Re: [gentoo-user] recovery from /var corruption?

[Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 8:01 AM, Alex Schuster <wonko@wonkology.org> wrote:
> Mark Knecht writes:
>
>>    Yes, I do use smartctl on some other machines although I'm not very
>> good about it and your write-up is helpful so thanks for that.
>>
>>    My wife's machines is older and and I don't think SMART is
>> supported on her drive. Note the lack of a * on the SMART line in
>> hdparm -I:
>
> Okay, but it still states:
>
>>          *    SMART error logging
>>          *    SMART self-test
>
> So maybe smartctl -t long /dev/hda still works? Just give it a try.

No, -t long fails the same way. Basically every time I try to use
smartctl on the drive it seems to issue one of these 3-line reports
about SectorIDNotFound in dmesg. My other machines don't do this. Not
a good sign I think...

hda: task_no_data_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: task_no_data_intr: error=0x10 { SectorIdNotFound },
LBAsect=16777008, sector=18446744073709551615
hda: possibly failed opcode: 0xb0
hda: task_no_data_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: task_no_data_intr: error=0x10 { SectorIdNotFound },
LBAsect=262192, sector=18446744073709551615
hda: possibly failed opcode: 0xb0
hda: task_no_data_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: task_no_data_intr: error=0x10 { SectorIdNotFound }, LBAsect=48,
sector=18446744073709551615
hda: possibly failed opcode: 0xb0

These command create the same sort of lines in dmesg:

dragonfly ~ # smartctl -i /dev/hda
smartctl version 5.38 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Caviar family
Device Model:     WDC WD1600BB-00FTA0
Serial Number:    WD-WMAES2091586
Firmware Version: 15.05R15
User Capacity:    160,041,885,696 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   6
ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is:    Fri Feb 26 08:49:00 2010 PST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Disabled

SMART Disabled. Use option -s with argument 'on' to enable it.
dragonfly ~ # smartctl -P show /dev/hda
smartctl version 5.38 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

Drive found in smartmontools Database.  Drive identity strings:
MODEL:              WDC WD1600BB-00FTA0
FIRMWARE:           15.05R15
match smartmontools Drive Database entry:
MODEL REGEXP:       ^WDC WD(2|3|4|6|8|10|12|16|18|20|25)00BB-.*$
FIRMWARE REGEXP:    .*
MODEL FAMILY:       Western Digital Caviar family
ATTRIBUTE OPTIONS:  None preset; no -v options are required.
dragonfly ~ #


<SNIP>
>>
>> I've not tried the -T permissive options.
>
> I would :)  There is also a BIOS setting for SMART, but I think this does
> not matter here, and it's only for being able to report a failing drive
> before booting.

Tried -T permissive and -T verypermissive. Same result. More lines and
told it's not turning on.

Could this have ANYTHING to do with kernel configuation? Is there
anything required at the kernel level that I might not have turned on?

>
>> I've never used badblocks as it seems I should only do that off-line.
>> This might be a good time to boot with a CD and try it out.
>
> In read-only mode, you can use it when the system is running. Only the
> write test (option -n) refuses to run if partitions are mounted from the
> drive. So I'd do the 'badblocks -sv /dev/hda' right now, if you do not
> need the drive at full speed for a while. You can interrupt it at any
> point with Ctrl-Z and continue with the fg command.
>
OK, I've started that test and will report back later what it says.

Thanks!

- Mark