The hardware components that are part of our PC are of great importance in most cases. Here we refer to elements such as the processor, the computer’s RAM, the motherboard , the graphics or the disk drives.
The whole set is what really makes us have a computer powerful and versatile enough to carry out all kinds of tasks. From playing games, to surfing the Internet, doing office or design work, watching movies , etc. We can do all this thanks to these components to which we refer.
However, in these lines we want to focus on one of them, one that could be included among the most important. Specifically, we refer to the disk drives that we have on the PC. As many of you already know, these are the ones in charge of storing all the content that we accumulate on the computer. From the applications that we install, through the operating system itself, or all the own files, they are stored in these units.
Sure, they are of limited capacity, so we must be careful to keep the free space somewhat controlled. And is that in the event that we run out of it, we could have serious problems when working with the team . At the same time and focusing on this same component, another section that we must take into consideration is the health of hard drives. This is because they may suddenly stop working due to some kind of unexpected problem.
What is SMART data on hard drives
However, the disk units of current computers offer us some advantages to try to prevent those errors in the disk units that we are commenting on. In this way we can act accordingly in order to lose the valuable data that we have stored. In fact and for all this, in these same lines we want to talk about SMART technology, what it is and how to access them.
Therefore, first of all what we must know is what we really mean when we talk about this data . Well, it must be said that the acronym SMART actually refers to Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology in English. Therefore, it could be defined as an early detection system for disk drive failure.
Therefore, this technology that we are talking about, SMART , lets us know, with greater or lesser accuracy, when a hard drive is about to fail. There is more to it, since at the same time the technology mentioned can also give us a complete advanced diagnosis of the status of the hard disk as such.
Usefulness of SMART data
Among the data that could be shown here, we find the time of life it has or if it is in an optimal state to be able to continue working with it. In the same way we will see other information such as the speed of the disk dishes, bad sectors, cyclic redundancy check or CRC , disk temperature, etc.
Therefore and as it is easy to suppose, all this information can be very useful when it comes to hard drives. This is basically because a disk showing SMART data errors will most likely end up failing physically shortly. That is why, if necessary, we will have to take the appropriate measures. For example making a backup of all the data in some other unit.
Programs to view SMART data from disk drives
At this point it is worth mentioning that we can use several software solutions that will show us this data to which we refer. Therefore, below we will show you the most important ones for this.
CrystalDiskInfo, everything you need to know about the hard disk
To begin we will talk about one of the best known proposals, CrystalDiskInfo . This is a complete application that shows us all the information related to the SMART parameters that we have talked about. Thus, from its interface we have the possibility to check the temperature of the disks , their serial number, the number of times it has been turned on or the operating hours.
But that’s not all, but it is also prepared to analyze the status of hard drives and has warnings so that we know when the drives get too hot. This is a proposal that we can download from here .
HD Tune, analyze the hard disk with graphics
Perhaps one of the main functionalities that HD Tune presents to us is the possibility of being able to see a more visual analysis of the discs on the screen. This will show us the internal behavior of the same, in addition to analyzing the bad sectors, and a multitude of SMART data. In turn, it measures the temperature of the units or their hours of use. All this will help us to know the state of health of these hard drives installed in the P and to know if they will fail us shortly.
To say that in order to test first hand this program to which we refer, you can do it from this link .
EASEIS Drive Check, easy disk analysis
There is a lot of SMART data related to hard drives that these programs can provide us. In fact, many of them we will not even understand, unless we are professionals in the field. Therefore, to make things a little easier, we find EASIS Drive Check. This is such a solution that shows unit analysis in a more visual way. With all this, what it tries to do is facilitate the understanding of the SMART data it offers.
Therefore, once in operation, we only have to choose between viewing the SMART data, or carrying out a disk surface test, which will help us detect bad sectors in the drive. For all this we only have to download the program from here .
HDDScan, a portable program to control the hard disk
In this case we are going to talk about a portable solution of this type, that is, it does not need installation on the hard disk. As you can imagine, it offers us extensive information about SMART data on disk drives. But that’s not all, it also has additional functions for these components such as a unit verification test. Of course, although it has a somewhat basic user interface , its functionality is effective. We can check all this from this link .
Clear Disk Info, keep hard drives in optimal condition
Next we find a free program that you can download from this link . Like the previous case, it is a portable application, so it does not require any installation on Windows . Its main function is to show us in a visible way all the information related to the disk units connected to the PC. This includes, as expected, the SMART data that we have talked about.
This will allow us to detect possible failures that may occur in these components in order to take action. In addition with all this we avoid losing information saved later.
DiskCheckup, keep your disks ready in a simple way
If something characterizes the solution that we will talk about below, it is its ease of use. Therefore in this case we are referring to an application that allows us to carry out basic diagnostics of the status of the storage units. At the same time we will have the possibility to monitor the status of these thanks to the SMART data that it presents on the screen. Additionally, it allows us to configure alarms in case the temperature of these components rises too high.
To get hold of the program and test it on our PC, we can do it from this link .
HDD Health, hassle-free disk maintenance
We are going to finish with the program called HDD Health that you can download from this link . This is another very simple solution of this type to know the SMART data of the disks installed in the PC. It helps us to monitor the operation of the disks and to see their health status.
At the same time we can set alarms in case we run out of space or the temperature rises too high. All this will be of great help to us when it comes to maintaining the health of your hard drives in Windows and avoiding future troubles.