Is it possible to run e2fsck in a way that'll give false results?

Question

I have this 6 months old 5TB external hard drive. I started to experience a lot of I/O errors recently, so I backed up my data then used gparted to create a new partition table, a new main partition.

Then I ran the following code trying to see if it's a hardware problem :

sudo e2fsck -fcky /dev/sdc1

So far I have the following results :

Checking for bad blocks (read-only test): 9.24% done, 11:44:51 elapsed. (8333/0/0 errors)

and I'm honestly kinda shocked, I didn't expect it to be this bad.

So I guess my question really is :

Is it possible to get false results from e2fsck based on wrong usage of the tool ? or are these results always proof that the hard disk is genuinely very damaged ?

Update : Here's the smartctl results :

smartctl 7.2 2020-12-30 r5155 [x86_64-linux-5.15.0-47-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     WDC WD50NMZW-59BCBS0
Serial Number:    WD-WXC2DA1269FR
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2bf66ed54
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity:    5.000.947.523.584 bytes [5,00 TB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    4800 rpm
Form Factor:      2.5 inches
TRIM Command:     Available, deterministic
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Sun Sep 11 12:26:06 2022 CEST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.
See vendor-specific Attribute list for failed Attributes.

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                    was never started.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (  73) The previous self-test completed having
                    a test element that failed and the test
                    element that failed is not known.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:        (12480) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:            (0x1b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    No Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:    (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:    ( 530) minutes.
SCT capabilities:          (0x30b5) SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   001   001   051    Pre-fail  Always   FAILING_NOW 48799
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   253   253   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       2875
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1290
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   185   185   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       30664
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   198   195   000    Old_age   Always       -       899
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   095   095   000    Old_age   Always       -       3812
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       32
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       27
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   194   194   000    Old_age   Always       -       20670
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   100   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       52
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   001   001   000    Old_age   Always       -       1543
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       93
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed: unknown failure    90%      3792         -
# 2  Short offline       Completed: unknown failure    90%      3792         -
# 3  Short offline       Completed: unknown failure    90%      3792         -

Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported

@roaima There we go, sorry I should've thought of checking SMART data before, I'm guessing this is not great news. Thankfully I think I'm still in the guarantee period. — indianaken 7, Sep 11 '22 at 10:36
There ! sorry , as you can see new user, thanks for your patience — indianaken 7, Sep 11 '22 at 10:59
Copy all the information from the disk and replace it. Check this line: `Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 001 001 051 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 48799`. ALso `Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 185 185 140 Pre-fail Always - 30664` — Romeo Ninov, Sep 11 '22 at 11:05
ok thanks a lot, shame about the drive. But at least now I don't have to wait for badblocks to finish. — indianaken 7, Sep 11 '22 at 11:12

roaima · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-11T11:52:39.267

That's a broken disk. SMART values of interest (last column):

  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     ...   Pre-fail  Always   FAILING_NOW 48799
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   ...   Pre-fail  Always       -       30664
  9 Power_On_Hours          ...   Old_age   Always       -       3812
194 Temperature_Celsius     ...   Old_age   Always       -       52
196 Reallocated_Event_Count ...   Old_age   Always       -       1543
197 Current_Pending_Sector  ...   Old_age   Always       -       93
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   ...   Old_age   Offline      -       0

The only other comment about this obviously failed disk is that the temperature seems a little higher that might be normal. Is there enough airflow around the disk?

Since it's only six months old I would try to get it replaced with a new one by the seller as "faulty when purchased". However, failing that you will get a warranty replacement from Western Digital - see https://support-en.wd.com/app/warrantystatusweb and enter your serial number starting WX.

There is little point doing anything more with it except,

Trying to rescue any data still on the disk for which you don't have a backup (use ddrescue at this point - nothing else will touch it)
Registering that warranty claim

Good luck.

Thanks a lot ! I bought it from a retailer (Europe) and I think they normally handle it for you if your guarantee is still intact, I wonder if they'll just direct me to the warranty claim by WD though. — indianaken 7, Sep 11 '22 at 11:34

Is it possible to run e2fsck in a way that'll give false results?

1 Answers1