Hi friends.
Does Linux auto-powerdown a SATA hard-disk, if none of its partitions are being used/mounted? I have a WD 250GB drive on a SATA port, with ext3 partitions. 2-3 times I heard swishing sounds and clicks. This morning I fired up the Partition editor after one such event and found that the drive was not listed in the partition editor. A reboot fixed the problem.
Another issue was I am getting 'could not read block <7-8 digit number>' errors (which would terminate all the operations) when I tried to merge two partitions on this drive - by deleting one and growing the other. I got same error when I deleted the second one and created a new one of size equal to sum of earlier drives. I succeeded when I tried again second time.
I monitored the drive for 2-3 hours this morning by frequently loading the partition editor, but it appeared in the editor without fail.
Is a HDD failure imminent?
Regards.
On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:07 PM, rohit bhute rvbhute@gmail.com wrote:
I monitored the drive for 2-3 hours this morning by frequently loading the partition editor, but it appeared in the editor without fail.
Is a HDD failure imminent?
Have you run smart[1] tests[2] on it?
1. http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ 2. http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983
Mehul Ved wrote:
Have you run smart[1] tests[2] on it?
Thanks for the links! I have consistent failures on the drive at the same point. I ran four tests (3 short, 1 extended). The last test was after running 'e2fsck -c' on both partitions of the drive. On sdb5 (which was where the fault was occurring) a lot of errors were fixed.
root@mark2:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x000b82a1
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 63 488392064 244196001 5 Extended /dev/sdb5 189 68967044 34483428 83 Linux /dev/sdb6 68967108 488392064 209712478+ 83 Linux
root@mark2:~# smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdb smartctl version 5.38 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === 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 90% 2700 14364 # 2 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 2698 14364 # 3 Short offline Completed: read failure 90% 2690 14364 # 4 Short offline Completed: read failure 90% 2690 14364
I am off to get a new drive...
Thanks and regards. -- Rohit V. Bhute
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:12 PM, Rohit V Bhute rvbhute@gmail.com wrote:
I am off to get a new drive...
Though it looks like a drive failure, it wouldn't hurt to remove and fit in your hard disk again and also check the cables again. If still the symptoms exist, then it is inevitable to change the disk.
On Thursday 18 Dec 2008, Mehul Ved wrote:
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:12 PM, Rohit V Bhute rvbhute@gmail.com
wrote:
I am off to get a new drive...
Though it looks like a drive failure, it wouldn't hurt to remove and
When a drive makes noise which the OP noticed and reported, drive *failure* is imminent. Backup your data, wipe the disk clean and move on - don't waste time.
I am speaking from experience and have a stack of disks in my office. I don't know how to get rid of them - environmental concerns.
On Thursday 18 December 2008 10:31, Arun Khan wrote:
On Thursday 18 Dec 2008, Mehul Ved wrote:
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:12 PM, Rohit V Bhute rvbhute@gmail.com
wrote:
I am off to get a new drive...
Though it looks like a drive failure, it wouldn't hurt to remove and
When a drive makes noise which the OP noticed and reported, drive *failure* is imminent. Backup your data, wipe the disk clean and move on - don't waste time.
I am speaking from experience and have a stack of disks in my office. I don't know how to get rid of them - environmental concerns.
Dont throw them away. They have very good motors and control circuits. Very high precision servo positioning systems.
On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:07 PM, rohit bhute rvbhute@gmail.com wrote:
Is a HDD failure imminent?
Yes. Next time do your homework before asking questions whose answers are readily available all over the internet.
On Wednesday 17 Dec 2008, rohit bhute wrote:
Does Linux auto-powerdown a SATA hard-disk, if none of its partitions are being used/mounted? I have a WD 250GB drive on a SATA port, with ext3 partitions. 2-3 times I heard swishing sounds and clicks. This
When you hear such sounds from the hard disk, failure is imminent. Suggest you back up your files and replace it ASAP even if it seems to work.
On Wednesday 17 December 2008 09:37, rohit bhute wrote:
Hi friends.
Does Linux auto-powerdown a SATA hard-disk, if none of its partitions are being used/mounted? I have a WD 250GB drive on a SATA port, with ext3 partitions. 2-3 times I heard swishing sounds and clicks. This morning I fired up the Partition editor after one such event and found that the drive was not listed in the partition editor. A reboot fixed the problem.
Another issue was I am getting 'could not read block <7-8 digit number>' errors (which would terminate all the operations) when I tried to merge two partitions on this drive - by deleting one and growing the other. I got same error when I deleted the second one and created a new one of size equal to sum of earlier drives. I succeeded when I tried again second time.
I monitored the drive for 2-3 hours this morning by frequently loading the partition editor, but it appeared in the editor without fail.
Is a HDD failure imminent?
Most likely yes.
rohit bhute wrote:
Another issue was I am getting 'could not read block <7-8 digit number>' errors (which would terminate all the operations) when I tried to merge two partitions on this drive - by deleting one and growing the other. I got same error when I deleted the second one and created a new one of size equal to sum of earlier drives. I succeeded when I tried again second time.
To check your ext3 hdd for bad blocks, use 'e2fsck -c (or -cc) /dev/partition'. Do this using a live CD as your partition has to be unmounted for the check.
rohit bhute wrote:
Hi friends.
Does Linux auto-powerdown a SATA hard-disk, if none of its partitions are being used/mounted? I have a WD 250GB drive on a SATA port, with ext3 partitions. 2-3 times I heard swishing sounds and clicks. This morning I fired up the Partition editor after one such event and found that the drive was not listed in the partition editor. A reboot fixed the problem.
If your SATA power cable is not direct from the SMPS but has an extension connection to link to it then change that extension. Last year there was a bad lot that gave problems later on. Re-check your SATA data connection too.
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Arun Khan -
Dinesh Joshi -
jtd -
Mehul Ved -
rohit bhute -
Rohit V Bhute
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Rony