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Mark Knecht writes: |
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> Yes, I do use smartctl on some other machines although I'm not very |
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> good about it and your write-up is helpful so thanks for that. |
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> |
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> My wife's machines is older and and I don't think SMART is |
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> supported on her drive. Note the lack of a * on the SMART line in |
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> hdparm -I: |
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Okay, but it still states: |
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> * SMART error logging |
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> * SMART self-test |
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So maybe smartctl -t long /dev/hda still works? Just give it a try. |
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> dragonfly ~ # smartctl -H /dev/hda |
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> smartctl version 5.38 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce |
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> Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ |
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> |
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> SMART Disabled. Use option -s with argument 'on' to enable it. |
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> dragonfly ~ # smartctl -s on /dev/hda |
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> smartctl version 5.38 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce |
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> Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ |
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> |
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> === START OF ENABLE/DISABLE COMMANDS SECTION === |
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> Error SMART Enable failed: Input/output error |
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> Smartctl: SMART Enable Failed. |
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> |
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> A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or |
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> more '-T permissive' options. |
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> dragonfly ~ # |
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> |
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> I've not tried the -T permissive options. |
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I would :) There is also a BIOS setting for SMART, but I think this does |
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not matter here, and it's only for being able to report a failing drive |
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before booting. |
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> I've never used badblocks as it seems I should only do that off-line. |
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> This might be a good time to boot with a CD and try it out. |
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In read-only mode, you can use it when the system is running. Only the |
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write test (option -n) refuses to run if partitions are mounted from the |
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drive. So I'd do the 'badblocks -sv /dev/hda' right now, if you do not |
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need the drive at full speed for a while. You can interrupt it at any |
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point with Ctrl-Z and continue with the fg command. |
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> Maybe I should just get a new drive that supports SMART? |
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When the drive is that old it does not support SMART, you probably can get |
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one ten times as huge for much less than it had cost you. And I would |
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trust a new drive much more than such an old one. Depends on how important |
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the data is, if a total loss would not be too painful and I had backups, |
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and I would not need more speed and size, I would keep it if it shows no |
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errors. |
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Wonko |
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