S.M.A.R.T.
I guess S.M.A.R.T (“Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology“) as used in harddrives is already well-known, therefore just a short reminder about its usage with Linux.
Package: smartmontools – http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
Commandline tool: smartctl
Monitoring daemon: smartd
smartctl can be used to read the disk status (power on hours, error counts, temperature etc) and can also start various disk self tests – which is quite a handy feature if you aren’t sure if a disk is still in good shape. Of course, there can still be issues even though SMART reports a disk as being okay, but most of the time it’s correct when it reports a disk as failing-soon ….
To show all values: smartctl –all /dev/<device>
To initiate a short self test: smartctl –test=short /dev/<device>
Self test results are visible by querying the disk again after testing has completed.
smartd is used for automatic monitoring of disk SMART values. It can also be used for periodic automatic disk self tests and can send emails on any issues – such as upcoming disk failures or a sudden increase in drive temperatures.
It’s usually configured via /etc/smartd.conf.