with the drive ’s SMART system and reports its status to you . So most electronic computer provide some variety of bright - monitoring feature . regrettably , Mac OS X is a bit lacking in this respect . deed over , if you launch Disk Utility ( in /Applications / Utilities ) and take a drive in the volume list on the left , you ’ll see , at the bottom of the windowpane , the drive ’s SMART status—”Verified ” if everything is o.k. . But this mean that you have tomanuallycheck your drives . And who ’s really going to do this on a regular cornerstone ?
( You could also use Terminal to check , but the same restriction put on — you still have to do it manually or , if you ’re skilled at Unix , set up a script that does it sporadically … I think you get my compass point . )
Luckily , there are a few third – party utilities that automatise this process for you by periodically checking the SMART status of your drive(s ) and alerting you if a problem is observe . Some , such as Alsoft’sDiskWarriorand Micromat’sTechTool Pro , are commercial-grade , multi - function disk public utility company that let in SMART - supervise functionality . However , a more economic — but just as effective — option is one that my colleague Rob Griffiths observe before this twelvemonth in an article about preventing catastrophe : Julian Mayer ’s freeSMARTReporter 2.0.1 (; donations accepted ) .
Operating as either a carte du jour - bar index or background - only process , SMARTReporter monitors the status of all supported drives connected to your Mac . In carte - ginmill mode , a small hard crusade icon appears in the card bar designate the current SMART condition of your drive(s ): green or + for “ verified , ” grey for “ unknown , ” or ruddy or – for “ failing . ” ( If your menu Browning automatic rifle is getting crowd , you could rather choose a small dot as the index number or choose to deactivate the carte du jour - bar display altogether ; in the latter case , SMARTReporter runs in the background until it notice a trouble . )
If SMARTReporter observes a failure of a overbold - monitored crusade , it can alarm you in a issue of ways . In addition to the card - legal community icon , you may choose ( in SMARTReporter ’s preferences dialog ) to be advise via a come out - up alert ; by an practical app or script being launched ; or by email . The latter option is peculiarly useful for servers and other outside computers .
you may also choose how often SMARTReporter should checker each driving ’s position — the nonremittal is every 60 minute — or disable monitoring of a finical drive completely .
Because it use the built - in voguish - account functionality of your heavy drives , SMARTReporter ca n’t monish you of every possible magnetic disk job you might have . And there are a few sweetening I ’d wish to see — the developer himself notice in the ReadMe that he ’s hoping to add safe RAID support ; support for secure e-mail direct ; the ability to station warnings to multiple electronic mail addresses ; more pick for when to mail warnings ( only on the first error , every error , etc . ) ; drive temperature monitoring ; and adept multi - user support . But considering the toll ( free ) , unless you ’re already using a disk utility that provides SMART - monitor functionality , there ’s no excusenotto habit SMARTReporter .
( As a side note , I mentioned above that there ’s “ just one ” problem with SMART . There are actually a few other limitation , the most significant one being that SMART is presently supported only for IDE / ATA and SATA drive — in other password , national drives in recent information processing system . Due to hardware and software system limitations , FireWire , USB , and SCSI drives are n’t able to “ report ” their impudent condition . So you ca n’t use a public-service corporation such as SMARTReporter to supervise the status of external hard drive or intimate small computer system interface private road . )
SMARTReporter is compatible with Mac OS X 10.3 ( Panther ) and 10.4 ( Tiger ) .
12/15/2005 : clause redact for elucidation on the lack of SMART backup for SCSI / USB / FireWire drives .
