0

Is it safe to check hard drives for SMART errors while playing HD video on VLC?

I know it takes hours to scan a hard-disk of whatever size it is, I don't want to wait until its done.

Bhavya Gupta
  • 447
  • 3
  • 21
Steve Rain
  • 1
  • 2
  • Looking at SMART values takes only seconds so I'm assuming you are referring to smartctl's long test ? If so, that test can be either run in the background (the test will pause when the hdd is in use) or in foreground (when it's recommended NOT to use the hdd when testing. More info here - https://www.thomas-krenn.com/en/wiki/SMART_tests_with_smartctl – Sergiu Elmi Apr 13 '20 at 09:13

1 Answers1

0

SMART can be checked at any time. It is just reading the built-in diagnostics from the drive. If you are referring to a full disk check (chkdsk /f) then the drive content will be unavailable and VLC playback will stop, however, it is safe and you may do this.

qwery
  • 26
  • 3