I recently heard that Windows Vista will actually warn you when your hard drive is beginning or about to fail, so you can prepare to replace it without losing ANY data.

Does Windows XP have this capability?

If so, does something need to be configured to activate this feature?

I hate to depend on noises to make a determination.

Thanks...

Depends if your hard drive has SMART capablilities or supports it

I have an IDE drive that's about 1 year old, 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, Model ST3250620A.

But my PC is vintage 2002 (Compaq Presario 5333CL with Windows XP Home).

Is it just the drive that determines the SMART capability, or do you need PC hardware that goes along with it?

If my drive is SMART capable, how do I acivate it?

Thanks...