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5.6. HDD S.M.A.R.T
S.M.A.R.T, or
“Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology”, is a hard disk technology that
is incorporated into some hard disk drives.
A S.M.A.R.T HDD can analyze the
drive’s head, disc, motor, circuit operation, history and default
security values via monitoring instructions in the HDD and the surveillance software. An alarm will
automatically be sent to the user when a value is outside the scope of the security situation.
Detection parameters for a Seagate HDD, for example, are divided into seven parts: ID detection
code, Attribute Description, Threshold, Attribute Value, Worst, Date, and Status.
1. ID Detection Code
ID detection codes are not uniform; different manufacturers may assign varying attributes to an ID
code number, or increase or decrease the
quantity according to the detected parameter’s quantity.
For example, an ID detection code for Western Digital HDDs
is “04”, and the procedure is
Start/Stop Count, but the procedure for the same code in a Fujitsu HDD is the
“number of times the
spindle
motor is activated”.
2. Attribute Description
Attribute Description: Name of detectable item. The manufacturer can increase or decrease the
rates. As an ATA standard there are constant updates, sometimes different models of the same
brand may be quite different, but it is a must to ensure that the major test items are specified by
S.M.A.R.T. (although different manufacturers may have differing names, the essence of the
monitoring is the same.)
1 Read Error Rate
2 Spin up Time
4 Start/Stop Count
5 Relocated Sector Count
7 Seek Error Rate
9 Power-on Hours Count
10 Spin-up Retry Count
194 Power temperatures
195 ECC on the Fly count
197 Current Pending Sector Count
198 Disconnection beyond repair
199 CRC cyclic redundancy check
