What does "S. M. A. R. T Status BAD" mean when reported by the BIOS about my hard disk?

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I have a portable (USB) disk with capacity 2T. This contain normal SATA HDD. I used as potable via USB with my P4 Laptop (OS type : Windows 7 Home) and also with my P4 Desktop (Os type : XP Service pack 3). There were no issues. (Both computers have Intel BIOS)

After connecting my Laptop and removed it and agin connected Windos Desktop it's getting error as follows before loading OS.

Fixed Disk 0 : PM - ST32000542AS
Pri Master Hard Disk: S. M. A. R. T Status BAD

There is a doubt that Disk damaged? Mean Disk's motherboard damaged or Disk's damaged (Having bad sectors). If S. M. A. R. T Status BAD what would be the exact risk and issue of the disk ?

Further What the best health checking way to store important data at a low risk.

Chaminda Bandara

Posted 2015-08-14T06:59:29.120

Reputation: 415

Your disk is about to fail. Backup immediately and buy a new disk. See How can I read my hard drive's SMART status in Windows 7? for more information.

– DavidPostill – 2015-08-14T07:35:51.930

1@DavidPostill Do you mean that the Disk's Data is still recoverable mod ? – Chaminda Bandara – 2015-08-14T08:23:44.477

If it still boots then you can backup ... – DavidPostill – 2015-08-14T08:25:42.050

1With that disk can't loin to the BIOS setup even. (I dissembled fortable unit and I connected that disk as a SATA disk via SATA port.) When I cannect to the PC as a USB potable device via USB port It was not detected. At the previous time It was successfully connected and worked well. – Chaminda Bandara – 2015-08-14T08:37:41.957

Then it's probably dead. See if anything in Hard disk not detected in BIOS, disk does spin up when powered helps.

– DavidPostill – 2015-08-14T08:40:02.787

You may be able to use a specialist data recovery firm to retrieve your data - warning they are very expensive - Hard Disk recovery

– DavidPostill – 2015-08-14T08:43:12.657

1You should probably just buy a new disk and restore from your backups. Also install SMART monitoring software ... – DavidPostill – 2015-08-14T08:44:11.103

“SMART status BAD” would mean that at least one smart attribute value has fallen below the threshold. You should backup all your data as soon as possible and start looking for a replacement HDD as the current one is no longer reliable. If you want to examine the more detailed SMART results you can use the HDD manufacturer diagnostics tool. – Techpumpkin_WD – 2015-08-14T14:31:03.457

@DavidPostill: My read of the proposed duplicate is that it addresses how to access the information. This question asks what the information means. I don't think the dupe answers this question. – fixer1234 – 2015-08-16T00:23:02.370

@fixer Yes, but we need the complete smart data to properly answer his question. – DavidPostill – 2015-08-16T07:17:35.670

@DavidPostill: True, but the other question doesn't address what was asked here, so it isn't really a duplicate question. – fixer1234 – 2015-08-16T07:23:28.393

1@fixer1234 I removed my dupe vote ;) – DavidPostill – 2015-08-16T07:24:51.073

Answers

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S.M.A.R.T. is a self-monitoring system for hard drives that tracks things like how long the drive took to spin up, how many sectors have failed and been re-allocated to other parts of the disk, or how hot the drive has gotten. "S.M.A.R.T. status bad" means that one of these parameters has reached a point that indicates possible failure in the near future.

If you see this message, the data is usually still recoverable; you should immediately back things up and consider replacing the disk. If the disk is still under warranty, you can send it back for a replacement.

There are a number of programs out there to monitor the status of a hard disk, but they're of limited value. As Google found with their hard disk study, only about a third of all hard drives show any sign of trouble before failing completely. Instead of checking the health of your hard disks, make backups of your data.

Mark

Posted 2015-08-14T06:59:29.120

Reputation: 1 304

To build on this, the maker of the portable hard drive may have a utility to check the drive. Which usually will translate the SMART report into something human readable. – Unfundednut – 2015-08-14T12:41:54.693

Asked: 2015-08-14T06:59:29.120

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Active: 2015-08-14T09:25:26.813