While working on server today I came across some odd issues in some applications. While checking the logs, I found some drive errors in the warn log file (Failed SMART usage Attribute: 7 Seek_Error_Rate). In searching for the cause of this error, I think discovered a nifty little tool that will tell you the health of physical disk drives as reported by the SMART controller. SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology Systems, and is a technology built into most disk systems.
Two switches will get you going
smartctl -i <drive>
smartctl -Hc <drive>
The following output shows how my troublesome drive is on its way to a nearby recycling plant. Notice that the health check (Hc) shows that the drive is in pre-fail state.
websrver1:/var/log # smartctl -Hc /dev/sdh
smartctl 5.39 2009-08-08 r2872~ [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] (openSUSE RPM)
Copyright (C) 2002-9 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.
Failed Attributes:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 041 041 140 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 1265
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: (12000) 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: ( 140) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x303f) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.
These tips were found on a link from Linux Journal. Hope they help you as well as they did me! Now, I just need to find a matching drive for this to replace in the RAID5 array. Hmmm...