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S.M.A.R.T., smartmontools, and drive monitoring
Working Smart
S.M.A.R.T. (self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology) [1] is a monitoring system for storage devices that provides some information about the status of the drive as well as the ability to run self-tests. The intent of S.M.A.R.T. is for the drive to collect presumably useful information on its state or condition, with the idea that the information can be used to predict impending drive failure.
The S.M.A.R.T. standard was based on previous work by various drive manufacturers to provide health information about their drives. The information was specific to the manufacturer, making life difficult for everyone, so the S.M.A.R.T. standard was developed to provide a set of specific metrics and methods that could be communicated to the host OS. The original standard was very comprehensive, with standard data for all devices, but the final standard is just a shadow of the original.
To be considered S.M.A.R.T., a drive just needs the ability to signal between the internal drive sensors and the host system. The standard provides no information about what sensors are in the drive or how this data is exposed to the user. At the lowest level, S.M.A.R.T. provides a simple binary bit of information – the drive is OK or the drive has failed. This bit of information is called the "S.M.A.R.T. status." The drive fail status doesn't necessarily indicate that the drive has failed; rather, the drive might not meet its specifications. Whether this means the drive is about to fail (i.e., not work) is defined by the drive manufacturer, so S.M.A.R.T. is not a panacea.
In addition to the S.M.A.R.T. status, virtually all drives provide additional details on the health of the drive via S.M.A.R.T. attributes. These attributes are completely up to the drive manufacturers because they are not part of the standard. This becomes even more obvious when comparing spinning drives to solid state
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