Went ahead and tested it out again on my 30GB so if it fails I can reset the logs. Here is what comes up on the internal hard drive S.M.A.R.T. iff (if and only if) Avast! is installed. I do not know if IBM firmware has anything to do with it or not. It’s been an issue with Avast for at least a few years now, just checking in on it.
I can also replicate it on a totally different 60GB SATA Travelstar.