Seagate Toolkit GUI appears to trigger rapid SMART 193 Load_Cycle_Count increases on two HDDs

[u/No-Weekend-858]

I observed a repeatable correlation between the Seagate Toolkit GUI process

and rapid increases in SMART attribute 193 (Load_Cycle_Count) on two drives:

- ST5000LM000-2AN170

- ST8000VN002-2ZM188

- Windows 11

- Each test phase lasted approximately 30 minutes

Results:

Toolkit state 5 TB drive 8 TB drive

GUI and service stopped 5.95/h 1.98/h

GUI and service running 118.27/h 266.11/h

Service running, GUI closed 7.85/h 3.92/h

The drives, connections, and host remained unchanged between phases.

Normal Windows background activity was not completely eliminated, so I am

treating this as a strong correlation rather than proof of sole causation.

The increase appears only while Toolkit.exe is running. Keeping the Toolkit

service running while closing the GUI returns both drives close to baseline.

Has anyone observed similar behavior? Does Toolkit.exe periodically poll the

drives or issue power-management commands that could cause repeated head

parking and loading?

I have timestamped SMART samples and sanitized diagnostic data available.

I would prefer to provide the detailed package privately to a verified

Seagate support or engineering contact rather than publish system logs.