smartctl question

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Fri, 2023-03-17 at 12:01 +1000, Phil wrote:
> I've installed Xubuntu, version 22.10, on a Lenevo X131e which often 
> suffers from a frozen desktop. The mouse pointer can be moved but the 
> user cannot interact with the mouse. The system can sometimes be 
> restarted by pressing ctl alt f1 followed by ctl alt f7. An Internet 
> search shows that these symptoms are fairly common with XFCE
> installations.

Hi,

if this statement is correct, it seems that you are only repeating part
of a story. If you e.g. google for an error, you will get hits on that
error. If you don't google for an error, but just for xfce and you still
find this error frequently, maybe a specific device is affected...

> The result looks OK except for:

Be careful with assumptions, you might misinterpret the results.
What you might read as a decimal number might be a set of set and
cleared bits.
Get in contact with support of the HDD vendor or at least check the
drive with a smart tool from the vendor.

> 187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age 
> Always       -       38654771200
> 
> Does this indicate a faulty HDD?

smartctl never reported an issue of any of my HDDs that failed. IOW
smartctl could show that everything is ok, while the drive is in a dying
condition.

FWIW:

"Description

Reported Uncorrectable Errors S.M.A.R.T. parameter indicates a number of
errors that could not be recovered using hardware ECC (error-correcting
code).

Recommendations

Although this parameter is not considered critical by the most hardware
vendors, degradation of this parameter may indicate electromechanical
problems of the disk. Regular backup is recommended. If no other
(critical) parameters report a problem, hardware replacement is
recommended on mission critical systems only." -
https://kb.acronis.com/content/9122

Regards,
Ralf