Squeezing more life out of a failing hard drive?

vayira · 06-03-2010, 09:24 AM

I'm using xubuntu on a box that has 2 drives. One is quite small mounted as / and the other larger drive is mounted as /home

Both drives are IDE

The /home drive has had some failure in the past & occasionally creates errors. Is there any way of identify which sectors are bad (or good) and isolating them to try & get some more use out of the drive?

It won't be used for storing valuable data.It is an old box for visitors to use. But it would be handy to use it to store some large read-only audio files.

I've installed smartctl & could post output from there if you think it is useful. I can't work out how to interpret the information.

Thanks for any suggestions.

amani · 06-03-2010, 10:04 AM

First do a low level format with the drive manufacturers utility.

Then partition it with gparted.

post smartctl info.

rweaver · 06-03-2010, 10:24 AM

You can use the -c option on fsck to add any bad blocks to the bad block inode also, as a general rule this can be done on a file system with data on it without loss but make sure you have backups (and make sure you don't run it on a currently mounted file system... login as root unmount /home, fsck -c it, remount it.)

Keep this in mind however-- once blocks start to "go" bad (as opposed to having a bad block or two that never change) it tends to cascade over time and at the current price of drives... my inclination is to replace it. $50 for a 250gb ide.

Either way get regular current backups done and keep more than one due to the possibility of corruption of data.

jefro · 06-03-2010, 03:45 PM

I think I'd look at s.m.a.r.t status.

vayira · 06-03-2010, 07:43 PM

This is the result of running
smartctl -a /dev/sdb
seems rather a lot of stuff & I don't know what is useful.

How much life do you think the drive is likely to have?

Quote:

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 family
Device Model: Maxtor 6Y120L0
Serial Number: Y36LCHPE
Firmware Version: YAR41BW0
User Capacity: 122,942,324,736 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 7
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 0
Local Time is: Fri Jun 4 02:39:38 2010 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: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 118) The previous self-test completed having
the read element of the test failed.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 242) 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.
No General Purpose Logging support.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 54) 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
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 205 204 063 Pre-fail Always - 10276
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 3102
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 253 253 063 Pre-fail Always - 1
6 Read_Channel_Margin 0x0001 253 253 100 Pre-fail Offline - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0027 252 244 187 Pre-fail Always - 49874
9 Power_On_Minutes 0x0032 230 230 000 Old_age Always - 657h+20m
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x002b 253 252 157 Pre-fail Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x002b 253 252 223 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 246 246 000 Old_age Always - 3088
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 36
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 2954
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0008 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0008 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 252 246 000 Old_age Offline - 1
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0008 001 001 000 Old_age Offline - 12692
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
201 Soft_Read_Error_Rate 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
202 TA_Increase_Count 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
203 Run_Out_Cancel 0x000b 253 252 180 Pre-fail Always - 0
204 Shock_Count_Write_Opern 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
205 Shock_Rate_Write_Opern 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
207 Spin_High_Current 0x002a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
208 Spin_Buzz 0x002a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
209 Offline_Seek_Performnce 0x0024 190 189 000 Old_age Offline - 0
99 Unknown_Attribute 0x0004 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
100 Unknown_Attribute 0x0004 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
101 Unknown_Attribute 0x0004 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 32285 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
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 32285 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7783 hours (324 days + 7 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
84 51 00 fb ca 5d f8 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x085dcafb = 140364539

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 0c fb ca 5d f8 08 00:05:54.336 READ DMA
f8 00 00 00 00 00 f0 08 00:05:54.320 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
ec 00 00 00 00 00 b0 0a 00:05:54.320 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 b0 0a 00:05:54.320 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
f8 00 00 00 00 00 f0 08 00:05:54.320 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS

Error 32284 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7783 hours (324 days + 7 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
84 51 00 fb ca 5d f8 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x085dcafb = 140364539

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 0c fb ca 5d f8 08 00:05:54.128 READ DMA
f8 00 00 00 00 00 f0 08 00:05:54.128 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
ec 00 00 00 00 00 b0 0a 00:05:54.112 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 b0 0a 00:05:54.112 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
f8 00 00 00 00 00 f0 08 00:05:54.112 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS

Error 32283 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7783 hours (324 days + 7 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
84 51 00 fb ca 5d f8 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x085dcafb = 140364539

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 0c fb ca 5d f8 08 00:05:53.920 READ DMA
f8 00 00 00 00 00 f0 08 00:05:53.920 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
ec 00 00 00 00 00 b0 0a 00:05:53.904 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 b0 0a 00:05:53.904 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
f8 00 00 00 00 00 f0 08 00:05:53.904 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS

Error 32282 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7783 hours (324 days + 7 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
84 51 00 fb ca 5d f8 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x085dcafb = 140364539

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 0c fb ca 5d f8 08 00:05:53.728 READ DMA
c8 00 13 e8 ca 5d f8 08 00:05:53.728 READ DMA
c8 00 01 e7 ca 5d f8 08 00:05:53.728 READ DMA
c8 00 07 e0 ca 5d f8 08 00:05:53.728 READ DMA
c8 00 01 df ca 5d f8 08 00:05:53.728 READ DMA

Error 32281 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 7783 hours (324 days + 7 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
84 51 00 10 09 20 f0 Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x00200910 = 2099472

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 1e 10 09 20 f0 08 00:06:20.656 READ DMA
c8 00 01 0f 09 20 f0 08 00:06:20.656 READ DMA
c8 00 19 f6 08 20 f0 08 00:06:20.656 READ DMA
c8 00 6f 87 08 20 f0 08 00:06:20.656 READ DMA
c8 00 56 31 08 20 f0 08 00:06:20.656 READ DMA

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed: read failure 60% 6404 158084300
# 2 Short offline Completed: read failure 60% 3739 158084300
# 3 Short offline Completed: read failure 60% 3736 158084300

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.

Electro · 06-03-2010, 08:45 PM

If the drive is from IBM or Hitachi, then you could salvage the drive. Use the hard drive manufacture's utility to fix the drive. It should be mostly fix after IBM or Hitachi utilities are done. Though other hard drive manufacture's utilities are not that good to resurrect a drive, so try to use DBAN or "Darik's Boot and Nuke" to get rid of your data and send it to an eWaste.

In your case, you are out of luck.

business_kid · 06-04-2010, 03:15 AM

You are making a rod for your own back. If the hardware has reached end of life, bad blocks spread. If the box has no major uses and you don't want to spend on drives you could
1. run a livecd - you never heard of this one, buit it's space efficient and not bad http://kevux.org
2. If the bios allows a network boot, use pxe and no drives.

vayira · 06-04-2010, 04:11 AM

I checked out the seagate-maxtor "seatools" utility & found this... (edited)

Quote:

Erase Drive
-----------
ZERO FILL DATA PATTERN WRITING IS A DATA DESTRUCTIVE OPERATION
EQUIVALENT TO ERASING THE DATA OFF THE DRIVE.....

Zero ALL. This command writes zeros to every sector on the
hard drive. This test may take several hours to complete.....

A "Defective drive" can often be revived with a data-
destructive zero fill data pattern or a low level format. This
is because today's modern disc drives contain thousands of
spare sectors which are automatically reallocated if the drive
senses difficulty reading or writing. Since SeaTools is read-
only (data safe) occasionally a drive with many problem sectors
that have not reallocated to a spare sectors can be forced to
do so by writing to the sectors. Spare sector reallocation is
a normal intelligent drive operation.

I'd be interested to know what the info from smartctl actually means. Are we talking bad sectors or other problems?

Like I said before I do have another smaller drive where I install the system & I was thinking of using this one for holding a few large audio files. It wasn't that old when I first started getting errors from it.

I quite like paying with old falling-apart hardware to learn how things work... I wouldn't do it with my main box!