SMART Status Bad Error: How to Repair HDD Smart Error with Free Software

How to fix S.M.A.R.T. error on hard disk? The first thing you need to do is back up your failing hard drive. Next, use the three useful methods to resolve Smart error.

What Is a Smart Status Bad Error 

According to the term explanation on Wikipedia, S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system included in computer hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) that detects and reports on various indicators of drive reliability, with the intent of enabling the anticipation of hardware failures.

When S.M.A.R.T. data indicates a possible imminent drive failure, software running on the host system may notify the user so stored data can be copied to another storage device, preventing data loss, and the failing drive can be replaced.

If the S.M.A.R.T. Status Bad error message "Pri Master Hard Disk: S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD, Backup and Replace Press F1 to Resume" appears during the startup of the system, it usually shows as failure predicted on the hard disk, and the complementary message is a warning an immediate backup of this failing hard drive. 

Rescue and Recover Data from Your Hard Drive When Smart Bad Error Occurs

When S.M.A.R.T Status BAD error appears, your hard disk may crash at any time. If your computer can boot properly, immediately back up and store your important files on an external hard drive.  If your system fails to boot for the Smart error and the hard drive might have corrupted, how to recover data from a corrupted hard drive?  

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard WinPE Edition enables you to recover and back up files from a failed hard drive in WinPE mode. You can create a bootable USB first, then boot from Data Recovery Wizard WinPE bootable disk to recover data from a corrupted or dead.

Using this powerful data recovery software, you can recover lost data from emptied recycle bin, memory card, flash drive, and hard drive because of accidental deletion, OS crash, storage device damage, virus attack, and so on.

Download the EaseUS data recovery tool to recover files from the failed hard drive in the WinPE recovery environment. 

Step 1. Choose a location to scan.

Make sure that all hard drives and other devices were correctly connected and recognized by the software. Refresh an external device if necessary. From which drive was data lost? Choose the relevant hard drive partition by left-clicking on it. Click the Scan button.

Step 2. Wait for the scanning results.

It takes a while for EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to complete the scan, all depending on how much disk space is used on the selected hard drive. As you see, the "Deleted files" result would come our first, later it's all lost data result. You can try to recover lost data as soon as it shows up even though the scanning process has not finished yet.

Step 3. Preview the result and recover data.

Preview and choose the files you want, click "Recover" button to save them to a safe place. You'd better choose a different drive to avoid data overwriting.

How to Repair HDD S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD Error with Free Software

How to fix S.M.A.R.T. error on hard disk? After backing up all the data, you can follow the methods below to repair S.M.A.R.T Status BAD, Backup and Replace error.

Method 1: Windows hard drive repair utility

As long as you're running Windows operating system, this free hard drive repair utility is available to use. Set it as a prior choice when the smart error occurs.

Step 1: In Windows 7, click "Start" -> "Computer", in Windows 10, click "File Explore". 

Step 2: Right-click on any one partition on the hard disk with SMART failure error.

Step 3: Select "Properties" -> "Tools" and hit "Check now" under the "Error-checking".

Step 4: Enable the "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery or bad sectors" options.

Step 5: Click on "Start" to begin the process.

Method 2: Use EaseUS free partition management Software to fix Smart error

When you start your computer and get the Smart status bad error, you can use EaseUS free partition manager to check and repair bad sectors on the hard drive that cause the problem. EaseUS Partition Master helps you fix the corrupted file system and repair bad sectors with a few clicks.

Download this powerful free disk management tool and learn how to how to repair HDD smart bad error.

Step 1. Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, and choose "Check File System".

Step 2. In the Check File System window, keep the "Try to fix errors if found" option selected and click "Start".

Step 3. The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it has completed, click "Finish".

Method 3: Disable SMART error in BIOS

You can disable S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS and continue using your hard drive if you are sure that no data will be lost. Thus, you won't be bothered by the S.M.A.R.T. status bad problem.

Step 1: Reboot your computer, and then press the F2 or Del key. 

Step 2:Then go to "Advanced > SMART settings > SMART self-test". This setting is enabled by default. Set it to Disabled.  

Conclusion

When encounter the "SMART status bad, backup and replace press F1 to resume" issue, take an instant action to restore and back up your files at first. Then, try to troubleshoot with the solutions on this page.

If you have any questions during the process, contact our technical support team for help. Email to [email protected].

S.M.A.R.T. Status Bad Error FAQs

If you also have any of the following frequently asked Smart error fix questions, find solutions here.

How do I fix Smart status bad issue?

• Reboot your computer and recover data
• Disable S.M.A.R.T error from the BIOS
• Check bad sectors on the hard drive
• Back up and replace the hard drive 

What causes smart hard disk error?

The SMART status bad error may be caused by bad sectors on the hard drive. In this case, you can try to run chkdsk to fix the corrupted file system and bad sectors to fix the SMART hard disk error.

How do I fix smart hard drive detects imminent failure?

Error message: "Hard disk failure is imminent. Please back up your hard disk and have it replaced. Press F18 for Setup. F2 to Continue.” 

Hard disk failure is imminent error is a common issue reported by SMART in different computers, such as HP, ASUS, Lenovo, etc. When your computer displays hard disk failure imminent, it means your hard drive right now is not yet dead but will be sooner or later. So, back up your crucial files instantly and fix the error using the disk check utility.