SMART error (CurrentPendingSector) detected on host

Question

Smart is reporting the following error each day one one of my data centre server SSDs:

This message was generated by the smartd daemon running on:

   host name:  x
   DNS domain: x

The following warning/error was logged by the smartd daemon:

Device: /dev/sda [SAT], 1 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors

Device info:
INTEL SSDSC2BB480G7, S/N:PHDV701605XT480BGN, WWN:5-5cd2e4-14d60bdf9, FW:N2010101, 480 GB

For details see host's SYSLOG.

You can also use the smartctl utility for further investigation.
The original message about this issue was sent at Tue Feb  6 18:43:41 2018 EST
Another message will be sent in 24 hours if the problem persists.

Syslog, shows no additional information.

I have read elsewhere that I need to perform an extended smart test, then write to the sector specified in the test results to force the drive to mark it as a bad sector and reallocate.

I ran a long test:

sudo smartctl -t long /dev/sda1

But the output of sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda1 says that the test completed without error?

smartctl 6.6 2016-05-31 r4324 [x86_64-linux-4.4.98-2-pve] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     INTEL SSDSC2BB480G7
Serial Number:    PHDV701605XT480BGN
LU WWN Device Id: 5 5cd2e4 14d60bdf9
Firmware Version: N2010101
User Capacity:    480,103,981,056 bytes [480 GB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    Solid State Device
Form Factor:      2.5 inches
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Wed Feb 21 04:58:20 2018 EST
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:                (   72) 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:        (   2) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x003d) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.

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 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       8753
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       11
170 Unknown_Attribute       0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
171 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
172 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
174 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       9
175 Program_Fail_Count_Chip 0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       270807480494
183 Runtime_Bad_Block       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0033   100   100   090    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   070   064   000    Old_age   Always       -       30 (Min/Max 16/37)
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       9
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       30
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
225 Unknown_SSD_Attribute   0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       415161
226 Unknown_SSD_Attribute   0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1126
227 Unknown_SSD_Attribute   0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       51
228 Power-off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       525179
232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
233 Media_Wearout_Indicator 0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
234 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       415161
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       433149
243 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       979238

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%      8753         -
# 2  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      8752         -
# 3  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      8464         -
# 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       888         -
# 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       886         -
# 6  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       885         -
# 7  Short offline       Completed without error       00%         0         -
# 8  Short offline       Completed without error       00%         0         -
# 9  Short offline       Completed without error       00%         0         -

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.

Is there really a problem, and if so how do a diagnose it properly?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 22 '18 at 10:15

2

Only 1 pending sector is not a problem for a drive. Just ignore it until it increases significantly.

Although you can try to fix it using the following instructions (backup data first!): https://github.com/smartmontools/smartmontools/blob/master/www/BadBlockHowTo.txt

Also you can compare your drive S.M.A.R.T. report with others in this repository of S.M.A.R.T. reports.

answered Feb 22 '18 at 10:15

linuxbuild

181
6

2

I didn't think it was a serious issue, but S.M.A.R.T emails me every day about it! The issue with the instructions you've specified, is that they assume that a SMART test will tell me the LBA - but my tests are all saying 'Completed without error'. – user2353938 Feb 23 '18 at 11:14

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 02 '18 at 08:53

The big question is whether that sector has data you care about, try reading your data files and see if something is missing.

In any case in order to avoid this error message repeating you will need to overwrite the data in order to let the drive ignore this. Trimming the block if it has no other use should also work. You can try to do a fstrim on the filesystem to clear this.

The SMART long test does a random test of the media and is not a complete test so it may succeed even if there is an error and especially if this is a recoverable error of sort since the manufacturer wouldn't want that a single pending error will cause you to RMA the drive.

SMART error (CurrentPendingSector) detected on host

2 Answers2