2

My Windows 7 laptop is reporting that

Windows detected a hard disk problem. 
Back up your files immediately to prevent information loss, 
and then contact computer manufacturer to determine 
if you need to repair or replace the disk.

I'm using a Micron SSD MTFDDAK512MAM-1K1 and CrystalDiskInfo reports everything is fine except for the "Raw Read Error Rate", stating

  Attribute Name:           Current:    Worst:   Threshold:     Raw Values:
Raw Read Error Rate            1          1          50         0000000001C9

Meanwhile, the Windows "Disk Management" utility is also reporting a status of "healthy" for this disk. After a bit of digging around, I found the Micron C400 manual explaining this attribute as

SMART ID 1: Raw Read Error Rate

Attribute Flags (0x32)
• Warranty = 0
• Offline = 1
• Performance = 0
• Error Rate = 0
• Event Count = 1
• Self-Preservation = 1

Current Value (8 bits)
This value is the total number of correctable and uncorrectable ECC error events divided by the total host pages read over the life of the drive. 
Note that ECC errors occurring while reading non-user data will still contribute to this rate.
The Current Value will not be calculated and remains as 0x64 until the host read page count is not less than (100,000 × total block count ÷ 2).

Worst Value (8 bits)
The worst value of this field is the lowest value of the Current Value field ever calculated over the life of the drive, always between 1% and 100% (0x01 to 0x64).

Raw Data (48 bits)
This data field holds the raw sum of correctable and uncorrectable ECC error events over the life of the drive. If this ever exceeds 0xFFFFFFFFFFFF, this value will wrap around.

Reserved/Threshold (8 bits)
The threshold for this attribute is set to 0x32 (50%).

And so I am wondering,

  1. Why exactly is a "Raw Read Error Rate" of 1 considered bad? Isn't it the lower the read error rate, the better the reads (and the less the errors)?
  2. Does this mean my SSD is about to fail imminently? It has been working fine since I bought my laptop years ago...

Any help/explanation would be greatly appreciated!!

**Edit: the full smart report from CrystalDiskInfo reads enter image description here as

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 8.12.0 (C) 2008-2021 hiyohiyo
                                Crystal Dew World: https://crystalmark.info/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
  Date : 2021/05/24 17:40:26

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
 - ATA Channel 5 (5) [ATA]
 + ATA Channel 0 (0) [ATA]
   - MTFDDAK512MAM-1K1 ATA Device
 + Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 1C03 [ATA]
   - ATA Channel 0 (0)
   + ATA Channel 1 (1)
     - MATSHITA DVD+-RW UJ8A2 ATA Device
   - ATA Channel 3 (3)
   - ATA Channel 4 (4)
   - ATA Channel 5 (5)
 - WinCDEmu Virtual Bus [SCSI]
 - O2Micro Integrated MMC/SD controller [SCSI]
 - O2Micro Integrated MS/MSPRO controller [SCSI]

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
 (01) MTFDDAK512MAM-1K1 : 512.1 GB [0/0/0, pd1] - m2

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (01) MTFDDAK512MAM-1K1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : MTFDDAK512MAM-1K1
        Firmware : 0909
   Serial Number : ************
       Disk Size : 512.1 GB (8.4/137.4/512.1/512.1)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 1000215216
   Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ACS-2
   Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 6
   Transfer Mode : SATA/600 | SATA/600
  Power On Hours : 19490 hours
  Power On Count : 4201 count
     Temperature : Unknown
   Health Status : Bad (98 %)
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, NCQ, TRIM
       APM Level : 0000h [ON]
       AAM Level : ----
    Drive Letter : C:

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 __1 __1 _50 0000000001C9 Raw Read Error Rate
05 100 100 _10 000000009000 Reallocated Sectors Count
09 100 100 __0 000000004C22 Power-On Hours
0C 100 100 __0 000000001069 Power Cycle Count
AA 100 100 _10 000000000009 Reserved Block Count
AB 100 100 __0 000000000000 Program Fail Count
AC 100 100 __0 000000000000 Erase Fail Count
AD _98 _98 _10 00000000004A Average Block-Erase Count
AE 100 100 __0 000000000001 Unexpected Power Loss Count
B5 100 100 __0 02C001E700D8 Program Fail Count
B7 100 100 __0 000000000000 SATA Interface Downshift
B8 100 100 _50 000000000000 Error Correction Count
BB 100 100 __0 0000000001B3 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 100 __0 000000000000 Command Timeout Count
BD 100 100 __0 0000000000B1 Factory Bad Block Count
C2 100 100 __0 000000000000 Temperature
C3 100 100 __0 00000000180B Cumulative ECC Bit Correction Count
C4 100 100 __0 000000000009 Reallocation Event Count
C5 100 100 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __0 000000000000 Smart Off-line Scan Uncorrectable Error Count
C7 100 100 __0 000000000003 Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate
CA _98 _98 __0 000000000002 Percent Lifetime Used
CE 100 100 __0 000000000000 Write Error Rate

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
        0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9
000: 0440 3FFF C837 0010 0000 0000 003F 0000 0000 0000
010: FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF
020: 0000 0000 0004 3039 3039 2020 2020 4D54 4644 4441
030: 4B35 3132 4D41 4D2D 314B 3120 2020 2020 2020 2020
040: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 8010 4000 2F00
050: 4001 0000 0000 0007 3FFF 0010 003F FC10 00FB 0110
060: FFFF 0FFF 0000 0007 0003 0078 0078 0078 0078 4020
070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 001F 050E 0006 004C 0040
080: 03F8 0028 706B 7C09 4123 7069 BC09 4123 003F 0001
090: 0001 0000 FFFE 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
100: 12B0 3B9E 0000 0000 0000 0008 4000 0000 500A 0751
110: 0945 AEDD 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 401C
120: 401C 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0029 3039
130: 3039 2E30 412E 3032 0000 0000 0000 3730 3031 2020
140: 2020 3441 4C37 3636 3633 2020 2020 0000 0000 0000
150: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0003 0001
170: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
200: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 003D 0000 0000 4000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001 0000 0000
220: 0000 0000 103F 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001 00FF 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 7BA5

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 10 00 01 2F 00 01 01 C9 01 00 00 00 00 00 05 33
010: 00 64 64 00 90 00 00 00 00 00 09 32 00 64 64 22
020: 4C 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32 00 64 64 69 10 00 00 00
030: 00 00 AA 33 00 64 64 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 AB 32
040: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AC 32 00 64 64 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 AD 33 00 62 62 4A 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 AE 32 00 64 64 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 B5 22
070: 00 64 64 D8 00 E7 01 C0 02 00 B7 32 00 64 64 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 B8 33 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 BB 32 00 64 64 B3 01 00 00 00 00 00 BC 32
0A0: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BD 0E 00 64 64 B1
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C2 22 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C3 3A 00 64 64 0B 18 00 00 00 00 00 C4 32
0D0: 00 64 64 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 32 00 64 64 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 30 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 C7 36 00 64 64 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 CA 18
100: 00 62 62 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 CE 0E 00 64 64 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 4C 09 00 7B
170: 03 00 01 00 02 27 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 10 00 01 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 0A
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00 00 00 00 00
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 AA 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AB 00
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AC 00 00 00 00 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 AD 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 AE 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B5 00
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B7 00 00 00 00 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 B8 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 BB 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BC 00
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BD 00 00 00 00 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C4 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 C7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 CA 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 CE 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 6C

**Edit #2: It turns out Micron even has its own storage device analysis/reporting tool https://www.micron.com/products/ssd/storage-executive-software, which is reporting that everything is fine: enter image description here

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    Windows 7 (and other versions) may thrash the SSD, causing early failure. See forums.anandtech.com/threads/… . Unlike an HDD, SSD memory cells can be written to only a finite. number of times. See also laptopmag.com/news/… for the Windows 10 issue.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 22:07
  • 1
    "My Windows 7 laptop is reporting ... [but] ... CrystalDiskInfo reports everything is fine" -- You should obtain and post a SMART report of the drive to ensure that you're interpreting results correctly. Without the full report you're asking us to be one of the blind men inspecting just one part of the elephant.
    – sawdust
    Commented May 25, 2021 at 4:17

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
0

Why exactly is a "Raw Read Error Rate" of 1 considered bad? Isn't it the lower the read error rate, the better the reads (and the less the errors)?

Your research has found that this Raw Read Error Rate is derived from the "total number of correctable and uncorrectable ECC error events". The number is normalized and treated as a percentage, so the current value represents 1%, i.e. 1% of read operations have had an issue.

Modern NAND chips explicitly mandate ECC capability because occasional bit errors on read can occur during normal operation. The requirement will specify a permissible number of bits that might be in error per NAND page read, and need correction.

In other words a read operation may occasionally incur correctable errors, and therefore this is not an indicator of pending failure.
The occurrence of uncorrectable read errors could be problematic. In theory a sector/page/block that (consistently) generates uncorrectable read errors should be identified by the integrated drive controller, marked as a bad block, and retired from use.

The Raw Read Error Rate is not as significant as the number of uncorrectable read errors (which is now available in the SMART report that you appended).
The number of uncorrectable read errors seems to be indicated in Reported Uncorrectable Errors as 0x1B3 or 435.
Compared to the total read errors of 0x1C9 or 457, that would indicate that there were only 22 (benign) correctable read errors (assuming no wrap-around), but 95% of that total are the concerning uncorrectable read errors.

Does this mean my SSD is about to fail imminently? It has been working fine since I bought my laptop years ago...

If you think that the drive is "working fine", then that could mean that the drive was able to recover from those errors by retrying successfully and/or remapping was successful. (Note that the SMART report indicates that 9 blocks have been retired so far during this drive's lifetime.)
At the very least you could backup your data from that drive, and regularity monitor the SMART report for changes.

With almost 20,000 hours of use, there's no way to determine when these errors occurred.
But you could try to generate fresh read errors by scanning the entire drive, either using the SMART long/extended test or using a Linux command such as sudo dd if=/dev/sdX of=/dev/null. The first test is a lot faster but would only increment the SMART statistics, whereas the later test could also abort on a read error and thus provide a LBA of a problem area.
If you do not encounter more read errors, then that could be reassuring.

Note that the SMART report indicates the current value of 98% for Percent Lifetime Used indicates that only 2% of the expected lifetime has been used. The raw value of 2 indicates that neither of the two salient end-of-life indicators (average block wear and available spare blocks) are problematic.

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0

The screenshot clarifies things a bit. The "current" and "worst" are normalized values (higher is better). The "Raw Values" field might be the raw read error rate in hexadecimal (so 457 in decimal). I would expect a raw read error rate of 0 would be ideal, and would probably correspond to a "current" value of 100. Your normalized "current" value (1) is well below the normalized threshold (50), which indicates that Micron expects your SSD to fail soon.

Each Attribute has a one-byte normalized value ranging from 1 to 253 and a corresponding one-byte threshold. If one or more of the normalized Attribute values less than or equal to its corresponding threshold, then either the disk is expected to fail in less than 24 hours or it has exceeded its design or usage lifetime.

https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983

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5
  • 1
    "higher is better" -- A "higher" error rate is never "better".
    – sawdust
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 0:59
  • 1
    @sawdust I'm talking about the normalized value which is used in the "Current" field. It is standard for a higher number to be better in the normalized value. Please see the article I referenced and quoted. It is also described in the wikipedia article. You are correct that a higher value in the "Raw Values" column is probably not a good thing.
    – James T
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 1:34
  • 1
    I prefer to interpret the numbers using the manufacturer's documentation rather than generic guides. Additionally the other SMART values do not correlate at all with a doomsday read error rate, e.g. the raw Cumulative ECC Bit Correction Count and Reported Uncorrectable Errors are not large.
    – sawdust
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 2:18
  • 1
    @sawdust From the new Micron Storage Executive screen shot, it looks like your right (since they interpret the drive to be in good health). I assumed Micron's docs must be wrong or misunderstood since growing the normalized current value with age goes against the norm. Any SMART utility other than Micron's own will interpret this SSD as bad.
    – James T
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 7:06
  • 1
    @JamesT Indeed -- even wmic diskdrive get status reports a "Pred Fail" for my SSD...
    – ManRow
    Commented May 27, 2021 at 6:35
0

this looks like the equivalent of an MX500, the life time rating is flawed because it is not counting the FTL page count which is several factors higher than the Host page count value in the supplied screen shot.

the controller in the mx 500 and by the looks of it the micron c400 suffer from serious write amplification which will kill the drive far sooner than should happen.

one does not have 74 erase cycles and only use 2% of an ssd's life inn normal cases

This drive is defective, get it replaced or refunded and buy an ssd without this amplification defect.

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