Re: smartctl output for Crucial 512Gb SSD

On Wed 13 Aug 2014 03:36:23 NZST +1200, Mike wrote:

> My m4 512Gb CT512M4SSD1 suddenly failed to read. Below is the smartctl
> output that returns eventually, taking at least a couple of minutes.  I've
> tried 2 different USB caddys and also SATA connection to laptop running
> livecd.  The drive has exclusively been mounted read-only on a Linux system
> with an ext4 filesystem, and has had unexpected power loss routinely
> throughout its life.  The values in the attribute table look OK to me I
> think, but the serious errors at the bottom look bad.  Any ideas greatly
> appreciated:

> Read SMART Log Directory failed.
> 
> Error SMART Error Log Read failed: scsi error medium or hardware error
> (serious)
> Smartctl: SMART Error Log Read Failed
> Error SMART Error Self-Test Log Read failed: scsi error medium or hardware
> error (serious)
> Smartctl: SMART Self Test Log Read Failed
> Error SMART Read Selective Self-Test Log failed: scsi error medium or
> hardware error (serious)
> Smartctl: SMART Selective Self Test Log Read Failed

This looks like smartctl may not be able to communicate with the drive
properly, which is what you expect if the drive/computer interface
circuitry is damaged. However, these errors don't seem to exclude the
possibility of a serious platter failure - or rather the equivalent in
solid state.

Moving the disk around between enclosures etc can easily damage the
drive electronics if sufficient ESD protection procedures have not been
followed (those procedures must be sufficient regardless of your opinion
of them ;-) ). If the problem first occurred without having moved any
hardware around then the problem is with the drive. If you can reliably
exclude the problem being located at the computer, enclosure or
connections/cables then it's also the drive.

If the problem is with the drive then the drive is most certainly
finished. Copy off all the data you can asap and use your backups for
the rest.

It might be a good idea to treat SSDs the same as spinning versions. The
differences are in speed and behaviour after being dropped, not
necessarily in long-term reliability of data.

HTH,

Volker

-- 
Volker Kuhlmann
http://volker.top.geek.nz/	Please do not CC list postings to me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------