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In the current times, all of us rely heavily on internal and external drives to keep our data safe for years to come. But what if I told you that your data, in fact, might not be as secure as you think it is?
According to findings, hard drives are failing more frequently, with only one out of 35 models returning at a 0% failure rate. (Techradar: HDDs are becoming less reliable)
This is where Drive Health Monitoring comes into play. This process involves the inspection of the overall condition and performance of storage devices like hard drives, or SSDs. But how does it work and why is it so important? Read on to uncover the answer to these and more such questions about drive health monitoring.
Before delving into the role of drive health monitoring, it is important for us to understand Solid State Drives (SSDs) and Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). They both are storage devices but hold significant differences, the major differentiating factor between the two is:
SSDs are a newer technology that store data in the form of flash memory and use the physical and chemical properties of silicon to offer more storage volume, speed, and efficiency.
On the other hand, an HDD stores data in the form of magnetic disks, and is a more cost-efficient option suitable for infrequent data access in blocks of 1MB or more at a time.
Now, some of you might be curious to know the role or impact of drive health monitoring. Well, checking and monitoring drive health allows users to anticipate or prepare for potential drive failures.
Drive health monitoring involves inspecting your storage drives to identify possible issues that could lead to data loss in advance. You can think of it as an early warning system to predict drive failures that are likely to occur in the future.
But how does it work? Nowadays, tech-savvy users often keep track of a set of drive health indicators known as “Self-monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) Attributes.” These indicators include things like temperature, the number of read/write errors, and the number of vulnerable drive sectors, which are reported to the operating system. There are multiple downloadable tools online that let you check these metrics.
Another option is to utilize an AI-based tool for monitoring drive health such as ULINK’s DA Drive Analyzer. With DA Drive Analyzer, the work of having to regularly check and interpret the importance of multiple health indicators is removed because the AI tracks several SMART Attributes (and other health indicators not reported by SMART) simultaneously, and sends you an email when a drive starts deteriorating. This AI-based technology can catch 4.5 times more failing drives than SMART Trips in a month.
Checking your drive’s health enables you to detect potential drive issues at an early stage before they turn into a bigger problem.
DO YOU KNOW?
It is forecasted that SSDs will account for 32% of shipped SSD+HDD exabytes in 2026.
Now that you are aware of how drive health monitoring works, it’s time to address the “why is it important” question. Here are five major points that effectively explain the significance of drive health monitoring:
PRO TIP
High temperatures can shorten the lifespan of your hard drive, so keeping your computer well-ventilated is important for maintaining drive health.
Launched in 2021, ULINK DA Drive Analyzer is an AI-powered drive health monitoring tool that uses multiple algorithms to analyze drive health and issue alerts whenever upcoming drive failures are predicted. ULINK DA Drive Analyzer also shows you detailed drive health metrics including S.M.A.R.T. attributes and much more. This tool works with over 99% of commercial storage drives, including HDDs and SSDs.
It was created by ULINK Technology, who is a major leader in the mass storage testing arena for HDD and SSD devices. The company started in 2001 with its headquarters in Santa Clara, California and is currently a storage test house certified by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG).
ULINK DA Drive Analyzer is offered on multiple devices through various apps:
Drive health monitoring involves inspecting the performance and overall condition of storage devices like SSDs and HDDs. This proactive process can involve using either SMART or AI-based technologies to identify any issues in the system at earlier stages before they turn into bigger issues, ensuring that you have properly functioning storage devices when you need them.
Drive health monitoring prevents data loss, increases reliability, identifies hardware problems, saves cost, and even minimizes downtime by recognizing potential setbacks beforehand.
