Type this from ssh or telnet:

smartctl  -a  -d  ata  /dev/sdX | todos >/boot/smarthistory/diskX.txt

 

maybe I did it wrong, but I got this..

 

root@media:~# smartctl  -a  -d  ata  /dev/sdb | todos >/boot/smarthistory/diskb.txt

-bash: /boot/smarthistory/diskb.txt: No such file or directory

My guess is the smarthistory directory doesn't exist under boot.  You have to create that before running that command.

Oh well, I guess I'll just hope it's okay.

If you run another smart report, you can see the results/progress of the test.

 

I had to shutdown my laptop (which I used to start the test, via putty) before the 3 hours had passed.  I assumed the test would continue, since I thought it was actually running on the server.

 

I just ran

smartctl --test=long /dev/sdb

on my laptop (in a new putty session), and it seems to have just restarted the test again, but didn't provide any results from the last test.

 

Do I just need to leave this session open on my laptop until it finishes, or how can I see the results of the long test?

 

It runs on the drive, you don't have to stay connected.  You should see output like this in the smart report:

 

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1

Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error

# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error      00%      7071        -

# 2  Extended offline    Aborted by host              60%      6850        -

# 3  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      60%      3003        -

# 4  Short offline      Completed without error      00%      2939        -

You DO have to disable any automatic spin-down timers, as that WILL abort the "long test"

So, if you have 1 hour spin-down, and the long test normally would take 4 hours, it would abort after 1 hour when unRAID spins down the disk.

 

That was shown in these two attempts at running a "long" test in the smart report excerpt you attached to your post.

# 2  Extended offline    Aborted by host              60%      6850        -

# 3  Extended offline    Interrupted (host reset)      60%      3003        -

That was really just a sample output.  Those 2 failed test on mine were operator error.  I forgot it was running and recycled the server twice...

That was really just a sample output.  Those 2 failed test on mine were operator error.  I forgot it was running and recycled the server twice...

I understood it was a sample from your server, but it did illustrate exactly the type of abort of a test if you were to allow unRAID to spin down the drive from inactivity.

 

Basically, I was telling the person with the off-line-disk to remember to disable ANY disk-spin-down for the duration of the long-test.

Thanks for the info, that is good to know.  It is kinda surprising that the drive would honor a spin down while a test is running.  That would explain a few times in the past when my test aborted for no apparent reason and I was thinking it was the drive.  Never thought about that before...