Hard disk SMART status: Power On Count lower than average?

[RaptorZX3]

Ok i have this WD10EALS here, using it as my main hard disk, bought it about 6-8 months ago, and i noticed in the SMART status that the Power On Hours Count is less (97) than the normal range (98-100), so it give me a warning below the SMART in-depth status (using Speedfan's SMART in-depth status).

What's funny is the fitness and performance was 94% and 97%, and now it's 95% and 95%.

I remember with my old WD2000JS that the Power On Hours Count dropped below the normal values, but i didn't had problem with it (apart that it seem to overheat, by nowadays SATA standard values).

Had any experience with that Power On Count value? And your hard disk is still going strong? i would like to hear about that. thanks!

[HFat]

I haven't bought a WD drive in years. Hopefully someone with a drive similar to yours will speak up!

I wouldn't worry about something named "Power On Hours Count". It should be higher than 100 if that's supposed to record the number of hours the drive has under its belt so that's odd but it wouldn't be the first time I stumble on an odd SMART reading.
It might be an artifact of your software by the way (what on earth are these percentages about?). Try using something more boring like smartmontools.
In doubt and if no WD customer chimes in, you could try WD's support or their forums/newgroups/whatever if they have something like that.

[Wibla]

You have a performance metric value that goes from 0-255, and a raw value that tells you, usually in HEX, the actual hour count. How the performance value is counted, from 100 to 0, from 255 to 0, or if it varies depending on what goes on (for some values), is up to the manufacturer.

I wouldnt worry about this at all. it just indicates that you have enough runtime on the drive that its probably out of warranty, or its just some arbitrary crap they put as a limit, who knows (apart from some WD engineer).

The funny thing about SMART is that EVERYONE does this differently, so SMART-data from a Samsung drive will not be directly comparable to a WD or Seagate drive without knowing whats actually going on.

Here's the raw smart output from an old seagate 80GB:

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ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   057   055   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       145019924
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   098   097   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       95
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   088   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       745563654
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   026   026   000    Old_age   Always       -       65450
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       554
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   028   052   000    Old_age   Always       -       28
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   057   055   000    Old_age   Always       -       145019924
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   192   000    Old_age   Always       -       8
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
202 TA_Increase_Count       0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

And from a new(ish) 1.5TB LP with some bad sectors:

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ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   115   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       99194660
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   100   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       13
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   096   096   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       170
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   070   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       11389073
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   089   089   000    Old_age   Always       -       10244
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       13
183 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
184 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       2
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   081   068   045    Old_age   Always       -       19 (Lifetime Min/Max 16/32)
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   019   040   000    Old_age   Always       -       19 (0 16 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   040   035   000    Old_age   Always       -       99194660
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       204917184669676
241 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       3050025074
242 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1624204570

This one is interesting because airflow temp raw value is saved as a triple hex number that denotes min, max and current temp. smartctl understands this for most drives, and will decode it into something human-readable (or atleast easier to understand)

... and from a samsung 320GB:

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ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       546
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   100   100   015    Pre-fail  Always       -       8000
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       175
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   253   253   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   253   253   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0025   253   253   015    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       19942
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0033   253   253   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0012   253   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       131
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   073   059   000    Old_age   Always       -       27
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   157   115   000    Old_age   Always       -       27
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       183134104
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       4
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   253   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
201 Soft_Read_Error_Rate    0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3

[colm]

wibla:
that coincides with my western digaital at 31962 hours
the number is at 57.. seems right to me. must be working towards some scale just under 100k hours.

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HD Tune: WDC WD800JB-00JJC0 Health

ID                               Current  Worst    ThresholdData     Status   
(01) Raw Read Error Rate         200      200      51       68       Ok       
(03) Spin Up Time                166      164      21       2691     Ok       
(04) Start/Stop Count            99       99       0        1950     Ok       
(05) Reallocated Sector Count    199      199      140      4        Ok       
(07) Seek Error Rate             200      200      51       0        Ok       
(09) Power On Hours Count        57       57       0        31962    Ok       
(0A) Spin Retry Count            100      100      51       0        Ok       
(0B) Calibration Retry Count     100      100      51       0        Ok       
(0C) Power Cycle Count           99       99       0        1869     Ok       
(C2) Temperature                 111      80       0        32       Ok       
(C4) Reallocated Event Count     199      199      0        1        Ok       
(C5) Current Pending Sector      200      200      0        0        Ok       
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable       200      200      0        0        Ok       
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count   200      200      0        21       Ok       
(C8) Write Error Rate            200      200      51       0        Ok       

Power On Time         : 31962
Health Status         : Ok

[RaptorZX3]

the value for Power On Hours Count, in Speedfan, is down to 95 now, and "3994" (as of now) in the RAW. Fitness and Performance are still 95 both, and still saying that "your hard disk Power On Hours Count attribute current value (95) is below the normal range (98 - 100) reported for your specific hard disk model" thing...Hopefully SMART data is wrong on this one. WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic software say it pass on SMART, and all points on disk info are PASS (with the green check mark).

[Wibla]

That value is nothing to worry about. It is just an age indicator, and have little to no correlation with actual drive health.