On Thu, 2006-09-21 at 13:24 +0100, James Wilkinson wrote: > Since you say that this is a "scratch" test PC, I'd do a > smartctl -H /dev/hda > (which is probably what I should have told you in the first > place). If that says "PASSED", I'd do a combination of > dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda > to blank the drive (that should remap all the bad sectors), and > dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/null > to read them all back. Then check for any more errors. If you > don't get any, I'd trust the drive for testing purposes. > > Those dd commands will probably take several hours. Um, no actually. Under an hour, 'twas only a 15 gig drive. I did a quick test of seeing what what happen if I did dd to the drive that the computer had booted from. Watched it working, went away, came back to a black screen (about what I expected). Then I took the drive out and put it into another box; results below. [root@box ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdc dd: writing to `/dev/hdc': Input/output error 23953097+0 records in 23953096+0 records out Above is as I'd expect. Below, seems about right (same output count as input, same number as worked above, and an error). I'm not sure at what stage a bad block gets mapped out of use. In the past, I'd have done that while prepping/formatting a drive. [root@box ~]# dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/null dd: reading `/dev/hdc': Input/output error 23952864+0 records in 23952864+0 records out Then did a "smartctl -t short /dev/hdc" looked at the results, then a "smartctl -t long /dev/hdc", results after both further below. The basic health check showed fine: [root@box ~]# smartctl -H /dev/hdc smartctl version 5.33 [i386-redhat-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED So that looks okay. But the "smartctl -a /dev/hdc" is less inspiring: [root@box ~]# smartctl -a /dev/hdc smartctl version 5.33 [i386-redhat-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: WDC WD153AA-00BAA0 Serial Number: WD-WMA2L2483801 Firmware Version: 10.09K11 User Capacity: 15,393,079,296 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 4 ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated Local Time is: Sat Sep 23 19:13:27 2006 CST SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 121) The previous self-test completed having the read element of the test failed. Total time to complete Offline data collection: (1040) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x1b) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. No Conveyance Self-test supported. No Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. No General Purpose Logging support. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 14) minutes. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 197 098 051 Pre-fail Always - 45 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0006 109 104 000 Old_age Always - 1150 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 098 098 040 Old_age Always - 2524 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0012 198 198 112 Old_age Always - 5 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 065 065 000 Old_age Always - 26136 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0012 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2297 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0012 196 196 000 Old_age Always - 4 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 200 199 000 Old_age Always - 1 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0012 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0009 200 200 051 Pre-fail Offline - 0 SMART Error Log Version: 1 ATA Error Count: 572 (device log contains only the most recent five errors) CR = Command Register [HEX] FR = Features Register [HEX] SC = Sector Count Register [HEX] SN = Sector Number Register [HEX] CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX] CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX] DH = Device/Head Register [HEX] DC = Device Command Register [HEX] ER = Error register [HEX] ST = Status register [HEX] Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes, SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days. Error 572 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 1013 hours (42 days + 5 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 18 cd 7e 6d e1 Error: UNC 24 sectors at LBA = 0x016d7ecd = 23953101 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- c8 00 18 c8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:28.650 READ DMA c8 00 20 c0 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:22.800 READ DMA c8 00 28 b8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:16.700 READ DMA c8 00 30 b0 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:10.750 READ DMA c8 00 38 a8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:04.750 READ DMA Error 571 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 1013 hours (42 days + 5 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 20 cd 7e 6d e1 Error: UNC 32 sectors at LBA = 0x016d7ecd = 23953101 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- c8 00 20 c0 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:22.800 READ DMA c8 00 28 b8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:16.700 READ DMA c8 00 30 b0 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:10.750 READ DMA c8 00 38 a8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:04.750 READ DMA c8 00 40 a0 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:58.850 READ DMA Error 570 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 1013 hours (42 days + 5 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 28 cd 7e 6d e1 Error: UNC 40 sectors at LBA = 0x016d7ecd = 23953101 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- c8 00 28 b8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:16.700 READ DMA c8 00 30 b0 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:10.750 READ DMA c8 00 38 a8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:04.750 READ DMA c8 00 40 a0 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:58.850 READ DMA c8 00 48 98 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:53.050 READ DMA Error 569 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 1013 hours (42 days + 5 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 30 cd 7e 6d e1 Error: UNC 48 sectors at LBA = 0x016d7ecd = 23953101 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- c8 00 30 b0 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:10.750 READ DMA c8 00 38 a8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:04.750 READ DMA c8 00 40 a0 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:58.850 READ DMA c8 00 48 98 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:53.050 READ DMA c8 00 50 90 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:47.350 READ DMA Error 568 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 1013 hours (42 days + 5 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 38 cd 7e 6d e1 Error: UNC 56 sectors at LBA = 0x016d7ecd = 23953101 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- c8 00 38 a8 7e 6d e1 00 00:57:04.750 READ DMA c8 00 40 a0 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:58.850 READ DMA c8 00 48 98 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:53.050 READ DMA c8 00 50 90 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:47.350 READ DMA c8 00 58 88 7e 6d e1 00 00:56:41.550 READ DMA SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 1014 23953101 # 2 Short offline Completed: read failure 90% 1013 23953101 # 3 Extended offline Completed: read failure 30% 990 23953101 # 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 990 - # 5 Short offline Completed without error 00% 327 - # 6 Short offline Completed without error 00% 93 - # 7 Short captive Completed without error 00% 0 - Device does not support Selective Self Tests/Logging Tests #1 & #2 are after the dd experiment, the rest are from before. A quick perusal of information doesn't give me any clues as to what the remaining and lifetime columns mean. Predicted failure time, uptime? -- (Currently running FC4, occasionally trying FC5.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.
