---
name: "ide-smart"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "ide-smart"
version: "1.4-1"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ide-smart"
---

# ide-smart(8)

IDE SMART Checking tool

## NAME

ide-smart - IDE SMART Checking tool

## SYNOPSIS

**ide-smart** *DEVICE* \[**-iq10**\] \[**-d *DEVICE***\] \[**--device=*DEVICE***\] \[**--immediate**\] \[**--quiet-check**\] \[**--auto-on**\] \[**--auto-off**\]

**ide-smart** \[**--help**\] \[**--version**\]

## DESCRIPTION

**ide-smart** performs and queries the results of various non destructive tests on a SMART capable IDE *DEVICE*.  You must have a BIOS and hardware that supports it.

**SMART** stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, which provides near future failure prediction monitoring different attributes (listed as **Id**) of the device.  If a **value** of a particular **Id** (or attribute) is under a certain **threshold**, the device most probabily will be about to fail.

There are two type of tests: **online** and **offline**.  Online tests are periodically performed by the drive while it's being used, while offline tests can be performed only by manually starting an offline test.

Each test also has a severity associated with it:  **Advisory** and **PreFailure**.  Advisory indicates a possible failure, and PreFailure a Predictable Failure which is an "sure" failure in the near future.  Predictable failures ar characterized by a degradation of an attribute over time mostly corresponding to mechanic causes (for example head flying height degradation would indicate an impending head crash).

The exact meaning of the attributes varies between manufacturers and even models, so it is impossible to decipher them (ranging through spin-up time to head flying height or throughput performance).  At any rate, the value you should care upon is the last column, holding whether a test **passed** or **failed**.

## OPTIONS

- **-d *DEVICE*, --device=*DEVICE***

  Select the *DEVICE* on to which perform the tests or query.

- **-i, --immediate**

  Perform offline tests immediately.  Any access to the device will temporarily suspend offline tests.

- **-q, --quiet-check**

  Outputs no messages.  Returns a negative value indicating how many tests failed, 0 if all went ok, or a positive value if there was some error which wasn't a test failure.

- **-1, --auto-on**

  Starts offline tests (if any) on the device; wait about 30 minutes and run **ide-smart** again for results (time depends on the hard drive).  Any access to the device will temporarily suspend offline tests.

- **-0, --auto-off**

  Ends offline test (if any) on the device.

## GNU STANDARD OPTIONS

- **--help**

  Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

- **--version**

  Print version information on standard output, then exit successfully.

- **--**

  Terminate option list.

## AUTHOR

Ragnar Hojland Espinosa \<ragnar@ragnar-hojland.com\>