From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Wed Aug 3 14:05:57 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3522DBAD451 for ; Wed, 3 Aug 2016 14:05:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from brandon.wandersee@gmail.com) Received: from mail-io0-f180.google.com (mail-io0-f180.google.com [209.85.223.180]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0C57E1B0B for ; Wed, 3 Aug 2016 14:05:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from brandon.wandersee@gmail.com) Received: by mail-io0-f180.google.com with SMTP id q83so244498499iod.1 for ; Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:05:56 -0700 (PDT) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:references:user-agent:from:to:cc:subject :in-reply-to:date:message-id:mime-version; bh=U/sPOdPXYA2/1aFNMbwfJuPMhN+ffx1YRSjtQAmY78U=; b=d58vmVyzni+0zCeBCvyHcOMqZudvrKVVl8euRU3JtSKNJoPpwgzTsJ/jTJx2tLCLaX oM0FRbVQLwFZNDGU3qdu4jKXTOvJWNVKI5j+H/Z+DIz33khRoZkEdBCWhAS/ThA5W+Pr CnLBB0Myl7a5atuH5J5g9oFCcj4aNHTMpm9GnU3u/Rm/IEDb2t404ta0PyI6m5WfMkNI ZwgJfeifG2kguITHh8SYqCWt3ln4MujWTwoA5Z472uGr+NSgIYrRXBeyYnpcViTEGFPk dPtBZseceAxVSqrQG4yV+S4a1t8hx45AOGZmXozzeIWEvZxNWS8LYV1QASICRyb19MS1 ph1A== X-Gm-Message-State: AEkoouvxCEamiHIwHXO+GJJR1C8NKvqJJpNg6848NNpVRHmrn1FeW0WXnDqdhB1ha4jmFg== X-Received: by 10.107.6.216 with SMTP id f85mr68194931ioi.14.1470232841858; Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:00:41 -0700 (PDT) Received: from WorkBox.Home.gmail.com (63-231-169-113.mpls.qwest.net. [63.231.169.113]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id w138sm3554948itc.8.2016.08.03.07.00.39 (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305 bits=256/256); Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:00:40 -0700 (PDT) References: <117bb75c-aa6a-d562-c971-d0bab742f5ad@radel.com> User-agent: mu4e 0.9.16; emacs 24.5.1 From: Brandon J. Wandersee To: Jon Radel Cc: "William A. Mahaffey III" , FreeBSD Questions !!!! Subject: Re: Ominous smartd messages .... In-reply-to: <117bb75c-aa6a-d562-c971-d0bab742f5ad@radel.com> Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2016 09:00:38 -0500 Message-ID: <8637mmdkah.fsf@WorkBox.Home> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.22 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2016 14:05:57 -0000 Jon Radel writes: > I've read reasonable sounding commentary from people running very, very > large collections of hard drives that there is a high enough correlation > between this error and the drive going to heck sooner rather than later > that they take this as a sign to replace. [Can't find reference right now.] While there's no way to know from the error message alone just what will happen to the disk in the coming days, the general reasoning is this: sectors are not physically segregated. They all sit on the same platter. Several bad sectors occuring in a short period might be a sign of physical fault in the platter, and if that fault is real then stress from the platter spinning will likely cause that fault to spread. So some people conclude that the appearance of several bad sectors in a short period should just be a signal to replace the disk immediately. -- :: Brandon J. Wandersee :: brandon.wandersee@gmail.com :: -------------------------------------------------- :: 'The best design is as little design as possible.' :: --- Dieter Rams ----------------------------------