S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a monitoring system included in computer hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs). The SMART plugin looks to the various failure states a drive can report, and balances bad sectors, drive errors, and ECC Errors.
Failing drive detection is one of the core services Watchman Monitoring provides. Our Disk I/O plugin has saved untold volumes of data from being lost permanently. SMART Reporting is just as valuable.
The SMART plugin reports the media type (SSD or Rotational) and the serial number of the drive.
Sample Report
In this report, a computer has two internal volumes (also known as a Fusion Drive). The Rotational media drive is failing with extensive error counts.
SMART Testing Timing
Watchman Monitoring's SMART agent runs hourly. Checking SMART on a hard drive every hour may lead to reduced system performance. To prevent an impact to system performance, the full SMART test is run only once per day. The SMART test is schedules for the 1:00 AM run (in the computer's local time).
If a computer's drive(s) have not been tested in over 24 hours, the plugin will be run at the first opportunity.
Warnings will be sent for any hourly report where the number of errors increases.
The drive will be considered bad when ten (10) of any given error is reported.
Categorization of SMART Errors over time
Many drives will have record errors only for a short period of time, then "stabilize". Watchman Monitoring will warn when errors have happened within the past 250 drive-hours (hours during which the drive was in use) but only inform if a drive has run for 250 hours without recording a new issue.
In addition to disk errors, a drive may mark sectors as bad. Disks with bad sectors should be replaced as soon as possible however, it not always feasible to do so. Watchman Monitoring will warn each time a new bad sector is detected, and once the drive has recorded 10 bad sectors, it is always marked as a problem drive.
Please Note: For Mac OS computers, Watchman Monitoring will only report SMART Errors that are shown in Apple’s System Information
Given the ratio of drive cost to down time, we recommend the replacement of any drive which displays any error.
Disable Reporting on Drives with SMART Reporting
Mac
You can select to disable notifications for disks with failed SMART reports by opening the System Preferences Navigate to Settings, expand Report SMART Errors and deselect the checkmark next to the appropriate drives serial number.
External drives
By default, Mac OS will not look to disks in an external enclosure, and are skipped by Watchman Monitoring.
There is a project referred to as OS X SAT SMART Driver which attempts to surface this data. This package is NOT supported by Watchman Monitoring, and you understand that any missed errors or lost data relating to the use of the OS X SAT SMART Driver is not the responsibility of Watchman Monitoring.
If you are interested in experimenting with this project, a signed installer can be downloaded from Volitan's Software.
- Ensure all data on any external drive is fully backed up.
- Download a retail copy of SMART Utility from Volitans Software
- Choose Install SAT SMART Driver the affected computer.
- Watchman Monitoring cannot provide support for this driver.
Requesting additional information about SMART Failures
SMART Error reporting, predicting future drive failure, is as much an art as a science. Watchman Monitoring attempts to report situations where one can assume a drive is failing.
When the manual inspection of a drive is not conclusive, and more information is requested, the following steps will allow Watchman Monitoring staff to provide a support.
- Use the Plugin Support option in the Watchman Monitoring dashboard to create a support ticket.
- Download a retail copy of SMART Utility from Volitans Software
- Launch SMART Utility on the affected computer and choose Save As... from the File Menu.
- Submit the resulting .sudr file in a reply to the support ticket, or, if more convenient, via our un-branded Notes Form:
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