On Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:00:54 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

How does one access the S.M.A.R.T. data? (You don't need to explain, just
point.)

I use a Windoze program called "SpeedFan". (Click on the SMART tab):
http://www.almico.com/sfscreenshots.php
It produces a gorgeous web page report, warning of impending doom,
that's suitable for shoving down the customers throat.
http://www.almico.com/sfarticle.php?id=2
For Linux, I use SmartmonTools:
http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
http://gsmartcontrol.berlios.de
which is more detailed, but kinda messy.

The easy way to test older drives is with a USB to IDE (or SATA)
adapter. For 3.5" drives, you need to supply power to the drive. I
can run through a mess of drives in literally minutes by simply
plugging and unplugging the USB cable, while swapping drives. Much
easier than trying to test drives inside the machine.

Note that some drives report garbage or lies for S.M.A.R.T. I don't
want to post my list of suspected culprits. Just note that any drive
that reports absolute perfection, that's also obviously old, is lying.

I was planning on making my initial installation of XP on a lightly used
drive I'd put a "vanilla" installation of 2000 on, so I could de-crap my
regular drive of malware. (I don't know how I was able to boot them
simultaneously without screwing up things, but I did.) Perhaps I'll just buy
a new drive right off the bat, and when XP is fully installed, get a second
drive.

Careful with the 2nd drive. If it's the slave off a different model
IDE master drive, the slave sometimes runs slower, or slows down the
main drive. Run some drive benchmarks on the main drive alone, and
then with the slave attached. A 2nd external (USB) drive is just
fine. Get an external case and you have a tolerable "backup" drive.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558