Short for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, S.M.A.R.T, orSMART, is a diagnostic method originally developed by IBM and introduced with theATA-3 specification that at that time referred to as Predictive Failure Analysis. This technology was initially developed for IBM mainframe drives to give advanced warning of drive failures. Based on this diagnostic, Compaq announced IntelliSafe, which was submitted to the ATA/IDE standards committees, and the resulting standard was named S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T. analyzes many of the mechanical attributes; over time, some failures can be predicted by detecting if the hard drive is moving out of tolerance. While the S.M.A.R.T. technology can detect upcoming issues, not all hard drive failures are predictable. In the picture below is an example of a S.M.A.R.T error indicating that the status of the Pri Master or Primary hard drive is being detected as bad and that it should be replaced...
Some of the major hard drive manufacturers now including the S.M.A.R.T Technology in their hard drives are IBM, Western Digital, Maxtor, Quantum, Seagate and Fujitsu
