Software for controlling SMART features?

Cros · Post by **Cros** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:07 am

Hi!

I have a question about the SMART features of my HDs. I have two Seagate Barracudas (one 40GB IV, and one 160GB .7) in my compy, and I'm starting to get very annoyed at the fact that it seems that almost always one or the other is doing some form of check-up, probably related to SMART, making a lot of seeking noise. This ,of course, also when the computer is idle. My conclusion is that the SMART checks are set to be done to frequently and I need som way to make them happen less so. As of yet I haven't found any BIOS settings to do this (or even turn it off completely to check if it really is the SMART that is causing this).

Is there any good software out there to do this?

Thanks for any help!

kesv · Post by **kesv** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:49 am

Cros wrote:Hi!
I have two Seagate Barracudas (one 40GB IV, and one 160GB .7) in my compy, and I'm starting to get very annoyed at the fact that it seems that almost always one or the other is doing some form of check-up, probably related to SMART, making a lot of seeking noise.

I don't think your problem is smart unless you have installed some smart monitoring software yourself. In that case the place to adjust the test frequency is the monitoring software. SMART by nature is a completely passive commandset provided by the drive. It doesn't do anything unless instructed by some external software.

More likely is that your drive activity is caused by Windows (I assume you are using Win since you didn't specify othervise) doing file indexing, background virus checking, etc... There are a lot of sites on the net that provide advice on how to limit Windows' activities.

Cros · Post by **Cros** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:46 am

Thanks for answering. What initialy led me to believe it might be the SMART software was this thread and this comment in particular:

ckolivas wrote:I suspect you're hearing the SMART disk testing routine that occurs at regular intervals. This is unrelated to I/O transfers to the operating system so no light showing disk activity will come on.

Of course it might be other software that is accessing the drive, but I still would like to know if there is any good software out there for checking and setting SMART setting. Thanks!

Michael Sandstrom · Post by **Michael Sandstrom** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 4:41 am

A plethora of HD utilities can be found on the free Ultimate Boot CD. Included is the Hitachi Feature Tool which you might find useful. If you google "Ultimate Boot CD" and have a CD burner to create your boot CD you will probably find the tools you seek.

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:25 am

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 drives are known to make some periodic buzzing noise that sounds as soft, rapid seeks. Could this be what you are talking about?

This has nothing to do with the settings of any SMART tool or parameter. According to Seagate this some self diagnostic that extends the life of the disk. Some people have reported this buzz disappeared after the drive was in use for while (months). For others the drive kept doing it indefinately. There is nothing you can do to make your drive stop doing this.

I have three of those drives (see sig). The drive in system

is hardmounted. I can clearly hear the buzz (and any real seeks). This system sits ~2ft. from my ears on top of the desk.
is suspended using clothing elastic and the case is dampened. I can't hear the buzz (or any real seeks) anymore. This system sits ~5ft. from my ears below the desk.
sits on a carwash sponge in an open bench setup. If I turn of system 1 in the dead of the night and listen very carefully, then I can barely hear the buzz. This system sits ~3ft. from my ears on top of the desk.

Cros · Post by **Cros** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:28 pm

Thanks for the answers people. I guess it might be what you describe here Tibors, or it could be some Windows services accessing the drive. Anyway, you guys have convinced me it's not the SMART system after all, so I guess I'll have to deal with this annoyance in some other way

Cheers!

kesv · Post by **kesv** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:45 pm

Michael Sandstrom wrote:A plethora of HD utilities can be found on the free Ultimate Boot CD.

Latest versions of the Ultimate Boot CD should also contain smartmontools http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ . This tool is a *nix style commandline tool, but pretty complete and can access most ATA and SCSI drives' SMART information. Some RAID and SATA controllers can still be problematic.

The tool has originated on Linux, but there are ports for OSX, Win, etc... With the Ultimate Boot CD you don't need to install it on your system, so that should work regardless.

Software for controlling SMART features?

Software for controlling SMART features?

Re: Software for controlling SMART features?