S.M.A.R.T. plugin

[mcuelenaere]

I've made a little S.M.A.R.T. status-reading plugin, but I don't have an Rockbox-unit to test it (ZVM isn't supported yet... )
The only thing it does, is writing some bits to the HDD and receiving some. I've attached a compiled version for the iPod Video, if someone just wants to try it I could know if it works or not

Source:
http://paste-it.net/2230

Download link:
http://www.verzend.be/v/4594934/smart.rock.html

[zombieplasticclock]

S-M-R-T Plugin

on a Serious note, Why not ask evilg or another coder to incorperate it into a build. If that's done, I can test it on my ipod video.

Before I do any testing, can you clarify what the "s.m.a.r.t" thing does?

--EDIT- If there's a build ready, email it to zombieplasticclock@yahoo.com. Thanks--

[mcuelenaere]

S-M-R-T Plugin

on a Serious note, Why not ask evilg or another coder to incorperate it into a build. If that's done, I can test it on my ipod video.

Before I do any testing, can you clarify what the "s.m.a.r.t" thing does?

--EDIT- If there's a build ready, email it to zombieplasticclock@yahoo.com. Thanks--

It isn't complete *at all*, that's why it can't be integrated in trunk. I've compiled it as a standard plugin, so you could place smart.rock into /.rockbox/plugins/ and it should work.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T. for an explanation of S.M.A.R.T.

[Chronon]

SMART = Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology.

The Wikipedia article tells me that it can herald predictable hard drive failure due to mechanical wear.  However, it also says that it's normally turned off by default on many BIOSes because it slows performance.  

[mcuelenaere]

SMART = Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology.

The Wikipedia article tells me that it can herald predictable hard drive failure due to mechanical wear.  However, it also says that it's normally turned off by default on many BIOSes because it slows performance.  

Could be.
But as portable players nowadays have "standard" HDD's included, they also should support S.M.A.R.T.

I thought it could be useful for Rockbox to have a plugin/function that can read it's status and display it to the users. This way, the failing of a hard disk could be predicted.

[asyran]

well there's no way this plugin could damage your ipod in any way right?because i have a 30 gb 5g ipod and wouldn't mind testing it.

[mcuelenaere]

well there's no way this plugin could damage your ipod in any way right?because i have a 30 gb 5g ipod and wouldn't mind testing it.

Well, I don't really know Normally, it shouldn't harm your iPod.
The only thing it does is: it sends the ATA_SMART_COMMAND, sets the ATA_SMART_FEATURE bit and displays the ATA_LCYL & ATA_HCYL (Low Cylinder & High Cylinder).

This is all according to the ATA7 reference.(see http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:pkhjg5XCfooJ:t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/technical/d96131r0.pdf+S.M.A.R.T.+commands&hl=nl&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=be at 8.35.6 SMART RETURN STATUS)

Oh and BTW: I can compile this plugin to other targets too, I just chose iPod Video cause I thought it would be the most used one.

[asyran]

well i have no idea what all that meant....very impressive.how exactly will i know if it's working?

[mcuelenaere]

well i have no idea what all that meant....very impressive.how exactly will i know if it's working?

Well, I am kinda new to Rockbox so I don't know if there are any standard error codes or so (apart from Data Abort).
So if it wouldn't give that, normally it should show:

"Please wait..." during 1 second
"[HEX code]" during 2 seconds
"[HEX code]" during 2 seconds

That's it.
If the first hex code would be equal to 4F and the second to C3, your HDD is perfectly OK.

As you can see, this program is just a test and should be extended with a lot more S.M.A.R.T. checks and a nice GUI

Off-topic:
Why can't you use more than 1 emoticon in 1 post ?

[Llorean]

Because I got tired of seeing 13 of the same emoticon in a row when someone used 40 question marks after a question, and decided that overall people really shouldn't need emoticons other than one here or there to indication that something was meant in jest, such as a wink, so I dropped the limit to 1. It was 3, but even that was abused more than I liked.

[Chronon]

SMART = Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology.

The Wikipedia article tells me that it can herald predictable hard drive failure due to mechanical wear.  However, it also says that it's normally turned off by default on many BIOSes because it slows performance.  

Could be.
But as portable players nowadays have "standard" HDD's included, they also should support S.M.A.R.T.

I thought it could be useful for Rockbox to have a plugin/function that can read it's status and display it to the users. This way, the failing of a hard disk could be predicted.

I can see how some users might want this.  I would probably opt to keep it off most of the time for the sake of better performance.  But I guess periodic enabling of SMART would probably still help. . .  Can SMART be turned on/off at any time?

[mcuelenaere]

I can see how some users might want this.  I would probably opt to keep it off most of the time for the sake of better performance.  But I guess periodic enabling of SMART would probably still help. . .  Can SMART be turned on/off at any time?

I guess so, as there are SMART ENABLE and SMART DISABLE commands...

[mcuelenaere]

Because I got tired of seeing 13 of the same emoticon in a row when someone used 40 question marks after a question, and decided that overall people really shouldn't need emoticons other than one here or there to indication that something was meant in jest, such as a wink, so I dropped the limit to 1. It was 3, but even that was abused more than I liked.

Wow, fast reply!
But I understand your point, it's kinda stupid people don't use e-tiquette or something like that.

[asyran]

hey....did my post get deleted?it was about the topic vies increase if you view two different topics alternately,and if it should happen.

i just tried it,my rockbox version is r13377--070513....nothing happened
will update and retry

[mcuelenaere]

hey....did my post get deleted?it was about the topic vies increase if you view two different topics alternately,and if it should happen.

i just tried it,my rockbox version is r13377--070513....nothing happened
will update and retry

How do you mean, nothing happened? At least the "Please wait..." message should show up...
Are you sure you executed the smart.rock plugin?