S.M.A.R.T. attribute meaning

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S.M.A.R.T. attribute meaning

As already said in the short description of the S.M.A.R.T. standard, each attribute has its own value, meaning, and importance. Unfortunately, each manufacturer can make extensions to S.M.A.R.T. attributes and most of them prefer to keeptheir own extensions in secret.

Information in this chapter, in most cases, is unofficial, although this is true information.

The information below is common for all disk manufacturers meaning of S.M.A.R.T. attributes.

 

ID
#

Attribute name

Meaning of attribute

1

Raw Read Error Rate

Count of non-corrected read errors. More errors (i.e. lower attribute value) means worse condition of disk surface.

2

Throughput Performance

Overall (general) throughput performance of HDD

3

Spin Up Time

Average time of spindle spin up time (from stopped to fully operational)

4

Start/Stop Count

Count of spindle start/stop cycles. Raw value probably shows total number of on/off HDD.

5

Reallocated Sectors Count

Count of reallocated sectors. When the HDD finds a read/write error, it will mark this sector as "reallocated" and transfer data to the special reserved area. That's why on a modern HDD you can't see "BAD blocks" while testing the surface - all bad blocks are hidden in reallocated sectors. The more sectors reallocated (i.e.lower attribute value), the worse the condition of disk surface.

7

Seek Error Rate

Count of seek errors. When your HDD reads data, it positions heads in the needed place. If there is a failure in the mechanical positioning system, a seek error arises. More seek errors (i.e. lower attribute value) - indicates worse condition of a disk surface and disk mechanical subsystem.

8

Seek Time Performance

Performance of seek operations. Shows how fast seek operations are going. So, if this attribute is lowering, it's a symptom of bugs in the HDD mechanical subsystem.

9

Power-On Hours

Count of hours in power on state. Raw value of this attribute shows total count of hours (or minutes, or seconds - it depends on disk manufacturer) in power on state.

 

IBM

 

ID
#

Attribute name

Meaning of attribute

10

Spin Retry Count

Count of retry of spin start attempts. If the HDD can't start its spindle on the first try (to make HDD work) it makes another try - and so on while the spindle will not rotate normally. This attribute stores a count of start retries.

12

Device Power Cycle Count

Count of full HDD power cycle. It probably means "start - stop" (power on - power off) of HDD. Attribute importance is identical to "Power-On Hours".

191

Gsense Error Rate

 

192

Power off Retract Count

 

193

Load/Unload Cycle Count

 

196

Reallocation Event Count

 

197

Current Pending Sector Count

 

198

Off-Line Scan Uncorrectable Sector Count

 

199

Ultra DMA CRC Error Count (Rate)

Count of errors found in data transfer in Ultra-DMA (UDMA-33,66,100) mode by CRC (control sum). Just one more method of error control in data transfer operations, but for high-speed transfer modes.

220

Disk Shift

 

221

G-Sense Error Rate

 

222

Loaded Hours

 

223

Load Retry Count

 

224

Load Friction

 

225

Load Cycle Count

 

226

Load-in Time

 

227

Torq-amp Count

 

228

Power-off Retract Count

 

 

 

 

  

Fujitsu

 

ID
#

Attribute name

Meaning of attribute

12

Drive Power Cycle Count

Count of full HDD power cycle. It probably means "start - stop" (power on - power off) of HDD. Attribute importance is identical to "Power-On Hours".

200

Write Error Rate

Count of non-corrected write errors. More errors (i.e. lower attribute value) means worse condition of disk surface.

  

Quantum

 

ID
#

Attribute name

Meaning of attribute

11

Recalibration Retries

 

12

Drive Power Cycle Count

Count of full HDD power cycle. It probably means "start - stop" (power on - power off) of HDD. Attribute importance is identical to "Power-On Hours".

 

Soft Read Error Rate

 

199

Ultra ATA CRC Error Count (Rate)

Count of errors found in data transfer in Ultra-DMA (UDMA-33,66,100) mode by CRC (control sum). Just one more method for error control in data transfer operations, but for high-speed transfer modes.

 

Unfortunately, as you can see, this table is not complete and, most likely, on your HDD SIGuardian shows some attributes with the name "Unknown attribute". It means that we don't have any information about the name and meaning of this attribute.

This is all because each manufacturer hides information about S.M.A.R.T.

If you have any information (maybe some internal technical documentation) about the meaning of S.M.A.R.T. attributes in specific HDD's or specific manufacturers - please, mail mail us.


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