"Options" dialog

The "Options" dialog allows adjusting the behavior of Hard Drive Inspector according to your preferences. The options are divided into five sections

1. Miscellaneous

This section includes the following options:

• Run at Windows startup checkbox. When this checkbox is enabled, Hard Drive Inspector would be launched at Windows startup.

• Check at startup and exit checkbox. By enabling this mode, you allow Hard Drive Inspector to check the S.M.A.R.T. attributes' values when the program launches. If none of the attribute values were changed, then Hard Drive Inspector would be closed. The default value is checked off.

The following situation may occur when this mode is turned on: the program starts, checks the values, but they however remain unchanged, and then Hard Drive Inspector is successfully closed. At that, you would not be able to see the window of Hard Drive Inspector for a long time. Especially for this case, there is a mode when Hard Drive Inspector is launched with /IgnoreCheckAtStartUp command line parameter, which allows to run the program disregarding the value of the "check at startup and exit" checkbox. There is the “Hard Drive Inspector /IgnoreCheckAtStartUp” shortcut in the Hard Drive Inspector program group for launching Hard Drive Inspector with the “/IgnoreCheckAtStartUp” command line parameter.

• Hide in system status area checkbox. When this option is enabled, Hard Drive Inspector hides by minimization in the system status area in the form of an icon and becomes invisible in the taskbar panel.

• Enable event logging checkbox. This option is available only on the operating systems based on the MS Windows NT platform (Win NT 4.0 / 2000/ XP /2003). When this option is enabled, Hard Drive Inspector writes the following messages in the 'Application Event Log':

  • launching Hard Drive Inspector

  • closing Hard Drive Inspector

  • cases of an attribute value's changes

  • cases of T.E.C. achievement (only one time per session)

• Interface Language combo-box enumerates the list of languages available for the User interface.

2. S.M.A.R.T. monitoring

This section includes the options that concerned with S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. All settings in this section are applied to all HDDs.

• Check S.M.A.R.T. attributes every ... minutes. It is the period of inquiry and controlling of the S.M.A.R.T. attributes values. The default value is “60 minutes”.

• Show message in case of danger checkbox. When checked on there will be shown a Message Box at the program startup if a HDD's state near to failure.

• On changes do following chapter consists of the following settings:

  • Show message checkbox. When checked on there will be shown a Message Box if the value of a S.M.A.R.T. is changed.

  • E-Mail report checkbox. If the value of a S.M.A.R.T. is changed an email report will be created and sent to the address specified in "E-mail reports to" editbox of the "Reports mailing" section.

  • Run program on critical changes checkbox. When the checkbox is enabled, Hard Drive Inspector will run the specified program (once per session) in the case of T.E.C. achievement of an S.M.A.R.T. attribute. You may specify not only the path to an application but also the command line parameters. If the path contains spaces, then it must be enclosed in double quotes.

3. Disk # - <location type>

This section includes the options that concerned with S.M.A.R.T. monitoring of the specified HDD.

• Enable S.M.A.R.T. monitoring checkbox enables or disables the inquiry of the S.M.A.R.T. attributes' values. The default value is “to enable”.

• Monitor these attributes set is a list of the S.M.A.R.T. attributes, which values are to be monitored. The choice is implemented by setting the checkboxes in the list box where all S.M.A.R.T. attributes are enumerated. The default value includes all S.M.A.R.T. attributes with the exception of the temperature attribute.

4. Temperature

The options in this section matter only if there is at least one HDD with the thermal sensor.

• Check temperature every ... seconds sets the period of the HDD’s temperature inquiry. The default value is 10 seconds. It is not recommended to set the value of this option less than 5 seconds because the temperature of a device such as HDD cannot change greatly during such short period of time. Moreover, too frequent HDD's temperature inquiries increase HDD load, especially on MS Windows 95 / 98 / ME operating systems.

• Critical HDD temperature. If the HDD 's temperature exceeds this value, Hard Drive Inspector will perform the specified actions (see "On critical temperature" paragraph). The default value is 122 °F (the majority of the HDD manufacturers set the operating temperature for their devices within the bounds from 41 up to 131 °F (from 5 up to 55 °C)).

Note: Don't overheat your drives. Overheating adversely affects drive’s health. Use a cooling system.

• temperature units combo box contains the list of temperature units. The default value is Celsius degree.

• At critical temperature chapter. This chapter enumerates the actions that are performed in the case of HDD overheating.

  • Shutdown the computer combo box specifies, which action should be done to prevent data corruption in the case of HDD overheating:

    • power on - the computer will continue to operate in spite of HDD overheating

    • shutdown - the computer will be turned off (all programs will be closed and all unsaved data will be lost)

    • stand by - switches the computer to the state when most of the system devices is turned off (including hdds, CPU). You can turn your computer on again immediately by pressing on the "Power" button in the system box. However, if the computer is de-energized, you would lose all unsaved data.

    • hibernate - turns the computer off. However, the system can quickly resume from a file written to disk before turning the power off, and thus all programs will operate as if the computer was not shut down.

    Note: you must have the "Shutdown" privilege on the operating systems based on the MS Windows NT platform to perform this action.

  • Display the window on top checkbox. When enabled, the Hard Drive Inspector's main window appears on top.

  • Play a sound warning checkbox. When enabled, Hard Drive Inspector would play a sound.

  • Blink status icon checkbox. When enabled Hard Drive Inspector would change the original temperature icon to the icon with the inverted colors within 0.5 second time interval.

  • Draw balloon message on the icon checkbox (available only on the systems with MS Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher). When enabled, Hard Drive Inspector draws a balloon message on the icon.

  • Run program checkbox. When enabled, Hard Drive Inspector would run a specified program (once per session). You may specify not only the path to an application but also the command line parameters. If the path contains spaces, then it must be enclosed in double quotes.

5. Reports mailing

This section contains the options related with the "remote" control of your HDDs state. Hard Drive Inspector can send email reports to a specified address with certain periodicity or in cases of emergency.

• E-mail reports to edit box allows setting an address, where emails with reports are to be sent.

• Send reports via E-mail chapter allows to specify, in which cases the reports should be sent automatically:

  • every ... hours specifies the periodicity of the email reporting

  • In case of emergency checkbox. When the checkbox is enabled, Hard Drive Inspector would send an email report if either an attribute's value achieves its threshold value, or a HDD is overheated.

Note: Some E-Mail clients have such security settings that the user may be asked whether he/she wants to send an e-mail created by an application or not.

There are also "Apply" and "Cancel" buttons in the bottom-right corner of the dialog, which save or cancel changed settings.