[smartmontools-support] how are attribute ids mapped to attribute names and raw values interpreted?

[Grove, M. <mik...@hp...>]

Smartmon gurus,

I've been playing with smartmon, and am curious to know how the attribute IDs (e.g. '1') are mapped to attribute names (e.g. 'Raw_Read_Error_Rate').  >From reading the FAQ entry at http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/faq.html#FAQ-database I can tell that there is a database that performs this mapping based on the drive, and that the database is updated by users running smartctl with specific flags against their drives and mailing the output to the smartmon developers.  I know that one of the challenges with SMART is that the attribute IDs aren't standardized (although some lists exist, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis,_and_Reporting_Technology) and different vendors can use the same attribute IDs for different purposes.  That makes me wonder if the text description for an attribute ID is available in some fashion through SMART interfaces (e.g. Windows' MSStorageDriver_FailurePredictData WBEM class).  Is that the case, or is there something else available in the SMART data structures that enables one to map attribute IDs to meaningful names?

A related question is how the raw values are interpreted in a drive specific way.  E.g. the wikipedia entry on SMART (from above) indicates that Power on Hours (attribute id 9) has a raw value in hours, minutes, or seconds depending on the manufacturer.  Does smartmon display the RAW_VALUE differently based on its analysis of whether hours, minutes, or seconds are used?  Is this unit information stored in SMART data structures?

Thanks.

-mike