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Introduction |
| == Guide notes == | * '''One utility mentioned in this guideParted Magic is a paid utility. Per the GPL it is legal to redistribute for free but I will not help you find it for free.'''
* '''The hard drive used in this guide was specifically selected because it has the problems I was looking for this guide. These numbersproblems are common on old, heavily used orand abused hard drives.'''
* '''Every hard drive will have unique problems. Judge the drive you are evaluating by the numbers you see reported by SMART. The hard'''
* '''If your drive selected for this guide was chosen sincehas SMART errors, it has errors inis often too late to try and recover the areas I was looking fordrive.'''
* '''While the major drive manufacturers (WD, HGST and Seagate) offer bootable diagnostic tools that can "repair" the drive by moving the data to unused sectors on the drive, this does not fix faulty hard drives.''' | | * The inspection points and testing covered by this guide is not 100% accurate. In some cases intermittent issues may not be detected by SMART. | | | If you are working with an older hard drive and you want to verify it is good for reuse before doing so, these tests will rule out common drive problems (heavy use and SMART errors). Knowing a drive may be failing or is at high risk for failure may prevent a drive failure before it happens. | | | In many cases, you do not get much warning that a hard drive is failing. In most cases, users find out when the hard drive dies without warning. Because of this, it is important to test the drive before you use it. This is especially important if you do not know the history of the drive. | | | === Why is it important to check this data before using a used hard drive? === | | While you do not get a lot of warning before most hard drives die, the SMART data can be used to evaluate the drive and prevent a sudden drive failure. While minor issues may be safe to ignore, serious errors should not. | | | In other cases, certain hard drives are more prone to failure (Ex: WD Blue/Green). In some scenarios, certain drives are known to fail or have high failure rates (Ex: 7200.11, post 7200.11/7.01 Seagate drives). |
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