Hi DU'ers

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

I got this message- S.M.A.R.T. STATUS BAD- Back up and replace-
Any idea how long I have? I am currently backing up with an on line service, hope it stays working until that is done. I have thousands of photos and a lot of music I don't want to lose.........

[CurtEastPoint]

1. I've not seen that. Did you see this?

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000184.htm

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

2. Hi Curt

I did but was wondering if anyone else had experienced this. I'm backing up as I type this but that takes about 36 hours. I guess I'm wishing out loud that the drive doesn't fail until everything is backed up

[CurtEastPoint]

3. I hope it succeeds. I got a new Win 8 PC

w/a large internal disk and I have a 500G existing external and I went and bought a 4TB disk for multiple backups. I would hate to lose my photos (and music and docs but mostly the photos!)

GOOD LUCK!

[gvstn]

4. Your probably good if you don't shut it down.

SMART keeps a running total of errors and when you get above a certain threshold it gives its warning. Sometimes you have a month sometimes it will never boot up again.

SMART warnings aren't as critical as dropping the drive or hearing crunching sounds but should be addressed immediately. Most likely the drive won't completely die but as the errors increase a critical operating system file will get corrupted and the computer won't boot up. The data (or most of it) will probably still be accessible by way of attaching the drive to a working computer either internally or by USB so don't panic if your backup doesn't complete but avoid turning the computer off for now.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

5. Thanks

I have heard from a friend who is an IT person on a huge network who said about the same thing

[hobbit709]

6. It could die in 5 minutes or it could work for 6 months

I back up all my data in more than one location. External drives and flash drives are cheap. The problem with online backup is that if your system crashes and you have to redo, don't forget your ID and password with the online backup or it can be a real hassle to access it.

[ChromeFoundry]

7. Run a SMART monitor to see what errors have reached threshold

This will give you a better picture of what aspect is failing on your drive or controller, and how critical the errors are.

Here are a few free tools:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartmontools/files/latest/download?source=files
http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

8. An update

we took the case off and found a thick layer of dust, cleaned, backed up and rebooted. Still got the same message even after a diagnostic didn't find any problems. Long story short I put in a new one terrabyte hd and everything is fine. I am going to get an external though and set up a back up system. I have a lot of photos and music I don't want to lose
Life is Good!