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Version 9 (modified by Christian Franke, 14 years ago) ( diff )

Add Ubuntu bug database, some syntax fixes

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Smartmontools Help Page

Table of Contents

  1. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
  2. Mailinglist
  3. Serious Problem Reports
  4. Howto read smartctl reports
  5. Distribution-specific bug reports
  6. No access to Sourceforge services?

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

If you have problems or need support, first look at the page with answers to frequently asked questions.

Mailinglist

If you don't find an answer in the FAQs, the next step is, to ​search the support mailing list archives.

Attention! Sourceforge has a problem with the search function at the time. Don't select a mailinglist in the form, otherwise you will get no results at all.. (see this ticket)

Or use the following (and usually up to date) email archives:

Gmane - ​smartmontools-support
MARC - ​smartmontools-support
MARC - ​smartmontools-database
MARK Mail - ​smartmontools-support offers interesting sophisticated search options and also present an overall analysis of the mailinglist activities. One disadvantage at the time is, that their copy of smartmontools-support email archive starts in Sep/2008. So only a part of our collection is available there. The other drawback is, that you need javascript enabled to use it.

If you don't find an answer to your question in the archives, then please send an email to the ​smartmontools-support mailing list. This is a moderated forum: you are not required to subscribe to the list in order to post your question. You can ask all questions concerning the installation and use of smartmontools. Or perhaps you want to become a developer, or ​suggest some new extensions?

Serious Problem Reports

If a serious problem (system lockup, etc.) gets reported to us, it gets added to the ​WARNINGS file in smartmontools. So far there are only a few problem systems listed.

If you are worried about your disks Health state, because smartctl gave critical warnings or reported strange attribute values: Have a look at the FAQ page and consult the section on how to read smartctl reports.

If the drive fails a self-test, but still has 'PASSED' SMART health status, this usually means that there is a corrupted (uncorrectable=UNC) sector on the disk. See ​Bad block HOWTO for instructions about how to force this sector to reallocate (Linux only).

Howto read smartctl reports

Example output

  • ​MAXTOR 4K080H4 80 GB 5400 RPM (has failing SMART status, some failed self-tests)
  • ​MAXTOR 4K080H4 80 GB 5400 RPM (has failing SMART status - calibration retry count)
  • ​MAXTOR 4K080H4 80 GB 5400 RPM (has failing SMART status - calibration retry count)
  • ​MAXTOR 4K080H4 80 GB 5400 RPM (failing self-tests. Note Current_Pending_Sector raw value and Uncorrectable (UNC) read errors)

Distribution-specific bug reports

The smartmontools package supports a number of different operating systems. Some of those operating systems are also distributed by multiple sources, and some of these maintain a database of bug reports. Here are links:

If you can provide additional distribution or OS-specific bug-database links, please send an email to ​smartmontools-support mailing list.

No access to Sourceforge services?

Our project offers File Download. Mailing List, Mail Archives, SVN and this Trac. SourceForge is a free service, which supports a very large number of users and projects. Please check the ​SourceForge Site Status Page to see the maintenance schedule and to learn if SourceForge is experiencing unscheduled system outages or other problems.

License
All content in this wiki is published under ​GNU GPL.

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