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Harkonnen

Member

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 20

Problems with SMART hard disk

Hi all.

I am having trouble with a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 (300 GB), and don't know whether this could be a software problem or can point to a hardware error.
I have been experiencing inconsistent behavior from this disk, where my system is installed, after updating my motherboard. In order to debug it I am
trying to use SMART, but it fails:

# sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sda
smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [x86_64-linux-3.10.10-1-ARCH] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-13, 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".
Command "Execute SMART Short self-test routine immediately in off-line mode" failed: scsi error medium or hardware error (serious)

Checking the error log, I get:

Error 409 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7892 hours (328 days + 20 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 12 4f c2 00  Error: 

  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 d4 00 00 4f c2 00 00      01:25:03.011  SMART EXECUTE OFF-LINE IMMEDIATE
  b0 d0 01 00 4f c2 00 00      01:25:02.947  SMART READ DATA
  ec 00 01 00 00 00 00 00      01:25:02.937  IDENTIFY DEVICE
  ea 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00      01:25:00.871  FLUSH CACHE EXT
  61 08 00 e6 67 6c 40 00      01:25:00.871  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

The self-assessment is "PASSED", and I don't see nothing to worry about in the attributes (but then again I'm no expert with SMART):

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   187   186   063    Pre-fail  Always       -       22562
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       1286
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   253   253   063    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0027   245   235   187    Pre-fail  Always       -       63824
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   229   229   000    Old_age   Always       -       8418
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x002b   253   252   157    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x002b   253   252   223    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   250   250   000    Old_age   Always       -       1197
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   060   054   000    Old_age   Always       -       40 (Min/Max 22/40)
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0032   029   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       40
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       737
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0008   253   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0008   253   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   253   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0008   195   193   000    Old_age   Offline      -       6
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
201 Soft_Read_Error_Rate    0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
202 Data_Address_Mark_Errs  0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
203 Run_Out_Cancel          0x000b   253   252   180    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
204 Soft_ECC_Correction     0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
205 Thermal_Asperity_Rate   0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
207 Spin_High_Current       0x002a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
208 Spin_Buzz               0x002a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
210 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
211 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
212 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

The disk works fine besides not booting sometimes and being unable to execute SMART tests. I've tried changing the SATA cable, but it hasn't helped. I have already made a backup of all important data, but I wouldn't like to discard an otherwise perfectly fine unit. I would be grateful for any ideas on how to debug this issue.

Many thanks in advance.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,690

Re: Problems with SMART hard disk

Your drive looks fine.  Did you boot from that drive?  Are partitions on that drive mounted?

I do not really know why, but the -t short seems to be trying to run in captive mode ( -C   )
Note that the error message notes that it is trying to test in off-line mode.  Since the drive is mounted, that is not a good idea.

You might try booting from another drive (or live media, or USB) and then try testing the drive when it is not mounted.

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bjornoslav

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 137

Re: Problems with SMART hard disk

195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x000a   253   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       737

Replace your SATA data cable and connect the drive to another SATA plug on the motherboard, the cables can sometimes cause these kinds of errors, from my personal experience.
Also, tell us what kind of a motherboard you have (i.e. the model)?

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Harkonnen

Member

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 20

Re: Problems with SMART hard disk

Thanks for your answers. I'll try what you propose and report back. The motherboard is a fairly new ASRock Z87 Extreme 4.