HDD Question

[roly33]

I've done a S.M.A.R.T Test on my Notebook HDD and got this output:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 062 Pre-fail Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 200 200 033 Pre-fail Always - 1
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 2363
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 1
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 092 092 000 Old_age Always - 3556
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 2289
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 140
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 17738
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 144 144 000 Old_age Always - 38 (Min/Max 8/49)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
223 Load_Retry_Count 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0

Does this mean that my HDD needs replacing, it's the original one that came in my Toshiba Satellite C660-15R that I've had since Nov/Dec 2010?

Roland

[TheFu]

Turns out that SMART data can't really be used to tell if a drive is failing unless it tells you specifically that it is failing. Most of the time, that is much to late to do anything useful.
The only way to use SMART data is to watch how it changes over time - perhaps weekly - then compare the changes from week to week. This **can** be a useful indicator of a pending drive failure.

For most people, it is easier to just have good, automatic, daily, versioned, backups and not bother with reading "tea leaves" which may or may not be correct.
Backups solve many more problems than just data loss and we all know that we should be backing up our data constantly anyway.

Personally, I do replace HDDs holding critical data periodically. Crucial data is also stored on a RAID system, so a single failure doesn't prevent access and I backup the data to another device. For me, the data is worth more than the computer. Computers can be replaced, but data cannot. If you don't have at least 3 copies of your important data, then you really don't have any copies. That is a quote from someone much smarter than me.

If you really care about your data, you'd also run only LTS releases, IMHO.

[ahallubuntu]

~

[roly33]

These two Attributes are the only ones that look significant for your drive. They mean that one sector failed and was marked "do not use" by the drive firmware but was replaced by a spare sector on the drive (every modern hard drive has at least a few spare sectors).

One failed sector on a drive that old isn't alarming - but it means you should keep an eye on the drive and make regular backups. If the number of reallocated sectors continues to rise, that means more sectors are failing and the drive is probably failing and should be replaced.

Should you replace it now? I wouldn't call it urgent, but maybe this is a good excuse to upgrade now to a faster drive or an SSD? Prices come down all the time and/or size goes up.

I keep everything synced with my Ubuntu 1 Account, so everything is backed up more or less as something gets added or a document is changed.

SSD's seem a little bit over priced for a smaller disk at the moment, so if it starts to get really bad I might end up going for a 1TB HDD until the price of an SSD becomes mor comparible to prices (but then again ebay probably isn't the best place to look for an SSD due to some sellers trying to get rich quick).

Roland

[ahallubuntu]

~

[roly33]

Turns out that SMART data can't really be used to tell if a drive is failing unless it tells you specifically that it is failing. Most of the time, that is much to late to do anything useful.
The only way to use SMART data is to watch how it changes over time - perhaps weekly - then compare the changes from week to week. This **can** be a useful indicator of a pending drive failure.

For most people, it is easier to just have good, automatic, daily, versioned, backups and not bother with reading "tea leaves" which may or may not be correct.
Backups solve many more problems than just data loss and we all know that we should be backing up our data constantly anyway.

Personally, I do replace HDDs holding critical data periodically. Crucial data is also stored on a RAID system, so a single failure doesn't prevent access and I backup the data to another device. For me, the data is worth more than the computer. Computers can be replaced, but data cannot. If you don't have at least 3 copies of your important data, then you really don't have any copies. That is a quote from someone much smarter than me.

If you really care about your data, you'd also run only LTS releases, IMHO.

Everything that is important is backed up to Ubuntu 1, Google Drive and my Sky Drive as well as being on a HDD attached to my Router and then the physical copies that I use regular are on my HDD so I think I'm well and truly backed up for any HDD problem.

Roland