SMART message question-replacing hard drive? (more detailed questions)?

Question

I asked the question earlier but when I'm replacing the hard drive by just cloning the old hard drive to a new one, (not reloading Windows, not formatting a new drive), will I get rid of the SMART message at startup? Basically, will it also copy over to the new drive the memory to display the SMART message when I clone the drive? How does it know I have a new drive in it since it's an exact copy of the old drive? Does it detect that the drive has been disconnected?

Answer 1

Hi there, sorry couldn't find your previous posting but will try to answer.

SMART is a technology that monitors and predicts early signs of harddrive failure. It is part of a hdd (not supported by older hdds). During POST, system mainboard checks SMART status of each hdd installed and generates error message when there is a problem. It is not a Windows-based application and will not get transferred across when cloning.

There is no memory whatsoever recording smart occurence as the check is performed everytime system boots up. You can hide the annoying message in the BIOS however you are risking the hdd contents if no prompt action taken. Unfortunately the only solution is to replace the drive with another one. If the new and clean drive does not report any problem then the message won't show up.

Hope this helps..

Answer 2

You shouldnt see the error. You will be copying *your* data over and not the disk drives internal monitoring data... which may not even be on the disk surface but could be in a chip on the disk electonics.

You can copy the data all you like but the disk drive is not identical - it's got a different serial number and its got its own smart hardware / software. The smart messages comeout of the disk electronics and your computer passes them onto you.