USB 3.0 support for S.M.A.R.T. ( Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology)

Discontinued Products PCIE-USB3-SP
1

Does the Pluggable USB 3.0 / 2.0 SATA docking station support S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology)? This is a method that reports on the health of a hard drive, and alerts you to when the drive is no loger serviceable. (See, for example, the softare Active@Hard Disk Monitor which reports this information). Some other USB 3.0 devices do report S.M.A.R.T. info (like the OCZ Technology Enyo Series 128 GB USB 3.0 Solid State Drive, also sold on Amazon), so the USB 3.0 standard will support S.M.A.R.T. This would be extermely useful information to have when assessing the health of hard drives. Thanks

2

Hi Claude!

Our Plugable USB 3.0 Docking Station is using the LucidPort USB 300 chipset which does support S.M.A.R.T…

The following screenshot was taken with the USB 3.0 Dock and using CrystalDiskInfo 3.10.0.

!](https://sslproxy.getsatisfaction.com/sslproxy/SWhAdDNLMG5zdGFuVGlWenmLbJDGd3CABhjZermgcystANA4T6nd0pzV0fSzBRRGOd17A4b8ZLwi6-HESbXI0iziyB4pnOI79Up0-7bsN8WWMhW0zXf0YcUf7liiuy_Jy1KXgULiNqSCOdWEg4D-ALyJz6DvGWJiZ_QCRqaCSzM=.png)](http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/548750/crystaldiskinfo_smart.png)

However, we also tried Active @ Hard Disk Monitor and this is what we got:
!](https://sslproxy.getsatisfaction.com/sslproxy/SWhAdDNLMG5zdGFuVGlWenmLbJDGd3CABhjZermgcystANA4T6nd0pzV0fSzBRRGOd17A4b8ZLwi6-HESbXI0vb_xdggdnGgsQSpH2usfbp0lPnfc5GG5l5GtcDnv6i1IPR6qxwm0BcOhBt-pV-ERQ==.png)](http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/548752/lucid-active.png)

We also tried SpeedFan 4.43 - same issue (it only detects the internal drive under the SMART option) :
!](https://sslproxy.getsatisfaction.com/sslproxy/SWhAdDNLMG5zdGFuVGlWenmLbJDGd3CABhjZermgcystANA4T6nd0pzV0fSzBRRGOd17A4b8ZLwi6-HESbXI0org1iWJQIPcHU-JjysNgyiS4ufsvZtdTMbS7JaRYwRA0rou3cv1oDpYVnefYyxVlg==.png)](http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/548758/lucid-speedfan.png)

Finally we also tried a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2TB USB 3.0 drive with the same programs:

CrystalDiskInfo 3.10.0
!](https://sslproxy.getsatisfaction.com/sslproxy/SWhAdDNLMG5zdGFuVGlWenmLbJDGd3CABhjZermgcystANA4T6nd0pzV0fSzBRRGOd17A4b8ZLwi6-HESbXI0mZVb3Hd_hBq4LVyC5-MxhX3hJ1ifhueZ_myeClHSmofCQ5zzsupGhKH2o3BnoO10Q==.png)](http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/548766/seagate-crystal.png)

Active @ Hard Disk Monitor
!](https://sslproxy.getsatisfaction.com/sslproxy/SWhAdDNLMG5zdGFuVGlWenmLbJDGd3CABhjZermgcystANA4T6nd0pzV0fSzBRRGOd17A4b8ZLwi6-HESbXI0ldHFYN0OqVVNg_iWwhJUIebzwz-Y0UdnPLbVFSMca8h1Q9tZdtXkoBOSbSpuiNpSw==.png)](http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/548768/seagate-active.png)

SpeedFan 4.43
!](https://sslproxy.getsatisfaction.com/sslproxy/SWhAdDNLMG5zdGFuVGlWenmLbJDGd3CABhjZermgcystANA4T6nd0pzV0fSzBRRGOd17A4b8ZLwi6-HESbXI0otqlOvaNe3AUge2cmp4gF9osI5vM3OO0sIHvFzzT21B_U46BzWX9iQeXeQoJYS-fg==.png)](http://s3.amazonaws.com/satisfaction-production/s3_images/548770/seagate-speedfan.png)

So our conclusion is that this issue is dependent on the capabilities of the software used to monitor S.M.A.R.T.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Lampros

3

Great job of researching and responding to my question! Thanks!

4

Does anyone know how to get multi-drive bay Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology info from multiple drives on usb 3.0? I have a Vantec 4HXR Drive bay running in individual mode with 3 WD 2TB caviar black wd2002faex drives but can only get S.M.A.R.T. info off one drive. All drives show info when installed individually, but only one will read when all 3 drives are in bay together.

Help please

5

Hi Xavier,

We are Plugable Technologies and do not sell any Vantec products. So, unfortunately we don’t have any expertise on their use or troubleshooting.

Sorry I can’t be of more assistance.

Regards,
Jerome.