Can I Return my Hard Disk? :)

FredJones · 11-11-2012, 10:18 AM

I power down my PC and take a day off every week. Last week when I rebooted I had a problem of "unable to find root device" and I followed Arch Linux forum posts and did a live-CD chroot fix procedure and then I think it failed still to boot once and then it just booted and worked.

Anyhow this week when I rebooted I got the same "unable to find root device" problem and even though I didn't think it was necessary, I did that procedure again. Then I just rebooted into my main system four times in a row until it worked. First three times I got the same error.

This is not a software problem. I mean, I'm no genius, but I think my PC has a problem "finding" the hard drive.

SMART test looks OK I think (this drive is /dev/sdb but it has my root system on it):

Code:

$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdb
smartctl 6.0 2012-10-10 r3643 [x86_64-linux-3.6.6-1-ARCH] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     SAMSUNG SpinPoint F3
Device Model:     SAMSUNG HD502HJ
Serial Number:    S20BJ90B983233
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0024e9 206255b87
Firmware Version: 1AJ10001
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 6
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Sat Nov 10 23:53:51 2012 IST
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: 		( 4800) 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: 	 (  80) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x003f)	SCT Status supported.
					SCT Error Recovery Control 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     0x002f   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0026   056   056   000    Old_age   Always       -       4378
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0023   083   082   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       5358
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       69
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   252   252   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0024   252   252   015    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       5263
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       69
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   064   062   000    Old_age   Always       -       25 (Min/Max 12/38)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   252   252   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0036   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x002a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
225 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       69

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  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      5262         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5261         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 0
Note: revision number not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Completed [00% left] (0-65535)
    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.

I have read that "Pre-Fail" doesn't necessary mean it's going to die soon.

I see I mail ordered this disk January 19 of this year. It's a "Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB HD502HJ" I think the warranty is for a year, but I don't see that I can "prove" that it's failing necessarily. Can I?

On the other hand, even though it's an intermittent problem, I don't see how this could be a software problem...

segmentation_fault · 11-11-2012, 11:28 AM

Yes, the SMART log looks ok. The next step I would take is to run Samsung's own diagnostic tools. Be extra careful, as some tests may destroy any data on the disk. You should be able to find them on their site. If possible, try to insall the drive on another computer and see how it goes there. And, ofcourse, make a verified backup of that drive ASAP.

H_TeXMeX_H · 11-11-2012, 12:24 PM

I think the drive is fine. Check the cables, maybe it is one of the cables. You can also try plugging it into a different SATA port.

FredJones · 11-11-2012, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H

I think the drive is fine. Check the cables, maybe it is one of the cables. You can also try plugging it into a different SATA port.

Well IIRC I only have two and they're both used.

But I could check the cables.

Somebody else said maybe I should refer to the UUID in grub/menu.lst instead of /dev/sdb so I will try that too.

Thank you.

FredJones · 11-15-2012, 01:52 PM

A power outage caused a hard reboot and now the drive doesn't appear at all.

I installed a fresh Arch Linux on /dev/sda and it's fine. I had to boot into a CD and USB several times before I got the install to work and once or twice I did see /dev/sdb in lsblk but mostly not.

It appears in the PC's Bios display if I choose that to select boot device.

I have some files there I would like to get if possible.

Any ideas how I can convince Arch that that disk exists?

FredJones · 11-15-2012, 03:14 PM

what I meant is that I used the UUID but it still says it can't find that device (and lists it by its UUID). I figured out a workaround--I just rebooted into the USB stick repeatedly (because that's the fastest way to get a shell) until lsblk did finally show the 2nd disk. Now I am copied over the files I would like to have.

I suppose I can't actually be certain if this intermittent error is on the disk or the mobo or the cable without more experimenting....

FredJones · 11-24-2012, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H

I think the drive is fine. Check the cables, maybe it is one of the cables. You can also try plugging it into a different SATA port.

I put the drive and its cable in another PC and Linux (hard disk install and USB live) found it fine when I booted 8 times in a row.

I put it back in my PC and used the cable (and port) of the DVD drive and now it's fine. I have for SATA ports, BTW, not two like I said.

Anyhow I booted 5 times (hard disk and USB) and it looks fine.

Thank you for the help.