Worried about not getting to your software RAID 1 or 5 in time to replace a failed drive? DiskCheckup for Windows XP solves this problem by notifying users by email when a drive fails. DiskCheckup also lets users view the SMART details of a hard drive to see highly detailed information about the drive. The best part is that DiskCheckup if free for personal use.

Step #1

First go to http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm and download DiskCheckup.

Step #2

Now that the file is downloaded, double click on the DiskCheckup installer to start the installation.

Step #3

Once in the installer, click next on the first step. Then Accept the agreement and click next again. After the agreement, select the install destination. Once that’s done, create a start menu folder and then select whether there is going to be an icon placed on the desktop. Review the information and click next to start the installer. Once the installer is done click finish to complete the installation.

Step #4

Now that DiskCheckup is installed, go to the start menu and start the program.

Step #5

Once DiskCheckup is launched click on the Configuration button in the lower left corner of the program.

Step #6

In the configuration window select “Send e-mail notification” and “Minimize to System Tray”. Now click on the settings button next to the Send e-mail notification radio button.

Step #7

Now enter your email address into the “Add new e-mail address:” box and click the add button. Next, setup the outgoing mail server. For me, my gmail SMTP server only accepts encrypted connections so I had to use my ISP’s SMTP server. To find your ISP’s SMTP server address go http://www.host45.com/resources/ispsmtps.php and look for your ISP’s information. Once you find your ISP copy the SMTP server address and paste it into the “Server:” box in DiskCheckup. After all of the information is entered click on the “Send test e-mail” button to make sure everything is configured correctly. If everything is properly configured move onto the next step. Otherwise, double check all of the settings and try to send a test email again.

Step #8

To make sure that DiskCheckup is always running, drag the DiskCheckup icon to the Startup folder in the start menu.

There you have it, email notification in the event of a hard drive failure. Now you can run your Windows XP software RAID with confidence.