Very high Command Timeout

samdonly1

Honorable
Dec 29, 2012
13
0
10,510
The SMART report of my Hard drive shows a very high Command Timeout value, is it normal?
Real Value | Current | Worst | Threshold | Raw Value
1 Read Error Rate 0 100 253 6 0x000000000000

3 Spin-Up Time 0 ms 99 99 0 0x000000000000

4 Start/Stop Count 3,667 97 97 20 0x000000000E53

5 Reallocated Sectors Count 0 100 100 36 0x000000000000

7 Seek Error Rate 0 71 60 30 0x000012FE6D6C

9 Power-On Hours (POH) 206d 8h 95 95 0 0x000000001358

10 Spin Retry Count 0 100 100 34 0x000000000000

12 Power Cycle Count 3,517 97 97 20 0x000000000DBD

184 End-to-End error 0 100 253 0 0x000000000000

187 Reported Uncorrectable Errors 312 1 1 0 0x000000000138

188 Command Timeout 262,148 100 99 45 0x000000040004

189 High Fly Writes 16 84 84 0 0x000000000010

190 Airflow Temperature 62 °C 62 43 0 0x00002E190026

192 Power-off Retract Count 934 100 100 0 0x0000000003A6

193 Load Cycle Count 87,427 57 57 0 0x000000015583

194 Temperature 38 °C 38 57 0 0x000000000026

195 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 61 52 0 0x000001B48BDF

197 Current Pending Sector Count 2 100 100 0 0x000000000002

198 Uncorrectable Sector Count 2 100 100 0 0x000000000002

199 UltraDMA CRC Error Count 0 200 200 0 0x000000000000

200 Multi-Zone Error Rate 0 100 253 0 0x000000000000

202 Data Address Mark errors 0 100 253 0 0x000000000000

It's been 4 years since i bought this hard drive
 
Solution
I would think that the Command Timeout attribute is the least of your problems. In fact the actual value is 4, not 262148.

The 48-bit raw value is often composed of three 16-bit components, ie ...

0x000000040004 = 0x0000 0x0004 0x0004

Another multi-byte attribute is Airflow Temperature. This attribute is more correctly referred to as (100 - Temperature):

190 Airflow Temperature 62 °C 62 43 0 0x00002E190026

Therefore the actual temperature is 38C (100 - 62), not 62C. The worst lifetime temperature is 57C (= 100 - 43).

There are three temperature components, namely 0x2E (= 46C), 0x19 (= 25C), and 0x26 (= 38C). These would probably be the max/min/current temperatures for the current power cycle.

The following two attributes point to...
I would think that the Command Timeout attribute is the least of your problems. In fact the actual value is 4, not 262148.

The 48-bit raw value is often composed of three 16-bit components, ie ...

0x000000040004 = 0x0000 0x0004 0x0004

Another multi-byte attribute is Airflow Temperature. This attribute is more correctly referred to as (100 - Temperature):

190 Airflow Temperature 62 °C 62 43 0 0x00002E190026

Therefore the actual temperature is 38C (100 - 62), not 62C. The worst lifetime temperature is 57C (= 100 - 43).

There are three temperature components, namely 0x2E (= 46C), 0x19 (= 25C), and 0x26 (= 38C). These would probably be the max/min/current temperatures for the current power cycle.

The following two attributes point to 2 problematic sectors:

197 Current Pending Sector Count 2 100 100 0 0x000000000002
198 Uncorrectable Sector Count 2 100 100 0 0x000000000002

The next attributes suggest that your drive may have an aggressive APM setting corresponding to one load cycle every 3 minutes:

9 Power-On Hours (POH) 206d 8h 95 95 0 0x000000001358
193 Load Cycle Count 87427 57 57 0 0x000000015583

http://www.google.com/search?q=0x1358+%2F+0x15583+hours+in+minutes

0x1358 / 0x15583 hours = 3.4 mins

Some people might be worried by this.
 
Solution

samdonly1

Honorable
Dec 29, 2012
13
0
10,510


Thanks for quick reply
What could be done to correct this?
I don't have a backup do i need to take one immediately or is it safe for some more time?
 
2 bad sectors is not a lot for a drive that is 5000 hours old. However, you should keep an eye on these attributes, plus the Reallocated Sectors Count, in case they start to increase.

As for the Load Cycle Count, many WD and Seagate users (yours looks like a Seagate) are worried by these numbers, but both Seagate and WD claim that there is nothing to be concerned about. I think it's a matter of judgment. In any case, at your present rate of usage, this attribute will hit the threshold (200,000) in another 6 years or so, so you may never see a problem.

On the question of backups, a reliable backup strategy is always advisable, even when the drive is 100% healthy.