Ubuntu
gnome-disk-utility package

Disk Utility reports slower initial spinup time via S.M.A.R.T.

Asked by bioShark

Using: Ubuntu 11.10, on a Intel Q6600, Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB.

I have set my PC on Suspend (not the first time) and after I came back, pressed Enter and after logging in everything was back to normal. However, I had a message from Disk Utility that one disk reports errors. I entered Disk Utility, and my Samsung 2TB disk, the one on which my Ubuntu is installed, had the SMART Status turned red, with error message on it. The error was:

Spinup time failed Value 21, Threshold value was 25 (so the error was reported because 21 < 25) I restarted and booted up in Windows to see what HD Tune is reporting. Unfortunately it was exactly the same 21/25.

After reading up on Wiki about SMART and the errors, I discovered that Spinup time is the time required for the disk to reach full spinning speed in milliseconds.

Then it hit me that, in Ubuntu I had Suspended the system, making essentially all my hardware stop. And when I rebooted to Windows, the hardware doesn't really stop, so SMART's reading of the Spinup time was still from Ubuntu's suspension. So I did a full PC stop and then booted up again, both in Ubuntu and Windows to see if there are different readings. Both reported successful Spinup time, 68 (a little better then 21 :) ), although in Disk Utility I have a nice message: Failed in the Past

So now I am pretty sure that Ubuntu didn't handle the Suspend correctly, but then again should I worry about Imminent hardware failure ? Am I missing some drivers? Should I report this as a bug to Ubuntu?

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#1

This issue also exist with Windows hibernation ( http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/Hardware/HDD/smart-time-inquietant-sujet_780015_1.htm ).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T. says it doesn't means (for this attribute) an imminent hazard.
For what I understand, most attributes are managed by disk itself and it's more probably ability of disk to manage suspend which is cause of issue (but I'm not expert).
Yes, suspend on Linux is not perfect (it boots too fast, and so few people are interested in proper suspend).

Doing a periodic backup is ALWAYS a good idea.

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bioShark (bioshark) said : 		#2

Thanks for the answer. It's good to know my hunch was partially correct. Anyway, it's hard to back-up almost 2TB of data :) But I am planning on buying a NAS (RAID 1), especially for storage.
Cheers.