GSmartControl test log interpretation?

[pctutor]

I have a client whose hard drive is starting to do weird things, and it makes me think it might be giving indications of failure. I ran GSmartControl on the drive and got the result log, but I'm not "GSmart enough" to know what exactly it's telling me. Can anyone tell me what I should be looking at in these results?

 

[SilverLeaf]

Well, just a quick look and I don't see any major red flags...other than the fact that it got a little warm at one point. This could be an indication of a drive problem, or possibly just a case ventilation issue. Drive doesn't appear to have many hours on it and it passed the extended self test. I do see where the free fall sensor has triggered 88 times, which may or may not be relavent to the drive condition.

 

[pctutor]

Thanks. I have not used this program very much and it didn't seem like anything was outrageously bad but I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something that could be obvious to someone else.

 

[Eagle21]

I have a client whose hard drive is starting to do weird things, ...

You are sounding like an end user.
I occasionally get calls like that.

Caller: "My computer is doing weird stuff"
Me: "What is it that is weird?"
Caller: "It is not working"
Me: "What is it that is not working?"
Caller: "Everything"

 

[Krynn72]

You are sounding like an end user.
I occasionally get calls like that.

Caller: "My computer is doing weird stuff"
Me: "What is it that is weird?"
Caller: "It is not working"
Me: "What is it that is not working?"
Caller: "Everything"

"I can't get on the internet"
"Are you getting an error message?"
"No, the screen doesn't even come on."

But I too would like to know if there's a resource that explains some of the more obscure stat lines in SMART results. Like Seek Error Rate seems to be all over the place when I look at it. Sometimes a very low number, other times like in the OP's pic it can be several trillion...

 

[SilverLeaf]

"I can't get on the internet"
"Are you getting an error message?"
"No, the screen doesn't even come on."

But I too would like to know if there's a resource that explains some of the more obscure stat lines in SMART results. Like Seek Error Rate seems to be all over the place when I look at it. Sometimes a very low number, other times like in the OP's pic it can be several trillion...

Don't have to look far. Nice little table with explanations here. The critical ones are even highlighted for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

The problem with some SMART attributes is that the raw values can be vendor specific...and seek error rate is one of those.

Seek Error Rate:

(Vendor specific raw value.) Rate of seek errors of the magnetic heads. If there is a partial failure in the mechanical positioning system, then seek errors will arise. Such a failure may be due to numerous factors, such as damage to a servo, or thermal widening of the hard disk. The raw value has different structure for different vendors and is often not meaningful as a decimal number.

 

[FremontPC]

Yeah, the hitachi and toshiba drives will give you crazy numbers. You can cross check it with Crystal Disk Info, which will also interpret the readings for you. Same for HDDScan, which will also allow you to run a surface scan.

Is that report from a Seagate drive?