To understand the capabilities of Disk Sentinel - when using the SMART panel and setting the offset value.
Is there a way to write the adjusted value [reallocated sectors eg] to the HDD so that BIOS reads adjusted values?
or is offset ONLY used for Disk Sentinel reports/alerts?
Would be a great feature to have when using disk re-generator routines.
reset SMART values on HDD
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hdsentinel
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Re: reset SMART values on HDD
I can confirm that the Offsets are understood, read and interpreted by Hard Disk Sentinel only, as this way it can reflect the actual situation, status of the hard disk drive.
Other tools and the BIOS do not use them, so they show problems related to the past, even if such problems already fixed, should be no longer counted.
Of course it is NOT possible to clear S.M.A.R.T. information/error counters by any means, by any software/tools using standard IDE/SATA/SCSI/SAS/USB communication channel. Special vendor-specific tools (using the diagnostic channel) may be a different question.
The "re-generator" routines are completely different and of course included in Hard Disk Sentinel.
Disk regeneration means a completely different thing: forces the hard disk to reallocate bad sectors, by replacing the original sectors with sectors from the spare area. The result is that the generic usability of the hard disk is better (as the original bad sector is no longer used).
This is generally the purpose of the disk test functions of Hard Disk Sentinel, as displayed in the desription of the tests when you select them.
For example if you select Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface test, you may see:
Forces the analysis of any weak sectors and verifies any hidden problems and fixes them by reallocation of bad sectors (this is drive regeneration).
...
Enables better use of the disk as after the test the spare area will be used instead of any problematic sectors.
But because of its nature, disk regeneration does not clear / decrease the count of bad sectors, but exactly the opposite: may increase the count of reallocated sectors if required. But as these are no longer used and should cause no problems (and the hard disk is better to use after this test), it is possible to clear the error counters, to acknowledge problems related to the past - and be notified only about possible new problems. This way the health increases (may be even back to 100%) and then Hard Disk Sentinel will only report possible new problems.
This (using the test to stabilize problems and improve hard disk usability and then use the offsets on S.M.A.R.T. page to clear error counters) described at Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> How to repair hard disk drive? How to eliminate displayed hard disk problems?
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_ha ... _drive.php
If you mean "bad sectors" reported by chkdsk - this is a different question. These are in most cases related to weak sectors and the above mentioned test of Hard Disk Sentinel usually completely repairs them and also improves the health (even back to 100%), without using any kind of offsets. This is possible exactly because these are usually not really related to hard disk problems.
The page Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> What is a weak sector? How to repair weak sectors?
http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cas ... ectors.php
describes such situation, when the problems are detected (and not fixed correctly) by chkdsk - and fixed by the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface test of Hard Disk Sentinel.
Other tools and the BIOS do not use them, so they show problems related to the past, even if such problems already fixed, should be no longer counted.
Of course it is NOT possible to clear S.M.A.R.T. information/error counters by any means, by any software/tools using standard IDE/SATA/SCSI/SAS/USB communication channel. Special vendor-specific tools (using the diagnostic channel) may be a different question.
The "re-generator" routines are completely different and of course included in Hard Disk Sentinel.
Disk regeneration means a completely different thing: forces the hard disk to reallocate bad sectors, by replacing the original sectors with sectors from the spare area. The result is that the generic usability of the hard disk is better (as the original bad sector is no longer used).
This is generally the purpose of the disk test functions of Hard Disk Sentinel, as displayed in the desription of the tests when you select them.
For example if you select Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface test, you may see:
Forces the analysis of any weak sectors and verifies any hidden problems and fixes them by reallocation of bad sectors (this is drive regeneration).
...
Enables better use of the disk as after the test the spare area will be used instead of any problematic sectors.
But because of its nature, disk regeneration does not clear / decrease the count of bad sectors, but exactly the opposite: may increase the count of reallocated sectors if required. But as these are no longer used and should cause no problems (and the hard disk is better to use after this test), it is possible to clear the error counters, to acknowledge problems related to the past - and be notified only about possible new problems. This way the health increases (may be even back to 100%) and then Hard Disk Sentinel will only report possible new problems.
This (using the test to stabilize problems and improve hard disk usability and then use the offsets on S.M.A.R.T. page to clear error counters) described at Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> How to repair hard disk drive? How to eliminate displayed hard disk problems?
http://www.hdsentinel.com/faq_repair_ha ... _drive.php
If you mean "bad sectors" reported by chkdsk - this is a different question. These are in most cases related to weak sectors and the above mentioned test of Hard Disk Sentinel usually completely repairs them and also improves the health (even back to 100%), without using any kind of offsets. This is possible exactly because these are usually not really related to hard disk problems.
The page Support -> Frequently Asked Questions -> What is a weak sector? How to repair weak sectors?
http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_cas ... ectors.php
describes such situation, when the problems are detected (and not fixed correctly) by chkdsk - and fixed by the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface test of Hard Disk Sentinel.