Does SMART know best?

[Timothy Murphy]

I've been getting more and more serious warnings from smartd on a computer
(one I hardly ever use, though I do use it for backups), 
eg in /var/log/messages
-----------------------------------------
Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, FAILED SMART
self-check. BACK UP DATA NOW!
Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 2554 Currently
unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 11353 Offline
uncorrectable sectors
-----------------------------------------

The number of Offline uncorrectable sectors increases each day,
though the number of Currently unreadable sectors is more or less constant.

smartctl has been telling me for several days
that the drive has only one more day to live ...
-----------------------------------------
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.
-----------------------------------------

The computer seems to me to be working perfectly
under Fedora-8 and Windows.
Does Smartd know better than me ...?

As a matter of interest, could I replace this ATA/IDE disk with a SATA disk?
If the end of the world really is nigh.

Incidentally, I see from smartctl that the drive 
is almost 3 years old:
-----------------------------------------
Error 20419 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26309 hours (1096 days + 5
hours)
-----------------------------------------
Is it mean of me to suspect that the manufacturer
tells smart to issue these messages when the warranty is running out ...?

[John Summerfield]

Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I've been getting more and more serious warnings from smartd on a computer
> (one I hardly ever use, though I do use it for backups), 
> eg in /var/log/messages
>
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, FAILED SMART
> self-check. BACK UP DATA NOW!
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 2554 Currently
> unreadable (pending) sectors
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 11353 Offline
> uncorrectable sectors

I think I'd heed the warning.
> The number of Offline uncorrectable sectors increases each day,
> though the number of Currently unreadable sectors is more or less constant.
>
> smartctl has been telling me for several days
> that the drive has only one more day to live ...
>
> SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
> Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.
>
> The computer seems to me to be working perfectly
> under Fedora-8 and Windows.
> Does Smartd know better than me ...?
>
> As a matter of interest, could I replace this ATA/IDE disk with a SATA disk?
> If the end of the world really is nigh.
>
> Incidentally, I see from smartctl that the drive 
> is almost 3 years old:
>
> Error 20419 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26309 hours (1096 days + 5
> hours)
>
> Is it mean of me to suspect that the manufacturer
> tells smart to issue these messages when the warranty is running out ...?

It's a little over three years old if you've had it powered up all that 
time. OTOH if you only have it running 12 hours/day it's somewhat older.

And the length of the warranty depends on the brand, I can't comment on 
that one.

[Michael Eager]

Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I've been getting more and more serious warnings from smartd on a computer
> (one I hardly ever use, though I do use it for backups), 
> eg in /var/log/messages
> As a matter of interest, could I replace this ATA/IDE disk with a SATA disk?

There are SATA/IDE and IDE/SATA adapters available, but it might
be easier to just replace the failing drive with an IDE drive.
> Incidentally, I see from smartctl that the drive 
> is almost 3 years old:
>
> Error 20419 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26309 hours (1096 days + 5
> hours)
>
> Is it mean of me to suspect that the manufacturer
> tells smart to issue these messages when the warranty is running out ...?

Most folks don't get a warning before their hard drive starts
failing and then dies completely.  You've gotten several.

You suspect that it's just planned obsolescence, that all the
warnings are a ruse to get you to buy a new drive.  Perhaps.
But don't act all surprised when you discover that the backups
on the drive are unreadable.

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 03 February 2008, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I've been getting more and more serious warnings from smartd on a computer
> (one I hardly ever use, though I do use it for backups),
> eg in /var/log/messages
>
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, FAILED SMART
> self-check. BACK UP DATA NOW!
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 2554 Currently
> unreadable (pending) sectors
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 11353 Offline
> uncorrectable sectors
>
> The number of Offline uncorrectable sectors increases each day,
> though the number of Currently unreadable sectors is more or less constant.
>
> smartctl has been telling me for several days
> that the drive has only one more day to live ...
>
> SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
> Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.
>
> The computer seems to me to be working perfectly
> under Fedora-8 and Windows.
> Does Smartd know better than me ...?
>
> As a matter of interest, could I replace this ATA/IDE disk with a SATA disk?
> If the end of the world really is nigh.
>
> Incidentally, I see from smartctl that the drive
> is almost 3 years old:
>
> Error 20419 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26309 hours (1096 days + 5
> hours)
>
> Is it mean of me to suspect that the manufacturer
> tells smart to issue these messages when the warranty is running out ...?

I have drives older than that.
-----------
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   062   062   000    Old_age   
Always       -       27922
-----------
And I'm booting from it...

My instant reaction is that the drive really is about to die, and its advice 
to pull your data is excellent advice.  Usually once a head failure starts, 
the disk surface is damaged also, and the remaining life can be only minutes 
if everything all lines up.
> --
> Timothy Murphy
> e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
> tel: [phone]
> s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

[Robin Laing]

Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I've been getting more and more serious warnings from smartd on a computer
> (one I hardly ever use, though I do use it for backups), 
> eg in /var/log/messages
>
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, FAILED SMART
> self-check. BACK UP DATA NOW!
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 2554 Currently
> unreadable (pending) sectors
> Feb  3 14:59:12 blanche smartd[2624]: Device: /dev/sda, 11353 Offline
> uncorrectable sectors
>
> The number of Offline uncorrectable sectors increases each day,
> though the number of Currently unreadable sectors is more or less constant.
>
> smartctl has been telling me for several days
> that the drive has only one more day to live ...
>
> SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
> Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.
>
> The computer seems to me to be working perfectly
> under Fedora-8 and Windows.
> Does Smartd know better than me ...?
>
> As a matter of interest, could I replace this ATA/IDE disk with a SATA disk?
> If the end of the world really is nigh.
>
> Incidentally, I see from smartctl that the drive 
> is almost 3 years old:
>
> Error 20419 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 26309 hours (1096 days + 5
> hours)
>
> Is it mean of me to suspect that the manufacturer
> tells smart to issue these messages when the warranty is running out ...?

Sorry for being late to respond but check your power supply voltages.  I 
was getting errors on a drive and it turned out to be my power supply 
failing.

Don't trust the bios voltage check.