Smartctl Tool
smartctl is a command line tool for controlling the SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) features of hard disks and SSDs, and a component of Smartmontools. The objective of SMART[1] is to monitor the reliability of hard disks and SSDs, as well as to give the ability to run certain drive tests. The Smartmontools[2] include the command line tool smartctl and the smartd Daemon. The Smartmontools are available in a wide selection of our most popular operating systems (Darwin (Mac OS X), Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, OS/2, Cygwin, QNX, eComStation, Windows). The article, however, refers to the Linux version.
Installation
Smartmontools is available in the repositories of many Linux distributions. For Ubuntu, install the package with the following command:
sudo apt-get install smartmontools
Now smartctl is ready for use.
Usage
Before using smartctl, check to see if the hard disk in use supports S.M.A.R.T.:
sudo smartctl -i /dev/sdc
The following data should be present in the output:
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
In case SMART support is available, but for some reason is not activated, try using
sudo smartctl -s on /dev/sdc
to assist with activation.
Viewing the SMART Attributes
To display the SMART attributes of the hard disk, perform the following command:
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdc
Example output:
smartctl 5.41 2011-06-09 r3365 [x86_64-linux-3.5.0-39-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital RE4 Serial ATA
Device Model: WDC WD5003ABYX-01WERA1
Serial Number: WD-WMAYP5453158
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 00385d526
Firmware Version: 01.01S02
User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Tue Sep 3 09:05:27 2013 CEST
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: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 8160) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
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.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 83) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x303f) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.
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 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 144 143 021 Pre-fail Always - 3775
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 28
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2090
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 27
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 24
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 3
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 117 103 000 Old_age Always - 26
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 2089 -
# 2 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 2087 -
# 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 2084 -
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
Important SMART Attributes
The following parameters may provide information concerning an impending hard drive failure.
- Reallocated Sectors Count: Number of sectors that have been reallocated due to read errors (remaped).
- Spin Retry Count: Number of attempts that have been required ot bring the spindel to operating speed.
- Reallocation Event Count: Number of remaps that have been carried out both (successful and unsuccessful).
- Current Pending Sector Count: Number of sectors waiting for remapping.
- Offline_Uncorrectable: Number of uncorrectable errors when accessing (read/write) to sectors.
Performing of Tests
For information regarding performing SMART tests, see the following article: SMART tests with smartctl.
References
- ↑ S.M.A.R.T. (en.wikipedia.org)
- ↑ Smartmontools (sourceforge.net)