Thoughts on Technology

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

HOWTO: Check Hard Drive Health with Linux

Posted on 15:11 by Unknown
I've been experiencing full system lockups on my netbook off and on for the last few weeks now. Up until recently though they had been few and far between so I'd just been ignoring the issue. A few days ago however they got bad enough to the point where I had to restart my system three times in the same hour.

Needless to say shortly after that I started running system checks. A quick boot into memtest showed that my RAM was A-OK (which is good considering one stick of RAM is stuck to the netbook's mother board). The next piece of hardware I checked was my netbook's SSD. Almost all modern hard drives have "SMART" controls today to allow you to check their current health status.

I booted my netbook from a Bodhi live USB drive and did a quick:

sudo apt-get install gsmartcontrol

GSmartControl is a GUI front end for smartmontools - a library that lets you interface with your drive's SMART controls and run various health checks on the drive. The interface is fairly straight forward and right clicking on one of the displayed drives gives you the ability to begin checking it.


There are options for a short test (which takes a minute or two) or a longer test (which can take up to several hours on larger drives to complete - depends on the size of your drive).


After my netbook finished the longer test I was greeted with some bad news - my SSD was failing in one area and getting close to failing in others:


At any rate GSmartControl is a fantastic tool for checking the health of your drive that is fairly easy to use. Hopefully the results of your drive check will be better than my own!

~Jeff Hoogland
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in hardware, howto, open source | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • HOWTO: Watch Netflix on Bodhi Linux
    Not being able to utilize the Netflix video streaming service has been an issue on the Linux desktop for the past few years. This is due to...
  • Blackboard - No Linux for Online Education
    In addition to being a Linux Advocate and working 40+ hours a week I am also a full time student. Due to schedule constraints I often take ...
  • HOWTO: Ubuntu Linux on T101MT
    I wrote a HOWTO for getting Linux working on the T91MT a couple months back and as I mentioned here I ended up changing to the slightly la...
  • HOWTO: Test E18, EFL 1.8.0, and Terminology 0.4.0 on Bodhi Linux
    As of this past weekend the testing builds of the Enlightenment window manager DR18 (E18 for short) are in the Bodhi Linux testing repositor...
  • N900 Faster Application Manager - Review
    If you have ever installed an application on an N900 using the default application manager you know that while it is functional it is not t...
  • HOWTO: Perfect Terran Proxy Build Order - Starcraft 2
    Today we take a short break from our normal broadcasting to talk about a bit of gaming strategy. In Starcraft 2 a "proxy" means ...
  • Pearson Education - You will NOT use Linux
    Summer is winding down and fall semesters are starting all around the country. My girlfriend started classes this week and one of her onlin...
  • Team Work in Open Source Projects
    What makes a great open source project? Well, first off you have to have an idea. Then you need to execute said idea. Just over a year ago I...
  • Bigger is Better... Right?
    It appears the mantra of "bigger is better" has gripped developers of the late as the handsets we see keep getting larger and larg...
  • HOWTO: Unlock your AT&T Tilt for all Networks
    Something I hate more than anything else in the world is a software lock on hardware I own. If I bought something I should have the right to...

Categories

  • 3g modem
  • adobe
  • android
  • appeal
  • apple
  • arm
  • art
  • asus tablet
  • benchmark
  • bodhi
  • bordeaux
  • cedega
  • chakra
  • chrome os
  • chromebook
  • cockatrice
  • codeweavers
  • comic
  • cricket wireless
  • crysis
  • cxgames
  • debian
  • dell duo
  • diablo3
  • distro review
  • dtf
  • e18
  • eandora
  • eccess
  • elementary
  • elive
  • enlightenment
  • fedora
  • firefox
  • gaming
  • genesi
  • gnome
  • google
  • google chrome
  • google wave
  • handheld device
  • hardware
  • helios
  • howto
  • html5
  • ideapad
  • interview
  • ipad
  • jolicloud
  • kde
  • l4d2
  • laptops
  • lenovo
  • linux
  • lxde
  • macbook
  • math
  • maxima
  • media
  • meego
  • milestone
  • mint
  • mir
  • mk802
  • moblin
  • n900
  • netflix
  • nexus 7
  • nvidia
  • open pandora
  • open source
  • opengl
  • opera
  • operating systems
  • palm
  • phones
  • promotion
  • python
  • qt
  • rant
  • raspberry pi
  • reviews
  • sabayon
  • software
  • source games
  • spotlight
  • sprint
  • starcraft2
  • steam
  • t-mobile
  • tutorial
  • ubuntu
  • unigine
  • unity
  • wayland
  • web application
  • windows
  • windows 7
  • wine
  • wxmaxima
  • xfce

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (20)
    • ►  December (1)
    • ►  November (1)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  March (2)
    • ►  February (3)
    • ►  January (9)
  • ▼  2012 (57)
    • ►  December (5)
    • ▼  November (4)
      • MK802 Media PC Review
      • HOWTO: Check Hard Drive Health with Linux
      • Two Years of Bodhi, Three Years of Blogging
      • Raspberry Pi vs MK802
    • ►  October (2)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (9)
    • ►  June (4)
    • ►  May (4)
    • ►  April (1)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (10)
  • ►  2011 (107)
    • ►  December (8)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (5)
    • ►  September (14)
    • ►  August (9)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (7)
    • ►  May (10)
    • ►  April (9)
    • ►  March (13)
    • ►  February (9)
    • ►  January (7)
  • ►  2010 (122)
    • ►  December (10)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (10)
    • ►  September (14)
    • ►  August (17)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (14)
    • ►  April (8)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (7)
    • ►  January (8)
  • ►  2009 (27)
    • ►  December (10)
    • ►  November (7)
    • ►  October (10)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile