I have a 1 TB hard drive on an old iMac 2011 that recently started making a repetitive clicking noise. It is similar to when CD-ROM tries to read a 'scratched' surface on a CD. Recently, the computer stopped booting into the OS and would keep trying to "load" the OS (show the Apple logo and the progress sign that normally appears during boot) but never succeeds and of course, I keep hearing the loud clicking noise in the drive.
I boot into Linux from a thumb drive and everything works fine (in fact, I am typing this from the live OS). So I am guessing the problem is the disk drive. I ran gparted and deleted all partitions on the hard drive and the entire 1 TB space is now unallocated free space.
Also, disks on Linux shows the following information for the /dev/sdc (the 1 TB hard disk):
Model: ST3100.....{snip}
Size: 1.0 TB
Partitioning: GUID Partition Table
Serial Number: {snip}
Assessment: Disk is OK, 193 bad sectors (41 C / 106 F)
fdisk /dev/sdc shows the following "partitions" for it:
Disk /dev/sdc: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E6EC552A-CB25-4BA6-{snip}
Are there any Linux tools or techniques that I can use to make sure that the disk is beyond recovery before I chuck it into trash. I mean, I see that there are 193 bad sectors, does that mean that the disk is beyond repair? Could a software be used to format the drive such that bad sectors are fixed or not used anymore but the rest of the disk is still functional?
Additional info: I do not care about recovering any data from the drive. I can show output from any tools you might suggest here to check the disk status.
As requested, output from smartctl:
smartctl 6.6 2016-05-31 r4324 [x86_64-linux-4.9.0-kali3-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12
Device Model: ST31000528AS
Serial Number: 9VPCC73A
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0352fcbe7
Firmware Version: AP4C
User Capacity: 1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is: SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is: Tue Nov 7 05:09:13 2017 UTC
==> WARNING: A firmware update for this drive may be available,
see the following Seagate web pages:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207931en
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/213891en
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: PASSED
See vendor-specific Attribute list for marginal Attributes.
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 600) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
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: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 168) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x103f) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000e 097 096 006 Old_age Always - 209127852
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 100 100 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 094 094 020 Old_age Always - 6487
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 21
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 081 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 134452477
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 080 080 000 Old_age Always - 17788
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 094 094 020 Old_age Always - 6155
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 180
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 098 000 Old_age Always - 12885098501
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 054 042 045 Old_age Always In_the_past 46 (Min/Max 31/49 #21)
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 046 058 000 Old_age Always - 46 (0 16 0 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 042 027 000 Old_age Always - 209127852
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 096 096 000 Old_age Always - 172
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 096 096 000 Old_age Offline - 172
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 1207 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.
Error 1207 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 17785 hours (741 days + 1 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 20 ff ff ff ef 00 00:00:07.936 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 ff ff ff ef 00 00:00:03.967 READ DMA EXT
25 00 20 02 00 00 e0 00 00:00:03.966 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 01 00 00 e0 00 00:00:03.966 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:03.965 READ DMA EXT
Error 1206 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 17785 hours (741 days + 1 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 01 ff ff ff ef 00 00:00:07.331 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 02 00 00 e0 00 00:00:07.330 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:07.320 READ DMA EXT
ef 03 46 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:07.310 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 03 0a 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:07.310 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
Error 1205 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 17785 hours (741 days + 1 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 20 ff ff ff ef 00 00:01:44.372 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 ff ff ff ef 00 00:01:43.782 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 01 00 00 e0 00 00:01:43.781 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:41.711 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 ff ff ff ef 00 00:01:40.898 READ DMA EXT
Error 1204 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 17785 hours (741 days + 1 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 01 ff ff ff ef 00 00:01:36.868 READ DMA EXT
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff 00:01:31.569 NOP [Abort queued commands]
ea 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:08.220 FLUSH CACHE EXT
35 00 20 ff ff ff ef 00 00:00:08.220 WRITE DMA EXT
25 00 20 02 00 00 e0 00 00:00:08.119 READ DMA EXT
Error 1203 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 17785 hours (741 days + 1 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
25 00 01 ff ff ff ef 00 00:00:05.290 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 02 00 00 e0 00 00:00:05.289 READ DMA EXT
25 00 01 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:05.283 READ DMA EXT
ef 03 46 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:05.273 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 03 0a 00 00 00 e0 00 00:00:05.273 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
smartctl -a /dev/sdcorsmartctl -t long /dev/sdcjust to make sure it is completely useless.smartctlsuggest's you do, I can't read the output, but 1200 ATA error's + multiple error's, anyone can make out your drive is not in good condition. Give it a long test to be sure, and try correcting the bad sectors.