Hey, A recent thread got me to thinking. So I checked my primary (only installed) ssd:
sudo smartctl --test=long /dev/sda which promised to run the tests, but returned to a command prompt, with no further messages. So after the promised test end time I did: sudo smartctl --all /dev/sda which gave this: smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.5.0-2-amd64] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family: SandForce Driven SSDs Device Model: KINGSTON SV300S37A120G Serial Number: [redacted] LU WWN Device Id: 5 0026b7 7490a7ce8 Firmware Version: 541ABBF0 User Capacity: 120,034,123,776 bytes [120 GB] Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical Rotation Rate: Solid State Device Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS, ACS-2 T13/2015-D revision 3 SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s) Local Time is: Tue Apr 21 23:45:15 2020 EDT SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x02) Offline data collection activity was completed without error. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 0) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x79) SMART execute Offline immediate. No Auto Offline data collection support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 48) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x0025) SCT Status supported. SCT Data Table supported. 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 0x0032 095 095 050 Old_age Always - 0/5466601 5 Retired_Block_Count 0x0033 100 100 003 Pre-fail Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours_and_Msec 0x0032 091 091 000 Old_age Always - 8197h+53m+29.020s 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 3549 171 Program_Fail_Count 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 174 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct 0x0030 000 000 000 Old_age Offline - 175 177 Wear_Range_Delta 0x0000 000 000 000 Old_age Offline - 1 181 Program_Fail_Count 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 182 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 189 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0000 035 070 000 Old_age Offline - 35 (Min/Max 21/70) 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 035 070 000 Old_age Always - 35 (Min/Max 21/70) 195 ECC_Uncorr_Error_Count 0x001c 120 120 000 Old_age Offline - 0/5466601 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0033 100 100 003 Pre-fail Always - 0 201 Unc_Soft_Read_Err_Rate 0x001c 120 120 000 Old_age Offline - 0/5466601 204 Soft_ECC_Correct_Rate 0x001c 120 120 000 Old_age Offline - 0/5466601 230 Life_Curve_Status 0x0013 100 100 000 Pre-fail Always - 100 231 SSD_Life_Left 0x0013 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 233 SandForce_Internal 0x0032 000 000 000 Old_age Always - 2748 234 SandForce_Internal 0x0032 000 000 000 Old_age Always - 3157 241 Lifetime_Writes_GiB 0x0032 000 000 000 Old_age Always - 3157 242 Lifetime_Reads_GiB 0x0032 000 000 000 Old_age Always - 2340 SMART Error Log not supported SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 8197 - # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 8196 - # 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 7883 - # 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 7883 - # 5 Short offline Completed without error 00% 7883 - # 6 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 7003 - # 7 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 7002 - # 8 Short offline Completed without error 00% 6999 - SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't really know how to interpret this, but it looks . . . bad, with all those "old_age" and "Pre-fail" notations. Well, I have an old, blank ssd as a spare, so I checked it too: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.5.0-2-amd64] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family: SandForce Driven SSDs Device Model: SanDisk SDSSDA240G Serial Number: [redacted] LU WWN Device Id: 5 001b44 4a4c2fb82 Firmware Version: Z32070RL User Capacity: 240,057,409,536 bytes [240 GB] Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical Rotation Rate: Solid State Device Form Factor: 2.5 inches Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is: ACS-2 T13/2015-D revision 3 SATA Version is: SATA 3.2, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s) Local Time is: Wed Apr 22 12:10:40 2020 EDT SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART Status not supported: Incomplete response, ATA output registers missing SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED Warning: This result is based on an Attribute check. General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 120) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x11) SMART execute Offline immediate. No Auto Offline data collection support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. No Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. No Conveyance Self-test supported. No Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 10) minutes. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 1 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 5 Retired_Block_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours_and_Msec 0x0032 000 100 000 Old_age Always - 2498h+00m+00.000s 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1079 165 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 476755132619 166 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 4 167 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 168 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 5 169 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 170 Reserve_Block_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 173 Unknown_SandForce_Attr 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 4 174 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 36 187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 050 018 000 Old_age Always - 50 (Min/Max 0/82) 199 SATA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 230 Life_Curve_Status 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 287767068739 232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 004 Pre-fail Always - 100 233 SandForce_Internal 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 865 234 SandForce_Internal 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1887 241 Lifetime_Writes_GiB 0x0030 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1306 242 Lifetime_Reads_GiB 0x0030 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1543 244 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 000 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 2498 - # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 2498 - # 3 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 2225 - # 4 Extended offline Self-test routine in progress 90% 2225 - # 5 Short offline Completed without error 00% 2225 - # 6 Short offline Self-test routine in progress 90% 2225 - Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doesn't seem good, either. Since, I recall, that ssd drives do tend to fail quickly and without notice, is it time to get a new drive and reinstall from scratch? If so, recommendations? I think I want to continue to use an ssd, because even though it can fail without warning, this would be in a laptop, and I want to avoid shock damage to a mechanical drive at all costs. I an currently running Debian Unstable, on a 5-year-old laptop (Dell Inspiron 3000 series, 8Gb ram, Intel i3 processor, traditional BIOS booting). It has space for only one, 2.5-inch drive. lsblk: NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda 8:0 0 111.8G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 28G 0 part / ├─sda2 8:2 0 1K 0 part ├─sda5 8:5 0 7.9G 0 part [SWAP] └─sda6 8:6 0 76G 0 part /home sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom The 120Gb ssd is "adequate"; root partition is 38% full, and home partition is 45% full. Swap partition is rarely if ever used; not sure i it is really necessary. User case is conventional, nothing taxing. No video editing, gaming, etc. And yes, I do back up, home partition only, using rsync to an external usb drive: sudo rsync -avvzHAXPish --delete /home/default /media/default/USBHD005/Backup_of_home_directory_of_Dell_Debian_dimwit I suppose I could [learn to] do a full system backup and restore to a new drive, if I had to. And if I do need to try to copy my current install to a new drive (instead of a fresh install), what is the EASIEST way to do that?