SMART is a self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology that is supported by most modern hard drives. It can be used to track various internal and external problems end to end error 1, for example, the number of faulty units, an increase in the number of errors, start / stop cycles, an increase in the temperature of the internal environment and timely reporting of problems to users. Thus, this can be any warning information about the state of disks that can lead to a breakdown of the system unit with data loss. There are also other information options, including notifications of future potential problems that do not require immediate action.
SMART: control mode
SMART is a technology that is built into hard drives, allows you to predict all their failures and constantly monitors the state of the hard drive. Using certain attributes, it provides administrators with information about the current temperature, the total number of hours, reading errors, problems, health status and other functions associated with system units.
SMART was originally designed for end to end error and was determined by the SFF committee in the mid-90s of the last century. The system had several evolutions, which are designated as SMART I, II and III. Over the years, the T13 committee has taken responsibility for the standard, and now it is strictly standardized in the ATA specification. WD considers the following definitions:
- SMART I: defined in the SFF-8035i v1.0 specification (May 1995), calculated based on online activity, meaning that the host system requested a drive to perform an action, such as reading or writing.
- SMART II: defined in the specification SFF-8035i v2.0 (April 1996), calculated on the basis of the operational and autonomous activity of the drive. During periods of inactivity, an offline scan for end to end error can be performed for the entire medium.
- SMART III: Not defined by any industry standard specifications. Offline scanning expanded to include sector recovery.
Key advantages of SMART tools:
- Monitors the health status of hard drives.
- Predicts disk failures.
- Checks for problems with the system unit.
- Gives detailed status reports.
- Provides backup to hard drive failure.
- Alerts via email or desktop.
Hard drive through error
SMART parameters describe specific aspects of the system unit state - surface damage, read / write errors, problems with electromechanical components and other failures. When the critical parameter decreases, the probability of disk failure increases up to 30 times. This means that a failure can occur at any moment, and urgent equipment replacement is required to avoid the loss of important data.
Each hardware manufacturer maintains its own set of SMART parameters, which vary by drive model.
Significant SMART data:
- The source data is in the format specified by the supplier.
- The raw values of some modes are used by Acronis Drive Monitor to calculate disk health.
- The normalized value is converted by the manufacturer and ranges from 1 to 253 and decreases over the life of the disk.
- The threshold is the lowest acceptable SMART value set by the manufacturer, for example, end to end error 99. For some modes, it is not set. When the parameter falls below the threshold value, this indicates that the hard drive is in critical condition and data protection is required.
Attribute table
There are common error messages associated with SMART hard drive. If information appears during system startup, the message is displayed as a predicted failure on the hard drive, and an additional message warns of an immediate backup of data from it. The following is a table of SMART attributes supported by Intel SSDs.
Error code | The size | Control function |
4 | 4 | Start / Stop Count |
5 | 5 | Redistributed Sector Counter |
9 | 9 | Number of hours when turned on |
0C | 12 | Counting Power Cycles |
A.A. | 170 | Available Reserved Space |
Ab | 171 | Number of program crashes |
Alternating current | 172 | Clear error counter |
B7 | 183 | SATA Counter Low Gear |
B8 | 184 | b8 end to end error - end-to-end error detection counter |
BB | 187 | Incorrect error count |
C0 | 192 | Unsafe shutdown counter (power off counter) |
C2 | 194 | Temperature - internal device |
C7 | 199 | CRC Error Counter |
E1 | 225 | Leading Information |
E2 | 226 | Temporary load, media wear |
E3 | 227 | Temporary workload, host read / write ratio |
E4 | 228 | Workload timer |
E8 | 232 | Available Reserved Space |
E9 | 233 | Media wear indicator |
F1 | 241 | Total written by LBA |
F2 | 242 | Total LBA Read |
Reset counter B8
The SMART error reporting system is an important function of the PC that tells the user what to do next. It is a short-term prediction of disk failure. Diagnostic tests have the status PASS.
The system will report a failure when the threshold b8 end to end error is reached. The drive controls several types of performance areas. Some of these areas include repeated read attempts, which means the data was not read correctly the first time.
Reading error can be caused by slow acceleration, high temperature and the presence of a problem sector. The features of these thresholds are not publicly available and may vary by manufacturer. Different drive manufacturers will have different specifications and thresholds for SMART.
SMART B8 system error “End-to-end error detection counter” is an internal function of the hard drive that allows you to monitor its performance and performance and quickly evaluate possible disk failures. These values are read-only and are recorded by the drive firmware itself. Having received such information, the user should make a backup copy of all data as soon as possible.
Error: 196 (C4) Event
This failure demonstrates the steps of reassignment. Its size confirms the level of operability of a disk with a directly proportional dependence, the larger, the more unstable the hard drive. Only by the smart end to end error parameter, without taking into account other attributes, is it impossible to evaluate the performance of the system unit.
In the classification, this failure has the value 196 (C4) Reallocated Event Count and is directly related to parameter 05 Reallocated Sector Count. When code 196 is increased, parameter 05 also increases. If mode 05 does not increase, then with secondary correlation, bad defective blocks are corrected, the sector is considered healthy and does not require reassignment.
For the situation where the error end event is defined by the expression “196 <05”, the transfer of certain reassignment operations for damaged sectors by 1 step is fixed. Option “196> 05” demonstrates that as a result of a certain reassignment operation, the detected error has been eliminated.
Attribute: 197 (C5) Count
The error code covers areas that are candidates for referral to the reservation area. The disk, falling into the dead zone, fixes it for reassignment, places it on the list, expanding the argument "197". The attribute is indicated in the standardization system: 197 (C5) Current Pending Sector Count.
Before sector recording, the disk tests the presence of a section in the list. If it is absent, the process goes on continuously. When a sector is tested in a standard way, it is assumed that it is in good condition. If the PC power is turned off during recording, recording stops and the disk sector remains incomplete, during the test, a mismatch between these data is revealed in the form of end to end error count. Then the disk performs registration and removes the bad sector from the list. If the atri booth 197 parameter decreases, then the size “196” will be increased.
In a situation where the tests fail, the disk will reassign the operation, decreasing “197”, increasing the size of “196/05” and noting the changes in list G. In this case, any nonzero value indicates a failure. If the value is different from zero, you need to start reading the surface with the prospect of redistribution in Victoria or MHDD software. Then, during testing, the disc will fall into the sector with defects and try to write it. So Victoria 3.5 with an extended reassignment argument will try to do this 10 times. Consequently, the software initiates the “treatment” of the sector, as a result of which it will be corrected or reassigned.
Auto Error Fix
You can fix the smart error end to end error on the hard drive automatically using free software.
Algorithm for recovering a Windows 7/10 hard drive using the Windows Free utility:
- In Windows 7, click "Start" -> "Computer", in Win 10 - "View Files".
- Click on any section with a SMART error.
- Select “Properties” -> “Tools” and click “Check Now” in the “Error Checking” section.
- They include the options “Automatically fix file system errors”, “Scan and try to repair bad sectors”.
- Click “Start” to start the process of automatically fixing smart errors with Windows Free.
EaseUS Partition Wizard
The free EaseUS partition manager works similarly to the built-in Windows utility for manual boot recovery.
Download small portable software on a PC, it is supported by Windows 7 \ 8 \ 10.
Installation Algorithm:
- Open the EaseUS Partition Master on the computer. Then they find the disk, right-click the section being checked and select the "Check file system" mode.
- In the "Check file system" window, the "Try to fix errors" option is selected and click "Start."
- The software will begin checking the file system of the partition on the disk.
- Upon completion, click Finish.
- In addition to checking the partition function, they perform another function, called the format partition in the EaseUS Partition Master, which is used to remove a smart error, especially when it occurs due to damage to the hard drive.
Disk repair
If the user receives a SMART error on the SATA hard drive, you can run the Check Disk utility in Windows to fix the failures.
Winchester error correction algorithm:
- Before fixing the end to end error, click the "Start" button in Windows, and then the "Computer" icon in the "Start" menu.
- Click on the options for the disk to display the context menu.
- Click on the "Properties" window.
- Go to "Tools" and "Check Now."
- The disk utility will open.
- Check the box next to the option "Automatically fix errors."
- Check the box next to the option “Scan and try to repair bad sectors”.
- Click the "Start" button. The Check Disk utility checks the SATA hard drive for errors and tries to fix the errors.
- Restart the computer after completion of the utility. SMART error should be fixed.
Fix update process
System error update process ended with error 1 refers to Android OS errors. It is often reported by users who download the OTA service pack and try to download it to their device. It can also appear when installing ROMs through user recovery, for example, ClockworkMod, PhilZ or TWRP. This error means that the system partition has been changed, and as a result, the updater aborts the installation.
The best way to eliminate any possible causes of the error is to restore the stock version of the device by flashing the device. Updating CWM recovery to the latest version works in many cases. In this case, the user is advised to download the latest CWM / PhilZ / TWRP recovery version for the device model and flash it using ADB or custom recovery.
You can also try switching to another recovery (TWRP / PhilZ), and the error should be fixed. In many cases, it appears when the ROM update script file checks to see if the device model is compatible with the ROM. By removing the confirmation condition from the script, you can make it bypass the check, which leads to a status error. In fact, this is a security feature, but sometimes the ROM developer makes changes to the script for a specific device model.
Tool recommendations
For the reliability of the results, several different tests are usually performed on the hard drive. For example, there is a “quick SMART check” that asks for the most important indicators in the hard drive firmware as defined by the manufacturer. These indicators include damaged and reassigned sectors, the number of spindle starts up to full speed, the counter of repeated attempts to rotate, and many others.
The most important tests are Disk Self-Test (DST), Short Test, or Long Test, where each sector of the hard disk is read. This process can take a very long time. Different tests provide different types of information in their reports, which allows you to get an idea of the general condition of the disk.
Many manufacturers of hard drives build their own diagnostic tools that present a large amount of important information and make it accessible to the user. In addition, some of them can change the settings of the hard disk, and manufacturers do not bear any responsibility for data loss resulting from the use of such tools, so the user has to be especially careful.
The information provided by the tools varies by manufacturer. They usually list defects and provide an opportunity to fix problem areas.
Here are the most popular free diagnostic tools: Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, and Fujitsu. Comprehensive free tools for personal use are CrystalDiskInfo, DiskCheckup, HD Tune or HDDScan. All four tools are easy to use and very quickly inform the user about the state of the tested hard disk. HDDScan is the only one that tests RAID volumes and performs a surface test. With these features, it is also suitable as a quick diagnostic tool for small companies.
In addition, there are many commercial tools that vary greatly in volume and offer different information, which makes them interesting because they combine different diagnostic studies in one solution. In addition to the SMART diagnostic checks, they carry out control and file checks, disk monitoring and error scanning, as well as energy and temperature checks.
To summarize, it can be stated that end-to-end error SMART is part of the hard disk scan technology that is at risk of failure. Statistically, SMART can predict more than half of disk failures, making this technology a reliable source of information about its current status.
Some drives, such as solid state drives (SSDs), contain additional SMART fields that some BIOSes cannot interpret correctly. This can be fixed by going to the motherboard manufacturer’s website to check for updates to the computer’s BIOS. If this does not help, you can turn to them for instructions on disabling SMART tests in the BIOS. User statistics indicate that the most common failures are recorded by the following attributes.
SMART attribute | Description |
5 | Number of reallocated sectors |
187 | Fatal Error Messages |
188 | Team Timeout |
197 | Current Pending Sector Counter |
198 | Invalid sector counter |
When the RAW value for one of these five attributes is greater than zero, the user has reason to pay close attention to the disk.