Thread: Offline uncorrectable sectors

Couple of days ago I experienced my openSUSE 11.3/KDE freezing completely (3 times). Mouse and keyboard didn't react on anything and couldn't login via ssh. Pushing the button was the only solution. In the logs I noticed netatalk and smartd were spitting some errors. Although netatalk was running fine I decided to just remove it for now to make sure it's not related.

The errors I'm worried about are from smartd spitting out every half hour: pastebin.com/NNZ79usx

Googling this errors I *think* I can savely ignore them because /dev/sda is a OCZ Vertex Turbo SSD and I have read that smart was not supported on those (possibly because of Firmware 1.0) However, after firmware upgrade from 1.0 to 1.5 and a fresh install of openSUSE I am still getting these errors:

Code:

# grep uncorrectable /var/log/messages 
Aug 17 23:47:20 karin smartd[2544]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 19419506 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +650105)
Aug 18 00:12:58 karin smartd[2519]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20401475 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +981969)
Aug 18 00:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20879899 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +478424)
Aug 18 01:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20879899 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Aug 18 01:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20879899 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Aug 18 02:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20880267 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +368)
Aug 18 02:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20886699 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +6432)
Aug 18 03:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20903139 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +16440)
Aug 18 03:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20913379 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +10240)
Aug 18 04:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20920771 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +7392)
Aug 18 04:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20927563 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +6792)
Aug 18 05:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20941667 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +14104)
Aug 18 05:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20949867 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +8200)
Aug 18 06:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20949867 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Aug 18 06:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20949867 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Aug 18 07:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20949875 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +8)
Aug 18 07:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20949875 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Aug 18 08:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 20949875 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Aug 18 08:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 21113315 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +163440)
Aug 18 09:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 21286611 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +173296)
Aug 18 09:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 21286619 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +8)
Aug 18 10:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 21571339 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +284720)
Aug 18 10:42:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 21572683 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +1344)
Aug 18 11:12:58 karin smartd[2631]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 21573963 Offline uncorrectable sectors (changed +1280)

Except for the 3 times that the PC freezed it is running smooth and fast. No corrupted files of which I noticed. I rebooted in a live Parted Magic USB stick and checked fsck but nothing strange.

Don't know if the freezes has anything to do with these errors and I don't know if these errors are even accurate due to the support of smartd on SSD disks. For now I guess I just have to wait and see if the system will freeze again.

Some questions:
- What should I do with the smartd messages, what does it mean ?
- Can I savely ignore them ?
- Why is smart even spitting this errros if it doesn't support SSD ?
- Is my SSD dying ?
- Is there a way to monitor and 'capture' dmesg on the moment it freezes without ability to login ?

Some extra info:
AMD Phenom II X4 955
RAM 8 GB
ATI HD 3300 (Motherboard Integrated)

Code:

# smartctl -a /dev/sda
smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] (openSUSE RPM)


=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     OCZ Vertex SSD
Device Model:     OCZ VERTEX-TURBO
Serial Number:    6487P9QPAUMNRJAB7042
Firmware Version: 1.5
User Capacity:    32,017,047,552 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is:    Wed Aug 18 11:49:11 2010 CEST
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:  (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: 		 (   0) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: 			 (0x1d) SMART execute Offline immediate.
					No Auto Offline data collection support.
					Abort Offline collection upon new
					command.
					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:        (0x00)	Error logging NOT supported.
					General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time: 	 (   0) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (   0) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x0000   012   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       18
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       2
184 Initial_Bad_Block_Count 0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       2
195 Program_Failure_Blk_Ct  0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       0
196 Erase_Failure_Blk_Ct    0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       0
197 Read_Failure_Blk_Ct     0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       0
198 Read_Sectors_Tot_Ct     0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       21577123
199 Write_Sectors_Tot_Ct    0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       35413337
200 Read_Commands_Tot_Ct    0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       245801
201 Write_Commands_Tot_Ct   0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       188367
202 Error_Bits_Flash_Tot_Ct 0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       202
203 Corr_Read_Errors_Tot_Ct 0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       202
204 Bad_Block_Full_Flag     0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       0
205 Max_PE_Count_Spec       0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       10000
206 Min_Erase_Count         0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       1
207 Max_Erase_Count         0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       263
208 Average_Erase_Count     0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       7
209 Remaining_Lifetime_Perc 0x0000   ---   ---   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       100
211 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
212 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
213 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

Warning: device does not support Error Logging
Warning! SMART ATA Error Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

Warning! SMART Self-Test Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


Device does not support Selective Self Tests/Logging

Thank you for your time

P.S.
Not sure if this 'problem' has anything to do with openSUSE but since I run openSUSE I thought I give it a try here. Please feel free to move it to the right section.