Hi Community. When i start up the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics tool and when it displays the Western Digital drive in the list i noticed the SMART Status indicator shows “Not Available”. I’m wondering if this is a normal status or not. Thanks in advance.
I have the same problem, and if you have an nVidia SATA controller then it’s likely due to a limitation in WDC DLG. Newer nVidia SATA drivers present the disks as type “SCSI”, and this type of driver doesn’t handle reading SMART attributes the same way as for ATA/SATA devices. It’s still possible to read the SMART attributes of a SCSI disk (I use HD Sentinel to monitor my disks), but it takes some extra work that WDC apparently hasn’t done.
I had the drive installed in an external enclosure is when I observed the status. Perhaps it’s because of the controller used in the enclosure that’s preventing the SMART attributes to be recognized then… What’s is this SMART indicator primarily used for? So you recommend using HD Sentinel to monitor the drives? Is there any special configuration that I will need to follow to setup the monitoring of the drives properly? I’m planning to use these drives in a NAS so i’ll have to take a look into the software on whether it can monitor drives on a network. Thanks.
Works for me. Running Intel ICH9R SATA controller.
Yes, it’s likely a limitation in the external controller (USB-SATA, Firewire-SATA, etc.). Other SMART monitors may or may not be able to work around the limitation – you’ll have to try them. HD Sentinel works with most of my external enclosures, but not one older USB-IDE one.
You won’t be able to monitor disks in a NAS with software designed to monitor ATA/SATA disks. There may be other vendor-specific software that can do the job indirectly.
Not every USB enclosures seem to report the SMART statues. I have tried a Thrematake BlacX (N0028USU) and it never reported the SMART status correctly. Both a Startech and Aluretek worked but do not the reputation of Thrematake.
