Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Testing a used hard drive to make SURE it is good.

[Wols Lists]

On 23/06/20 19:32, Sid Spry wrote:
> The danger of SMART is that rate of false negatives is so high (IME) that
> you might erroneously think a drive is not going to fail and putting off a
> backup. A good backup policy should mitigate this, but you still might plan
> around drive lifetime SMART predicts before realizing they are or can be
> bad predictions.

Thing is, SMART is best at predicting PLATTER FAILURE. Expecting it to
tell you that other parts of the drive are going to fail is like
expecting a car mechanic to inspect your plumbing :-)

And it's probably the marketeers closing the stable door after the horse
has bolted - platters USED to be the least reliable part of the drive.
Now we've got lead-free eco-solder it's the PCB that's most likely to
fail ...

Cheers,
Wol