Is my HDD failing or does it just hate the cold?

English Hardware
#1

On my way to my university this morning, in 34 degree F weather, when I arrived I tried to boot my laptop up to use it but for some reason it took three tries to work. Now I transport my laptop in a bag made of some pretty thick materials so it has to be insulated somewhat against the cold.

On first boot GRUB came up and the boot process for openSUSE started but failed when it started waiting for /dev/sda2 to appear, my root partition. After killing it by holding down the power button and starting it back up this time the HDD didn’t even appear instead my system keep trying to boot from PXE, after killing that and starting the laptop up the HDD appeared and openSUSE booted just fine with out any problems. How can I test to see if this is not my hard drive dieing on me?

#2

Install the smartmontools package and run a self-test on the HD.

#3

smartmontools is installed but I can’t figure out how to start to test.

#4

vendion,

it could possible be due to condensation which occurs when your computer is cold and then taken into the warm.

Best regards Keith

#5

smartctl is the program you want to run. There is a man page for it detailing all the options. man smartctl.

#6

Ken
I seem unable to issue any SMART commands. I’ve tried various combinations of
“smartctl” . Only comes up with a Command not found. I can get the manual here “man smartctl”. But I’m not very good at manual commands.

Any help here?

#7

Well it’s in /usr/sbin/smartctl, so either you are not root, or you tried to do sudo smartctl which still won’t find it because the search path won’t include /usr/sbin. You need root permission to run it anyway, so you might as well su - first.

#8

ken yap wrote:

>
> smartctl is the program you want to run. There is a man page for it
> detailing all the options. man smartctl.
>
>
/me hand palms my forehead

I was trying to run smartd which would just return a black line and exit, running smartctl gives this “SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED” so it seems it was just the cold. Thanks Ken for the help.

“We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than only freedom can make security more secure.” Karl Popper

#9

If you wish please execute

smartctl --all /dev/<your disk>

(probably /dev/sda) and post your results here.

#10

tinyram wrote:

>
> vendion;1894745 Wrote:
>>
>> I was trying to run smartd which would just return a black line and
>> exit, running smartctl gives this “SMART overall-health self-assessment
>> test result: PASSED” so it seems it was just the cold. Thanks Ken for
>> the help.
>> …
>
> If you wish please execute
>
> PHP code:
> --------------------
> smartctl --all /dev/<your disk>
> --------------------
> (probably /dev/sda) and post your results here.
>
>
That is how I know I know that my hard drive passed the test:

SE-03:/home/vendion # smartctl --all /dev/sda
smartctl 5.39 2008-05-08 21:56 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-8 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Hitachi Travelstar 5K160 series
Device Model: Hitachi HTS541612J9SA00
Serial Number: SB2D41E4CMURWE
Firmware Version: SBDOC70P
User Capacity: 120,034,123,776 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 7
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 1
Local Time is: Wed Nov 12 14:55:53 2008 EST
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: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
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: ( 645) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No 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: ( 73) minutes.

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 0x000b 100 100 062 Pre-fail Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 253 253 033 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 942
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 0
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 091 091 000 Old_age Always - 3997
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 930
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 - 57
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 087 087 000 Old_age Always - 135848
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 130 130 000 Old_age Always - 42 (Lifetime Min/Max 16/64)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 4
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 200 253 000 Old_age Always - 5
223 Load_Retry_Count 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 5
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 5 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3994 hours (166 days + 10 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

84 51 00 ed f1 0a e1 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x010af1ed = 17494509

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

c8 00 10 de f1 0a e1 00 00:05:02.000 READ DMA
c8 00 08 06 a6 1a e1 00 00:05:02.000 READ DMA
c8 00 08 2e f4 9f e2 00 00:05:02.000 READ DMA
c8 00 08 f6 f3 9f e2 00 00:05:02.000 READ DMA
c8 00 10 be f2 9f e2 00 00:05:02.000 READ DMA

Error 4 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3994 hours (166 days + 10 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

84 51 00 6d 41 9d e2 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x029d416d = 43860333

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

c8 00 10 5e 41 9d e2 00 00:05:01.600 READ DMA
c8 00 10 26 7c 92 e2 00 00:05:01.600 READ DMA
c8 00 20 ae a3 03 e1 00 00:05:01.600 READ DMA
c8 00 08 5e 17 0b e1 00 00:05:01.600 READ DMA
c8 00 50 06 17 0b e1 00 00:05:01.600 READ DMA

Error 3 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3994 hours (166 days + 10 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

84 51 00 fd 3f 98 e2 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x02983ffd = 43532285

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

c8 00 08 f6 3f 98 e2 00 00:03:50.000 READ DMA
c8 00 08 9e c4 97 e2 00 00:03:50.000 READ DMA
c8 00 08 be 3d 94 e2 00 00:03:50.000 READ DMA
c8 00 08 c6 21 8f e2 00 00:03:50.000 READ DMA
c8 00 08 89 85 45 ea 00 00:03:50.000 READ DMA

Error 2 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3994 hours (166 days + 10 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

84 51 f0 bd 0a 2c e1 Error: ICRC, ABRT 240 sectors at LBA = 0x012c0abd = 19663549

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

c8 00 00 ae 0a 2c e1 00 00:02:02.600 READ DMA
c8 00 00 ae 09 2c e1 00 00:02:02.600 READ DMA
c8 00 00 ae 08 2c e1 00 00:02:02.600 READ DMA
c8 00 00 a6 07 2c e1 00 00:02:02.600 READ DMA
c8 00 58 4e 07 2c e1 00 00:02:02.600 READ DMA

Error 1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3994 hours (166 days + 10 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

84 51 20 6d 93 e8 e0 Error: ICRC, ABRT 32 sectors at LBA = 0x00e8936d = 15242093

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

c8 00 40 4e 93 e8 e0 00 00:01:13.000 READ DMA
25 00 00 4e 8f e8 e0 00 00:01:13.000 READ DMA EXT
c8 00 48 06 8f e8 e0 00 00:01:13.000 READ DMA
e7 00 00 15 e0 78 a0 00 00:01:12.900 FLUSH CACHE
25 00 c0 56 de 78 e0 00 00:01:12.900 READ DMA EXT

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.

–
“We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than only freedom can make security more secure.” Karl Popper

#11

…
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
…
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 4
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 253 000 Old_age Always - 5
…

As I understand these two lines may be a signal of hdd (or motherboard ata controller) beginning problems.
I would advise if you have a warranty to ask your vendor (or local representative in field of warranty service) how they interpret these two attributes values and how much does it cost to check your hdd.
If your warranty is over don’t forget about regular backups.