Need some help with translating smartctl output

I was having some performance issue while a game was trying to load my save game, and I was hearing some repeated noise from my cabinet, so I ran smartctl -a /dev/sdb and it gave this output

❯ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdb
smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.8.1-arch1-1] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Blue
Device Model:     WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0
Serial Number:    WD-WCC6Y3TPH27T
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2b8996515
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity:    1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Form Factor:      3.5 inches
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 3b
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Tue Aug 18 06:05:36 2020 IST
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: 		(11760) 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: 	 ( 122) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x3035)	SCT Status 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   172   166   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       2358
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1754
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   066   066   000    Old_age   Always       -       25212
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1376
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       422
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   190   190   000    Old_age   Always       -       30639
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   101   086   000    Old_age   Always       -       42
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
ATA Error Count: 111 (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 111 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22850 hours (952 days + 2 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
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 51 10 00 00 00 a0  Error: ABRT

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:09.795  SMART WRITE LOG
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:09.795  SMART WRITE LOG
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:09.794  SMART WRITE LOG
  ec 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00      17:15:04.714  IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 110 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22850 hours (952 days + 2 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
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 51 10 00 00 00 a0  Error: ABRT

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:09.795  SMART WRITE LOG
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:09.794  SMART WRITE LOG
  ec 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00      17:15:04.714  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ec 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00      17:15:04.713  IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 109 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22850 hours (952 days + 2 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
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 51 10 00 00 00 a0  Error: ABRT

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:09.794  SMART WRITE LOG
  ec 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00      17:15:04.714  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ec 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00      17:15:04.713  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ec 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00      17:15:04.713  IDENTIFY DEVICE

Error 108 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22850 hours (952 days + 2 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
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 51 10 00 00 00 a0  Error: ABRT

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:01.864  SMART WRITE LOG
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:01.863  SMART WRITE LOG
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:01.863  SMART WRITE LOG

Error 107 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 22850 hours (952 days + 2 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
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  04 51 10 00 00 00 a0  Error: ABRT

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:01.863  SMART WRITE LOG
  b0 d6 01 e0 4f c2 a0 00      17:15:01.863  SMART WRITE LOG

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

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.

Does this mean something bad?

smartctl -H /dev/sdb reports health is good though.

No, there’s nothing wrong with it, yet. You’re advised to have the drive perform a self-test, try the short one first, then, if the results warrant it, the extended version.

If it’s any consolation to you, I have several HDDs running 24/7, reaching or surpassed 60k running hours w/o any problems. This includes a 4TB WD drive.

HTH!

Is it saying that, my drive has exceeded running hours? And how do I perform a test? I usually keep my PC on, most of the time.

No it has most certainly not surpassed its running hours. Some of my disks are already way past the 60,000 running hours now, and have no issues. I don’t expect yours to fail any time soon.

Performing a test can be done from the command line, here’s the Linux man page for it: https://linux.die.net/man/8/smartctl

Alternatively, install Webmin on your system (assuming it runs an OS that’s supported by Webmin!) and start it from there. Webmin can be found here: http://www.webmin.com/

HTH!

I hope so, this is drive is not very old, maybe a couple or more years old. I have drives that are way older than this and they still work.

Do you mean this command?

sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sdb

I’m using Arch Linux.

Yes.

I ran it, I pressed enter and it immediately finished.

❯ sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sdb
[sudo] password for apoorv:
smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.8.1-arch1-1] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF OFFLINE IMMEDIATE AND SELF-TEST SECTION ===
Sending command: "Execute SMART Short self-test routine immediately in off-line mode".
Drive command "Execute SMART Short self-test routine immediately in off-line mode" successful.
Testing has begun.
Please wait 2 minutes for test to complete.
Test will complete after Tue Aug 18 15:47:21 2020 IST
Use smartctl -X to abort test.

Does it looks good? Or should I try running long test?

Here’s the key in that message:

So, did you wait and reran the original smartctl -a command again?

I ran smartctl -a today again, it still shows that long output like I posted before, not sure if its same verbatim though. Should I post the output?

If it’s the same, pretty pointless repeating it, wouldn’t it?

Running out of ideas here, perhaps someone else will chime in?

Should I try the long test?

You could, if you really want to. But I don’t see what different outcome there will be. It appears smartctl can’t write to its log file, for whatever reason. You may need to investigate in that direction.

I will try to run the long test, it will take 122 minutes it says.

Good idea to run badblocks as well.

I ran the long test, still shows the same output.

fsck? what flags should I use? -c?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Badblocks

Oh, I didn’t knew about this program, anyway I ran this with -nsv flags as recommended here for non-destructive read/write test. it took a long time for my 1TB HDD, more than 6 hours, I slept in between, but it said 0 badblocks found and nothing more, and I ran the smartctl -a /dev/sdb again it still shows the same output.

1 Like

So SMART passes short and long, no badblocks. Seems like the drive is fine unless I’m missing something?

Yes the drive is fine. The problem, as I remarked earlier, is with smartctl writing to its log file. That is a permissions issue, cause unknown, but SELinux (lock-down tool for Linux systems) is known to cause such issues as a result of missing/incorrect policies. So, if the OP has SELinux installed, removing it would most likely solve the issue. If SELinux is not present on his system, cause is something different and he should investigate that. As I said before. :stuck_out_tongue: