[vox-tech] Hard drive dying?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bill Kendrick (nbs at sonic.net):

> I just captured a few more from /var/log/syslog:
> 
> Feb 22 17:44:53 dell-desktop kernel: [ 3884.947898] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
> Feb 22 17:44:53 dell-desktop kernel: [ 3884.947908] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x40000001
> Feb 22 17:44:53 dell-desktop kernel: [ 3884.947917] ata1.00: cmd 25/00:a8:76:9e:2d/00:03:09:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 479232 in
> Feb 22 17:44:53 dell-desktop kernel: [ 3884.947919]          res 51/40:00:56:a0:2d/94:00:09:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error)

The "media error" is the somewhat alarming one.  Time to do a backup!

Once you've done so, you can try using the HD manufacturer's diagnostic
and pseudo-low-level formatting utilities, to see if the drive can be
reconditioned rather than just replacing it.

"Hard Drive Utilities" on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Hardware/