2

I have dropped my external hard drive on the floor recently and wanted to know if the electronic parts and mechanical parts were damaged. I have no idea how to find this out from the output of smartctl. While being on it, I also want to test my internal SSD. I ran sudo smartctl -t short for my internal SSD and my external hard drive. I searched the web, but find mostly values that are not available for me and little or no information on what values of mine are important and what they mean.

Question: What are the important values, how do I interpret those, what is the conclusion for each my SSD and my hard drive?

I read that the values are normalized to 100 (0 = worst, 100 = best). If I consider this, for the SSD, the temperature has a low value; for the hard drive, the Load_Cycle_Count and the Free_Fall_Sensor. But I am not sure if those are really concerning.

Btw, I make backups of both, but not super frequently, so I want to assess the situation.

Output for SSD

:~$ sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdb
smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.4.0-162-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     33614         -
# 2  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     33260         -
# 3  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31886         -
# 4  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31862         -
# 5  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31843         -
# 6  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31808         -
# 7  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31781         -
# 8  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31724         -
# 9  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30974         -
#10  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30956         -
#11  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30916         -
#12  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30865         -
#13  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30733         -
#14  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30411         -
#15  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30189         -
#16  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30123         -
#17  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     27003         -
#18  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     26994         -
#19  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     23682         -
#20  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     23672         -
#21  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     23660         -

:~$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdb         
smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.4.0-162-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Crucial/Micron BX/MX1/2/3/500, M5/600, 1100 SSDs
Device Model:     Crucial_CT240M500SSD3
Serial Number:    132609426436
LU WWN Device Id: 5 00a075 109426436
Firmware Version: MU02
User Capacity:    240.057.409.536 bytes [240 GB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    Solid State Device
Form Factor:      2.5 inches
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ACS-2, ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 6
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Mon Oct  2 21:12:28 2023 CEST
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:  (0x80) Offline data collection activity
                                        was never started.
                                        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:                ( 1115) 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:        (  18) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   3) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x0035) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.

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     0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       17
  5 Reallocate_NAND_Blk_Cnt 0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       16384
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       33614
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       4646
170 Reserved_Block_Count    0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       17
171 Program_Fail_Count      0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0
172 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0
173 Ave_Block-Erase_Count   0x0032   078   078   ---    Old_age   Always       -       667
174 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct  0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       252
181 Program_Fail_Cnt_Total  0x0022   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       2701544260062
183 SATA_Interfac_Downshift 0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0
184 Error_Correction_Count  0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       8985
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   053   001   ---    Old_age   Always       -       47 (0 99 255 128 0)
195 Cumulativ_Corrected_ECC 0x003a   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       4294967295
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       17
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   100   100   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0
202 Percent_Lifetime_Remain 0x0031   078   078   ---    Pre-fail  Offline      -       22
206 Write_Error_Rate        0x000e   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     33614         -
# 2  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     33260         -
# 3  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31886         -
# 4  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31862         -
# 5  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31843         -
# 6  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31808         -
# 7  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31781         -
# 8  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     31724         -
# 9  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30974         -
#10  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30956         -
#11  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30916         -
#12  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30865         -
#13  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30733         -
#14  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30411         -
#15  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30189         -
#16  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     30123         -
#17  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     27003         -
#18  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     26994         -
#19  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     23682         -
#20  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     23672         -
#21  Vendor (0xff)       Completed without error       00%     23660         -

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.

Output for hard drive

:~$ sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sde
smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.4.0-162-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     42184         -


:~$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sde
smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.4.0-162-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Seagate Momentus 7200.4
Device Model:     ST9500420ASG
Serial Number:    5VJ7V4QE
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 02a611c46
Firmware Version: 0002SDM1
User Capacity:    500.107.862.016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Mon Oct  2 21:09:06 2023 CEST
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
See vendor-specific Attribute list for marginal Attributes.

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:                (    0) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        No 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:        ( 109) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   3) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x103f) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   104   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       156006002
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   099   098   085    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   093   093   020    Old_age   Always       -       7472
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       6
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   069   057   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       34427616775
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   052   052   000    Old_age   Always       -       42184
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   095   095   020    Old_age   Always       -       5753
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   088   088   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       4295032844
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   063   045   045    Old_age   Always   In_the_past 37 (Min/Max 23/37)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       4
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       3793
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   001   001   000    Old_age   Always       -       448328
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   037   055   000    Old_age   Always       -       37 (243 52 0 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   044   040   000    Old_age   Always       -       156006002
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       28989 (89 232 0)
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       3926827122
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2382261124
254 Free_Fall_Sensor        0x0032   001   001   000    Old_age   Always       -       8

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     42184         -

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.
Improve this question
3
  • 1
    For a crude assessment of the operating condition of a drive, use the short and extended tests (which only perform read operations).
    – sawdust
    Commented Oct 3, 2023 at 22:27
  • 1
    Your HDD stats do not look good. The Seek_Error_Rate, Reported_Uncorrect, and Hardware_ECC_Recovered values seem problematic. The Power_On_Hours raw value indicates that this drive has been rather well-used.
    – sawdust
    Commented Oct 3, 2023 at 23:18
  • 1
    @sawdust, but this is a Seagate, you often can not take those RAW attributes at face value, see disktuna.com/….
    – Joep van Steen
    Commented Oct 26, 2023 at 13:00

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

With regards to the Crucial_CT240M500SSD3:

I think you should pay attention to:

5 Reallocate_NAND_Blk_Cnt 0x0032   100   100   ---    Old_age   Always       -       16384

This (raw) value counts the number of retired blocks. These are block for which the drive determined they can not be reliably programmed or erased. Current value represents retired blocks vs. some reserve block threshold. Since current value is 100 we must assume there's plenty or reserve left but I don't know how trust worthy that is. 16384 seems like a lot of retired blocks to me and I personally would not consider this drive reliable. But I should add this is largely a matter of personal 'taste'.

And

202 Percent_Lifetime_Remain 0x0031   078   078   ---    Pre-fail  Offline      -       22

The raw value represents percentage of intended lifetime used, the current value is simply 100 - (percentage used). Once remaining life hits zero the drive will become read-only.

With regards to the ST9500420ASG

Personally I never trust drives that were dropped, whether SMART reflects some damage or not. But let's assume you think differently and let's look at SMART values I'd keep en eye on:

5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       6

Personally I'd create a disk image of the entire drive and the purpose for that is two-fold:

  1. In case the drive is truly damaged we have a backup
  2. As we backup the drive it allows the drive to discover issues. If it runs into issue I'd expect the RAW value for reallocated sectors and possibly pending sectors to change.

and

197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

If those raw values for reallocated and pending dramatically increase it would for me be confirmation the drive is indeed damaged.

As a side note ..

Some of the raw values for the Seagate seem alarmingly high, but the thing with these Seagate hard drives is that those values sometimes represent multiple things. For example seek errors is actually seeks + errors represented by one value. I ran often enough into questions and concerns about this that I decided to look into it and write a blog post about it:

https://www.disktuna.com/big-scary-raw-s-m-a-r-t-values-arent-always-bad-news/

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1
  • 1
    Regarding the dropped HDD: By now I have pretty definitive evidence that the drive is done. For example, by running fsck, data is disappearing. Re-running fsck makes other data disappear. I had a backup beforehand. (Not having one - even for data that is on a healthy storage device, seems like living on the edge ;-).) The end of the story is: I got a new storage device and copied the data from the backup. The dropped HDD is retired now.
    – Make42
    Commented Oct 26, 2023 at 18:22
2

Yes, the HDD could have been damaged, though likely you'd see evidence of that. The answer to interpreting S.M.A.R.T. data is already given here.

However, smartctl is not designed for testing an SSD! An SSD is quite shock resistant, and, were it to fail, it would unlikely be degraded partially. The SSD has other modes of failure. Specifically, writing to RAM gradually damages memory cells. "Most SSDs employ NAND flash memory technology. This type of flash memory can only be programmed and erased with a limited number of times." Though the SSD is provisioned with extra cells, eventually they get used up. A test program deigned for a hard disk drive that repeatedly reads and writes data can destroy the SSD. There were even Windows updates that attempted to "optimize" the SSD, causing early failure.

Executive Summary: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If a cursory inspection shows it works, and a peek at data shows it's there, use it. And note that some HDD tests could damage it.

Improve this answer
2
  • "though likely you'd see evidence of that." In which way would I see evidence of that? I did a comparison with my backup using FreeFileSnyc and I got errors "The file attributes of ... could not be read. EIO: Input / Output error [lstat]"
    – Make42
    Commented Oct 3, 2023 at 22:54
  • For the HDD, lost files and additional bad sectors are evidence. However, there are soft errors, i.e., those that can be fixed by by fsck (tecmint.com/fsck-repair-file-system-errors-in-linux), and hard errors, i.e., physical damage to platter(s), which cannot be fixed. Run fsck and compare again.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Oct 4, 2023 at 1:44

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