[ale] Meaning of smartd messages

[Ben Coleman]

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Can anyone point me to something indicating the meaning of messages from
smartd?  E.g. for /dev/hda on shire I'm seeing the following on this morning's
(filtered) log:

Mar 26 10:15:29 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 248 to 249
Mar 26 10:45:30 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 249 to 248
Mar 26 12:45:30 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 248 to 249
Mar 26 17:15:30 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 249 to 248
Mar 27 01:15:32 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 248 to 247
Mar 27 01:45:31 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 247 to 248
Mar 27 02:15:32 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 248 to 249
Mar 27 02:45:32 shire smartd[200]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure
Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 249 to 250

OK, so the value of Seek_Time_Performance is wandering between 247 and 250,
but what does that actually *mean*?  Is it significant, insignificant,
indicative of vast changes in world politics, or what?  Is this normal, or
should I be concerned about the health of this disk?  What's it all about, Alfie?

Ben
- --
Ben Coleman oloryn at benshome.net    | The attempt to legislatively
http://oloryn.home.mindspring.com/ | micromanage equality results, at best,
Amateur Radio NJ8J                 | in equal misery and mediocrity for all.
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