There's nothing worse than sudden hard drive failure but fortunately nowadays you can see it coming. SMART Utility is a simple application that allows you to scan the internal hardware diagnostics of SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) drives.
SMART is now built into all hard drives by manufacturers in order to read various measurements on how a hard drive is performing. These readings allow software such as SMART Utility to pinpoint problems before they happen as they can detect unusual mechanical or electrical problems. You can thus then backup a drive and save yourself a lot of stress and heartache.
The SMART test is very quick and although many of the parameters won't mean much to you, the important thing is that SMART Utility indicates whether you have passed the test or not. Bad sectors will be highlighted in red with a Yellow "Failed" message if your hard drive is faulty.
SMART Utility is a very simple and effective way of saving yourself the pain of hard drive failure.
