How to read SMART data in linux

To read SMART data in Linux, you can use the smartctl command-line tool. Here are the steps to do so:

Open a terminal window.

Type the following command to install smartmontools, which includes smartctl:

sudo apt-get install smartmontools

This command is for Debian-based systems. For other Linux distributions, use the corresponding package manager command to install smartmontools.

To get a list of available disks, type:

sudo smartctl --scan

This will show you the device names for all disks that are SMART-capable.

To get SMART data for a specific disk, type:

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

Replace /dev/sda with the device name of the disk you want to check.

This command will output a lot of information about the disk's SMART status, including its overall health, temperature, error rates, and more.

You can also use various options with smartctl to customize the output or to run specific tests on the disk. To see a list of available options, type:

man smartctl

This will display the manual page for smartctl.

That's it! With smartctl, you can easily monitor the health of your hard disks and take action before a failure occurs.