Determining a hard disks failure based on S.M.A.R.T when its assesment shows as passed

0

I've been taking a look at some failed hard drives and confused over SMART and how it concludes its assessments as 'PASSED' for drives which get identified as failed by datacenter technicians.

I've left an example SMART report for a failed drive which was replaced below.

My questions are:

  1. Why is the drive showing as passed with so many ATA errors
  2. The number of Offline Uncorrectables was very high
  3. Reallocated Sectors and current pending sectors had gone up

Seeing the report below, how would 1 accurately conclude a drives faulty state, was my initial assumption to check Offline Uncorrectables and reallocated sectors a sure-fire way of determining that this drive is faulty, or are their ways to fix this software wise without replacing a whole HDD?

Was there tips and tricks technicians have for scenarios to make it easier for anyone to understand a report such as this?

=== 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:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:                (  113) 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:        ( 288) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x003d) 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     0x000b   100   100   016    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   137   137   054    Pre-fail  Offline      -       104
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   144   144   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       207 (Average 206)
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       40
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       2
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   128   128   020    Pre-fail  Offline      -       18
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   097   097   000    Old_age   Always       -       22634
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       40
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       936
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       936
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   187   187   000    Old_age   Always       -       32 (Min/Max 17/53)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       134
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 17 (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 17 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 21280 hours (886 days + 16 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 41 00 00 00 00 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 18 00 83 ec 40 08   9d+19:20:00.448  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 10 00 82 ec 40 08   9d+19:19:57.618  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 08 00 81 ec 40 08   9d+19:19:57.617  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 00 80 ec 40 08   9d+19:19:57.617  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 f0 00 7f ec 40 08   9d+19:19:57.616  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 16 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 18424 hours (767 days + 16 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 43 00 00 00 00 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 38 00 f0 ed 40 08  16d+00:38:38.932  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 30 00 ef ed 40 08  16d+00:38:36.185  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 28 00 ee ed 40 08  16d+00:38:36.184  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 20 00 ed ed 40 08  16d+00:38:36.184  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 18 00 ec ed 40 08  16d+00:38:36.183  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 15 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 18424 hours (767 days + 16 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 43 00 00 00 00 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 98 00 70 ed 40 08  16d+00:38:35.858  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 90 00 6f ed 40 08  16d+00:38:33.101  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 88 00 6e ed 40 08  16d+00:38:33.101  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 80 00 6d ed 40 08  16d+00:38:33.100  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 78 00 6c ed 40 08  16d+00:38:33.100  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 14 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 18424 hours (767 days + 16 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 43 00 00 00 00 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 20 00 63 ed 40 08  16d+00:38:31.149  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 18 00 62 ed 40 08  16d+00:38:28.310  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 10 00 61 ed 40 08  16d+00:38:28.309  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 08 00 60 ed 40 08  16d+00:38:28.308  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 00 5f ed 40 08  16d+00:38:28.308  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 13 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 18258 hours (760 days + 18 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 43 00 00 00 00 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 08 18 90 82 ed 40 08   9d+02:34:40.061  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 08 10 88 82 ed 40 08   9d+02:34:37.305  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  61 08 08 88 82 ed 40 08   9d+02:34:37.305  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08   9d+02:34:37.296  SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
  27 00 00 00 00 00 e0 08   9d+02:34:37.295  READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT [OBS-ACS-3]

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%     22610         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16798         -
# 3  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16791         -
# 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16790         -
# 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16790         -
# 6  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16783         -
# 7  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16782         -
# 8  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16737         -
# 9  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16662         -
#10  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16642         -
#11  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     16635         -
#12  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       241         -
#13  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       239         -
#14  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       239         -
#15  Short offline       Completed without error       00%         2         -
#16  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.
raid
hard-drive
smart
drive-failure
asked on Server Fault Nov 29, 2020 by Jakeinzah

0 Answers

Nobody has answered this question yet.


User contributions licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0