who to use smartmontools

[ZIYAD A. M. AL-BATLY]

On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 14:30 +0200, J.Markoll wrote:
> There is somewhere in BIOS'ses a feature named "SMART" or "SMART MODE",
> something like that. You just have to valid the entry to get it on
> [ENABLED] if it is disabled (I'm not shouting, just writing such as
> in BIOS).
> In the Bios, use the direction arrows of your keyboard to go to and fro.
> Finish with "Quit and validate the changes", which may be done with F10
> or any other way indicated within the BIOS itself.
> You probably entered the Bios before, if you have installed, at least
> to get the boot on CD first ?
> Best greetings, J.Markoll.
> 
As what J.Markoll wrote... "smartmontools" will start (as a process
named "smartd") when you install it and after you start your system
automatically.

However, for "smartd" to function correctly, it need a system that
support S.M.A.R.T. technology.  This means that you have a somewhat new
mainboard and hard-drive (no older than 5 years).  Your main-board most
enable this feature as I found it's disabled by default almost on all
systems I have saw.  Just consult your main-board manual on how to go to
the BIOS and how to change it's settings.  By the way, there's fairly a
good chance that your system already supporting S.M.A.R.T. and all you
need is to install "smartmontools" and check your "/var/log/syslog" for
any messages.

Ziyad.