1 Introduction
1.1 What is Acronis® Drive Monitor?
Acronis Drive Monitor is a free tool available for public download, created to increase customer
awareness about the health of their disk drives and to encourage them to back up their data in order
to survive a disk failure.
1.2 About S.M.A.R.T. parameters
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, or S.M.A.R.T., is a standard technology, which
allows automatical monitoring of a hard disk drive’s health. It notifies users about any potential
problems with disks, caused by internal or external factors.
Manufacturers, supporting S.M.A.R.T. interface in various products, include: Samsung, Seagate, IBM
(Hitachi), Fujitsu, Maxtor, Western Digital, ExcelStor Technology, and other vendors.
Each S.M.A.R.T. parameter describes a specific aspect of the disk state: damaged disk’s surface,
read/write errors, failures of the mechanical subsystem, electronic components failure, etc. Some of
S.M.A.R.T. parameters are critical and indicate serious problems, which may lead to a disk failure
and, thereafter, a complete data loss.
Below are significant values for each S.M.A.R.T. parameter:
Attribute – includes a S.M.A.R.T. parameter’s name, ID and Hex (for example: attribute name –
Read Error Rate, attribute ID – 01, Hex – 01);
Normalized value (usually called ‘value’) – it can range from 1 to 253 and higher values are
better. A manufacturer sets this value of the parameters equal to 100 or 200;
Raw offset - changing this value allows you to adjust the S.M.A.R.T. parameter value, that will be
used for disk health calculation (see Health calculation (p. 11)). Raw offset may be either positive
or negative depending on your requirements;
Threshold – the lowest acceptable value for a S.M.A.R.T. parameter, set by a manufacturer.
When a parameter’s value goes lower, than a Threshold, it means a hard disk is in a critical
condition and should be replaced, and a user should urgently concern data to be protected. Such
a disk may be returned to a manufacturer under warranty ("Threshold Exceeded Condition"
situation);
Status – this value indicates an importance and possible danger of the changed parameter’s
value: it can be critical (decreasing value indicated serious problems), warning (decreasing value
may indicate disk’s electromechanical problems) and informational (decreasing value does not
indicate imminent disk failure).
A S.M.A.R.T. system, integrated into your hard disk, notifies you each time the disk’s parameters
change. Monitoring S.M.A.R.T. parameters allows you to avoid disk failures, which could be predicted
– up to 70% of all possible crashes!
But still monitoring S.M.A.R.T. parameters cannot predict all unexpected failures caused by electronic
or mechanical problems, which may suddenly occur. This is why it is so important to have an up-to-
date backup archive for each disk, that will protect you from data loss.
