[plug] HD S.M.A.R.T monitoring under Linux

[Craig Ringer]

> http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
> 
> Anyone tried these or others?

I've used this tool, and the older version built into most distros 
('smartctl' and 'smartd'). They work very well indeed, at least at 
spotting failing Western Digital drives - *sigh*.

Seriously, the're pretty good. I've only really used them for confirming 
the dying status of already suspect drives, but they can tell you a lot 
about what's wrong and sometimes help you spot failing drives. Handy.

There's no point talking to most disk manufacturers about the data 
though. You'll get the endless litany 'download our drive tools 
from....'. Yay. <rant> OK for those manufacturers who have drive tools 
that DO something, but CERTAIN manufacturer's drive tools don't do much 
of anything and fail to spot issues with a drive that has 480 bad 
sectors. Problem repaired my ass - there were more bad sectors when the 
tools run finished than when it started (as reported by SMART) and the 
number kept on growing and eating data after the drive was 'repaired'. 
</rant>

Smartctl is immensely handy, and should be the familiar tool of anybody 
working on machines without RAID.

Craig Ringer