Health Issues

How, what, where and why - when using the software.
mohsin86
Posts: 1
Joined: 2017.07.07. 19:49

Health Issues

Post by mohsin86 »

Hi.

I connected a hard drive through a USB Connector and it showed health of 50% in the HDD Sentinel 5.01 PRO. After that I clicked on the S.M.A.R.T option and change the attributes of Reallocated Sectors Count and Ultra ATA CRC Error Count so the hard drive showed me health of 100% and it showed that you should purchase this version to make permanent changes or otherwise whenever it is restarted it will go back again to the same health so I paid for the software and activated it by the key provided but when I checked the same hard drive in other computer with unregistered version of HDD Sentinel PRO 5.01 so it was showing the same health of 50% so my question over here that if we change attributes of S.M.A.R.T so they should be changed permanently and show the same health of 100% in other computers and HDD Sentinel Programs also.

Please let me know is there a way that the effect should be permanent and it shows the same on any version of HDD Sentinel Pro and any computer used.

Thanks
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hdsentinel
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Posts: 3128
Joined: 2008.07.27. 17:00
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Re: Health Issues

Post by hdsentinel »

Thanks for your message and thanks for selecting Hard Disk Sentinel Pro.

What you wrote is completely normal and expected.

I can confirm that the software in general and the offset function designed for the current user: to (after diagnosing the hard disk, after revealing and stabilizing, repairing problems) acknowledge the reported status, correct the error-counter of the hard disk to prevent displaying issues related to the past and be notified about possible new problems only.

Of course it is not possible (by any software) to completely clear / reset the error counters and show failing hard disks as perfect or older hard disks as brand new.

The configured offsets recorded in the current installation of the software, so when the hard disk moved to new system (where the offsets not configured) then yes, the original status is displayed.

Hard disks / SSDs generally record problems occured in the complete lifetime. Many of such problems (for example communication problems, spin up problems, weak/pending sectors etc.) are related to the operating environment: cables, connections, power supply and so.

If you are interested , you may read
https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_ca ... _error.php
and
https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_ca ... _retry.php
(and generally the sub-pages under https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cases.php for
details about specific problems - not sure what kind of problem reported with your hard disk).

These problems are not automatically cleared when the problem fixed (cable replaced / connection fixed), but by the offsets (after testing and confirming that the status is stable, there are no new problems) yes, it is possible to clear these problems related to the previous environment
and be notified about only new issues.

When you first click on the Offset column, then the software displays a warning that by this you can show INVALID status of the hard disk - so before using the offsets at all, it is required to understand the risks, the actual problems and perform testing exactly to reveal possible further issues - or confirm that the hard disk is stable and it is safe to correct the displayed information by the offsets..

The offset function is NOT designed to make 100% health of a drive which is about to fail and especially not to use/sell it as 100% perfect if we know that there are problems.
This function is designed to acknowledge the problems related to the previous use of the hard disk, after we confirmed that the status is stable.

This is why the Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> How to repair hard disk drive? How to eliminate displayed hard disk problems?
( https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_h ... _drive.php )
page suggests performing intensive testing and repairing (described at https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests ) before using the offsets - as configuring offsets without the above does "nothing" just hiding the problems and may showing incorrect status information.

Excuse me if things were confusing or if you may expected something else, but of course no software can replace possible damaged parts of a drive. What we can do is to
1) stabilize the disk status by performing tests which repairs weak sectors, forces reallocation of bad sectors (this is done by the tests in Hard Disk Sentinel - and sometimes may others can do just in less effective way)
2) and then, when we confirmed that the status is stable, the error-counters can be cleared to acknowledge status and be notified about possible new problems (this is possible by ONLY Hard Disk Sentinel).

If you prefer, please use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, as then I can check the actual status of the hard disk and advise about the current situation, the best ways to perform diagnostics / repair to check if things can be improved even without the offsets. I mean if (for example) weak sectors reported, these can be fixed usually without using the offsets, just by the tests of Hard Disk Sentinel as described at https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_ca ... ectors.php
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