From: Dr. C. F. R. <cf...@im...> - 2010-07-25 14:25:46
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Thanks again for answering my earlier questions. I'm hoping somebody will be sufficiently patient to answer a couple more! 1) The Load_Cycle_Count of my (new) disk seems to be increasing very quickly. I've read conflicting things about this online. A number of sources seem to think this is cause for considerable alarm because most disks are designed to withstand a maximum number (300,000 or 600,000) of such cycles. Others maintain that this maximum does not refer to the Load_Cycle_Count and that a high value is merely a sign that the disk is correctly parking the heads to avoid the risk of data loss. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find a convincingly definitive answer to this. Can anybody tell me if I should be concerned? 2) I know (from the FAQ) that Western Digital firmware initialises certain attributes after 8 power-on hours or 120 spin-ups and that the worst value for these attributes is reported as 253 until then. My disk has now passed the power-on hours point by a considerable margin but these attributes are still reported as 253. Is this expected? I'm not sure which attribute the spin-ups corresponds to or if this explains the continuing anomaly. ---smartctl -a -q noserial disk0--- smartctl version 5.38 [powerpc-apple-darwin8.11.0] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: WDC WD3200BEVE-00A0HT0 Firmware Version: 11.01A11 User Capacity: 320,072,933,376 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated Local Time is: Sun Jul 25 15:11:34 2010 BST 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: (9600) 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: ( 113) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 5) 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 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 185 185 021 Pre-fail Always - 1725 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 31 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 41 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0033 100 253 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 15 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 14 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 199 199 000 Old_age Always - 4006 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 115 100 000 Old_age Always - 32 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0009 200 200 051 Pre-fail Offline - 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 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 38 - # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 35 - # 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 20 - # 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 19 - # 5 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 4 - # 6 Short offline Completed without error 00% 2 - # 7 Extended offline Aborted by host 90% 2 - # 8 Extended offline Aborted by host 80% 2 - # 9 Short offline Completed without error 00% 1 - 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. ---end output--- Many thanks, Clea F. Rees |
From: Christian F. <Chr...@t-...> - 2010-07-26 21:18:44
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Dr. Clea F. Rees wrote: > 1) The Load_Cycle_Count of my (new) disk seems to be increasing very > quickly. I've read conflicting things about this online. A number of > sources seem to think this is cause for considerable alarm because most > disks are designed to withstand a maximum number (300,000 or 600,000) > of such cycles. Others maintain that this maximum does not refer to the > Load_Cycle_Count and that a high value is merely a sign that the disk > is correctly parking the heads to avoid the risk of data loss. > Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find a convincingly definitive > answer to this. Can anybody tell me if I should be concerned? > Possibly. There are reports about WDC drives with high Load_Cycle_Count due to "Intelli-park". See http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/ticket/82 Cheers, Christian |
From: <cf...@im...> - 2010-07-27 19:28:18
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On Mon 26th Jul, 2010 at 23:18, Christian Franke seems to have written: > Dr. Clea F. Rees wrote: >> 1) The Load_Cycle_Count of my (new) disk seems to be increasing very >> quickly. I've read conflicting things about this online. A number of >> sources seem to think this is cause for considerable alarm because most >> disks are designed to withstand a maximum number (300,000 or 600,000) >> of such cycles. Others maintain that this maximum does not refer to the >> Load_Cycle_Count and that a high value is merely a sign that the disk >> is correctly parking the heads to avoid the risk of data loss. >> Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find a convincingly definitive >> answer to this. Can anybody tell me if I should be concerned? >> > > Possibly. There are reports about WDC drives with high Load_Cycle_Count due > to "Intelli-park". > See http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/ticket/82 > For what it is worth, I'm currently trying to get Western Digital to address both issues I mentioned here (i.e. high Load_Cycle_Count and apparently uninitialised attributes). I'm not sure from the link you gave above whether there is anything which I can or should do myself about this. Does anybody have any experience with this? I do not want to make things worse, obviously, but I do find it alarming that the figure is now over 7,000 in 5 days. I don't fully understand the discussion in the link regarding possible corrective actions or whether these are recommended. Thanks very much, Clea |
From: Mark C. <mar...@ho...> - 2010-08-01 06:00:18
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Dr. Clea F. Rees wrote: > 1) The Load_Cycle_Count of my (new) disk seems to be increasing very > quickly. I've read conflicting things about this online. A number of > sources seem to think this is cause for considerable alarm because > most > disks are designed to withstand a maximum number (300,000 or 600,000) > of such cycles. Others maintain that this maximum does not refer to > the > Load_Cycle_Count and that a high value is merely a sign that the disk > is correctly parking the heads to avoid the risk of data loss. > Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find a convincingly definitive > answer to this. Can anybody tell me if I should be concerned? My laptop has an older IBM disk with: Model Family: IBM Travelstar 4GT family Device Model: IBM-DTCA-24090 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 001 001 001 Old_age Always FAILING_NOW 68842 225 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 001 001 050 Old_age Always FAILING_NOW 3349653 Load_Cycle_Count/Power_On_Hours = 48.7, ... so ~ 50 "Load Cycles" PER HOUR, and I would say this is just parking the heads and NOT a full load/unload. I understand the Load/Unload makes a noticable click and possibly spins down the drive, none of which I hear. (This laptop formatted March 1998 and often left running all day and overnight since then, so Power On House=68842 is very likely correct as HOURS.) Obviously, this indicates nothing about YOUR disk. Mark |
From: <cf...@im...> - 2010-08-01 15:01:40
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On Sun 1st Aug, 2010 at 18:00, Mark Cranness seems to have written: > Dr. Clea F. Rees wrote: >> 1) The Load_Cycle_Count of my (new) disk seems to be increasing very >> quickly. I've read conflicting things about this online. A number of >> sources seem to think this is cause for considerable alarm because >> most >> disks are designed to withstand a maximum number (300,000 or 600,000) >> of such cycles. Others maintain that this maximum does not refer to >> the >> Load_Cycle_Count and that a high value is merely a sign that the disk >> is correctly parking the heads to avoid the risk of data loss. >> Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find a convincingly definitive >> answer to this. Can anybody tell me if I should be concerned? > > My laptop has an older IBM disk with: > > Model Family: IBM Travelstar 4GT family > Device Model: IBM-DTCA-24090 > 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 001 001 001 Old_age Always FAILING_NOW 68842 > 225 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 001 001 050 Old_age Always FAILING_NOW 3349653 > > Load_Cycle_Count/Power_On_Hours = 48.7, > ... so ~ 50 "Load Cycles" PER HOUR, and I would say this is just parking the heads and NOT a full load/unload. > I understand the Load/Unload makes a noticable click and possibly spins down the drive, none of which I hear. > Thanks. I'm getting more than 100 per hour but of course, this is only alarming if this attribute is correlated with disk failure. I don't hear a click either but I do not hear clicks from the drive at all so I'm not sure what this tells me. If Load_Cycle_Count is not a full load/unload, I'm surprised that Western Digital haven't said that rather than pursuing the matter. My question has now been referred to second level support and I'm awaiting developments. For some other drives, WD has suggested that certain applications and operating systems are not compatible with power-saving disks. However, my drive isn't one of those they list (even though they referred me to the page and DOS-only firmware update) so I'm waiting to see what they say. Interesting that your Load_Cycle_Count is 225. Mine is 193. Also, the "FAILING_NOW" for 9 and 225 is interesting. The threshold on my drive for 9 and 193 is 000 which I think means it won't use these attributes to predict failure? > (This laptop formatted March 1998 and often left running all day and overnight since then, so Power On House=68842 is very > likely correct as HOURS.) That's quite an impressive age! Thanks again, cfr |