I have 2 internal and 3 external HDD's that I want to monitor. I have lost HDD's in the past and it has been a terrific PAIN! and while I know that monitoring software wont prevent this altogether, it could help.
I have tried a couple but for whatever reason the programs could not read the SMART data of my 2 internal drives.
Anybody have a recommendation for a good program?
Other than SMART software included with drives, I'm not aware of any real-time hard drive monitoring software, but there may be some.
For temperatures, I use HWInfo.
For general health, I rely on SMART, Intel SSD toolbox, and occasionally Checkdisk or the drive manufacturer's own utilities. I usually use HD Tune as a benchmark when I first install a drive.
Frankly, I'm not sure how useful the monitoring tools would be in detecting an impending failure.
Check this link for some useful information.
Best Free Hard Drive Health Monitoring and Diagnostic Programs
However, I agree with ignatzatsonic in that I'm not entirely sure if you can ever positively detect an impending failure other than clicking noises from the drive, a reluctance for Windows to start or very slow performance.
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