Hard Disk Sentinel


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I've not used this but looking at its web page, I think some of the functionality is builtin to unRAID already. unRAID monitors disk temperatures, SMART, does short and long SMART test. Performance testing here

Nothing that really gives you a history of these things, though.

 

If you really want to use HD Sentinel, I think you should be able to unzip it to your flash drive and then follow the instructions given at the website for using it. I have not tried it.

 

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TLDL: Its a commericial piece of software attempting (and failing) to analyze the output from the free software already included in unRaid...  (BTW, the linux version is not what you're used to in running the Windows version)

 

Download http://www.hdsentinel.com/hdslin/hdsentinel-016-x64.tar.gz, and extract the file and store it on your flash drive.  Then from the command prompt, /boot/HDSentinel to run and analyze.

 

BUT, if you ask me, the program is a POS, and smartctl (which unRaid's UI leverages and notifies you about problems with the drives is better.)

 

Consider this drive.  Output from smartctl:

root@Server_A:/tmp/GitHub# smartctl -A /dev/sdm
smartctl 6.5 2016-05-07 r4318 [x86_64-linux-4.9.19-unRAID] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   099   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       2553328
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   094   093   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   091   091   020    Old_age   Always       -       10097
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   053   048   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       953529061048
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   068   068   000    Old_age   Always       -       28724
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       295
183 Runtime_Bad_Block       0x0032   092   092   000    Old_age   Always       -       8
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   088   088   099    Old_age   Always   FAILING_NOW 12
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0 0 0
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   077   063   045    Old_age   Always       -       23 (Min/Max 17/30)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       87
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   043   043   000    Old_age   Always       -       115443
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   023   040   000    Old_age   Always       -       23 (0 16 0 0 0)
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   198   000    Old_age   Always       -       51
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       4161h+19m+20.345s
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       45739743333
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       765808399191

And the output from HDSentinel

 

Quote

HDD Device 12: /dev/sdm
HDD Model ID : ST3000DM001-1CH166
HDD Serial No: Z1F33KPN
HDD Revision : CC27
HDD Size     : 2861588 MB
Interface    : S-ATA Gen3, 6 Gbps
Temperature  : 22 °C
Highest Temp.: 40 °C
Health       : 88 %
Performance  : 100 %
Power on time: 1196 days, 20 hours
Est. lifetime: 486 days
  12 errors occured during data transfer.
  At this point, warranty replacement of the disk is not yet possible, only if the health drops further.
  Problems occurred between the communication of the disk and the host 51 times.
  In case of sudden system crash, reboot, blue-screen-of-death, inaccessible file(s)/folder(s), it is recommended to verify data and power cables, connections - and if possible try different cables to prevent further problems.
  More information: http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_case_communication_error.php
  It is recommended to monitor the drive to be notified about any new problems.
    No actions needed.

 

 

HDSentinel makes a big argument on their website about how the manufacturers set the thresholds such that they cannot be hit, and how their method of analysis is far better, and yet according to smartctl which is reading the threshholds set by Seagate, and reporting the values, and the drive itself says that it is in a failing state, and yet HDSentinel states Yeah, there's no problem, don't worry about it....

 

By the way, the end to end error that HDSentinel is saying "12 errors occured during transfer" is one way of putting it, albeit the wrong way.  The proper way of putting it is that there was a communication error between the drive head and the sata interface on the drive (ie: an actual physical failure), which is why Seagate sets a single failure as "FAILING NOW"...

 

Outside of this rather large error on their analysis, it is interesting in that it attempts to put into english what is shown on the drive's SMART reports.  BTW, you can RMA a drive before any attribute is in failing status.

Edited by Squid
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Just found the smartctl data. Nice job. I had HD Sentinel, figured I use it on this server. :) Thank you so much Squid, you have been answering my questions... are you stalking me? :)

 

Wow, I would have to agree with you. The report is far from what I am used to. I guess I was spoiled using HD Sentinel in Windows...

Edited by Sabot
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2 hours ago, Sabot said:

Just found the smartctl data.

You can get that from command line as Squid did, but we usually just click on the disk in the webUI to look at its Attributes. You can of course see the temps in the webUI also, and you can even run short and extended SMART tests all from the webUI.

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  • 1 year later...

@Squid So I am still pretty new to all this, and don't understand where it says pre-fail and old age are they just "normal states" for all drives regardless if its a new or old drive as long as they are working?

 

I have a 1TB drive I got with some gear and don't want to use it if I just have to replace it in a month or so. Thats what lead me to this thread and the look into HDsentinel for the expected life left portion of the report.

Attached is the report from unraid.

 

drive stats.PNG

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This thread is 2 years old, so I guess I won't accuse you of hijacking another users support thread. It is usually better to start your own thread though.

41 minutes ago, Arcau said:

I have a 1TB drive I got with some gear and don't want to use it if I just have to replace it in a month or so.

Just throwing another disk into the array for no particular reason is not really a good idea. I recommend not using any more disks than needed for capacity and add others as needed. Fewer disks means fewer opportunities for problems.

 

And I don't recommend using old or small disks. Larger disks are more cost effective in several ways. You get more storage per dollar. A large disk gets you the same amount of storage as several smaller disks and only uses one port. And larger disks typically perform better than smaller disks due to increased density. And as mentioned in the previous paragraph, fewer disks means fewer opportunities for problems.

 

And you should never use any disk of any size unless you trust it. Parity by itself cannot recover anything. ALL bits of parity PLUS ALL bits of ALL other disks must be reliably read in order to reliably reconstruct a disk.

 

So the idea that you might put in a small disk that you just happen to have and are uncertain about should really be reconsidered.

 

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