Existing users, 
 SMARTReporter - 1.0b3warns of ATA drive failure before it happens |
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Feedback Summary:
| Version 1.0b3: | |||||
| Overall Rating: |   (4.0) |
Features: | (3.0) |
Support: | (3.0) |
| Ease of Use: | (5.0) |
Quality / Stability: | (4.0) |
Price: | (5.0) |
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Commentary 
Featured Reviews
Won't let me change disk checking interval - Version: 2.4.2, 11/5/2009 01:02AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
Kudrabar
To Felix01 & philosopherdog... - Version: 2.4.2, 10/17/2009 10:18AM PST
(2 of 2 users found this comment useful)
Saint Rowan
White papers and beliefs aside: I had installed SMARTReporter on my Mac with 4 internal drives, and shortly after installing it, got a notice that a drive was failing. Now, I don't really know what's going on internally with the S.M.A.R.T. firmware but I was given a window of time to clone (which is different from just a daily backup) the failing drive onto another drive and then watched as the failing drive died over several days, knowing the new drive had everything for certain.
SmartReporter gave a heads up that I would not have gotten otherwise. Is it full proof? Of course not; nothing is. But now I always have it sitting in my menubar on every Mac.
Also, the Google white paper is basically a statistical analysis that says, Drives tend to fail in the first 90 days or last for most of their expected read/write lifetimes, and there's no telling beforehand which ones will fail or why (when they do).
This free little utility saved me a lot of grief once so as an end-user I think it's a great tool to have.
SmartReporter gave a heads up that I would not have gotten otherwise. Is it full proof? Of course not; nothing is. But now I always have it sitting in my menubar on every Mac.
Also, the Google white paper is basically a statistical analysis that says, Drives tend to fail in the first 90 days or last for most of their expected read/write lifetimes, and there's no telling beforehand which ones will fail or why (when they do).
This free little utility saved me a lot of grief once so as an end-user I think it's a great tool to have.
Very helpful - Version: 2.4.2, 10/17/2009 10:09AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
Catherwood
The Google study is very interesting, but this app has saved several of my clients from much distress. Yes, Apple's Disk Utility monitors the same SMART parameters, but the value of this app is in the notification warnings, both as on-screen pop-up boxes, and the ability to Email 3rd parties that a potential problem may be about to occur. When I got the Email notice about the SMART failure, I notified my client of the situation and they verified it in Disk Utility. The Apple Store had no qualms about replacing the drive since the computer was still under AppleCare.
A very useful application!
Thanks!!
A very useful application!
Thanks!!
But even if there weren't some malfunction or other such problem in all the versions of this app that I've tried, I can't help but think that this technology is a bit pointless. I have used it ever since it debuted, but it has never given me any indication that the 4 drives that have died on me in that time was about to kick it. In fact, aside from the very, very few people witnessing to that effect both here and in MacUpdate.com's SMARTReporter page, nobody I know has ever been forewarned by this app or any other SMART drive notification app (such as that included in DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, and many, many others for both Mac and Windows). Except for those very few people mentioned, every disk failure I know of has been sudden and catastrophic, not slow and incremental as it would have to be for this technology to work with enough frequency to make it worthwhile. It's sad, but I am now convinced of the truth of it.
Let the fusillade of disagreement commence.