What to Do When You Get a SMART Message About Your Disk Drives

Quick Tips

• A SMART message means your drive’s built-in monitoring system has detected a hardware problem and it’s warning you that failure could be imminent.
• This is rarely a false alarm, so you should back up your data immediately, before running any diagnostics or troubleshooting steps.
• If diagnostics confirm the drive is failing, replacement is usually the only real fix.

If you’ve seen a message like “One of your disks is at risk (SMART event)” or a similar “SMART Disk Error Was Detected” warning pop up from Intel’s storage software or your PC manufacturer’s tools, it’s easy to panic. The good news is that this message is designed to give you a head start before the drive actually fails. Here’s what a SMART error warning means, and what to do about it depending on what your drive’s health check turns up.

What Does a SMART Disk Error Was Detected Mean?

SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, and it’s a feature built into nearly every modern hard drive and SSD. The drive constantly tracks a set of internal health attributes, like reallocated sector count, spin-up time, and internal temperature, and raises a flag when one of those crosses a threshold that historically predicted failure.

The exact wording of the alert depends on your PC’s manufacturer or storage software. You might see:

• “One of your disks is at risk (SMART event)” from Intel
• “SMART Failure Predicted” on Acer machines
• “SMART Status Bad” on Dell systems
• “SMART Status Failed” on Lenovo PCs
• HP pushes error code 301 for bad sectors, 303 for a failed hard disk diagnostic test, and 305 for possible read/write issues.

Whatever the exact message says, the drive believes it’s at meaningful risk of failing soon.

Part 1 – Back Up Your Data Immediately

Before doing anything else, back up anything on that drive you can’t afford to lose. Copy your files to an external drive, a different internal drive, or cloud storage right away. A SMART error warning means the drive’s own monitoring flagged a real risk, even if it’s currently running fine.

Part 2 – Check the Drive’s SMART Status

Once your data is safe, confirm what the drive is actually reporting. Windows has a built-in way to check this without installing anything extra.

Step 1. Search for “cmd” or “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator” from the options.

Step 2. Type in or paste the following command, then hit “Enter”:
wmic diskdrive get model, status

Step 3. Check the result. A status of “OK” means the drive isn’t reporting a SMART failure right now. A status of “Pred Fail” (short for “predicted failure”) confirms the drive itself expects to fail soon.

If you see “Pred Fail,” back up any remaining files immediately if you haven’t already, and start planning to replace the drive. For a more detailed breakdown of the specific attributes behind the warning, such as reallocated sector count, spin-up time, and temperature, you’ll need a third-party monitoring tool.

Part 3 – Check Drive Health in Windows Settings

Windows 11 also has a dedicated storage health panel that shows more context than the command line output.

Step 1. Open “Settings” with “Win + I,” then go to “System” and select “Storage.”

Step 2. Click “Advanced storage settings,” then “Disks & volumes.”

Step 3. Select the drive in question and click “Properties.”

Step 4. Look under the “Drive health” section for any critical warning, such as “Spare capacity is low,” “Reliability is degraded,” or “Drive is set to read-only,” along with the “Estimated remaining life” and temperature values.

A critical warning or very little remaining life means that the drive is likely nearing its failure point.

Fix 1 – Run CHKDSK to Repair Logical Errors

Not every SMART-adjacent warning means the drive is physically dying. Sometimes the underlying issue is a logical error, meaning a problem with how data is organized on the drive. CHKDSK can repair file-system corruption and mark unreadable sectors so Windows avoids using them, but it can’t fix failing hardware.

Step 1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator.

Step 2. Type in or paste the following command, replacing the drive letter if needed, then hit “Enter”:
chkdsk C: /f /r

Step 3. Let the scan run. Depending on the size of the drive, this can take anywhere from several minutes to a few hours.

If CHKDSK reports that no further action is required, the issue was likely logical rather than physical, and you’re probably fine going forward. If it fails to repair the problem, or if it flags a large or growing number of bad sectors, you’re looking at physical damage.

Fix 2 – Update Intel Rapid Storage Technology or Optane Software

If the warning is coming specifically from Intel’s storage software rather than Windows itself, it’s worth ruling out a bug or corrupted file in that software before assuming the worst about your hardware.

Make sure to download the latest version of the program you have from Intel’s website.

Fix 3 – Check Device Manager and BIOS Updates

In some cases, the issue might be caused by the system not finding the drive correctly.

Step 1. Right-click the Start button and select “Device Manager.”

Step 2. Expand “Disk drives” and “Storage controllers.” If you see a yellow warning triangle next to any entry, right-click it and select “Uninstall device,” then restart your PC so Windows can reinstall it automatically.

Step 3. Separately, check your PC manufacturer’s support site for a BIOS update, since an outdated or corrupted BIOS can occasionally cause hardware to behave unpredictably.

Fix 4 – Replace the Drive

In most cases, the drive is genuinely nearing the end of its lifespan.

Once you’ve backed up your data and installed a new drive, reinstall Windows or restore your files from the backup you made. If you’re dealing with a drive that’s already failed to the point where you can’t complete a backup, you may need a professional data recovery service.