Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2019 12:54:55 +0200 From: Domagoj =?UTF-8?Q?Smol=C4=8Di=C4=87?= <rank1seeker@gmail.com> To: Ravi Pokala <rpokala@freebsd.org> Cc: larry.maloney@hackerdojo.com, hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: For a first time completed S.M.A.R.T captive test Message-ID: <20190719125455.0000473d@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <481465DB-D5EE-4019-A2DB-DBA4D46FE312@freebsd.org> References: <481465DB-D5EE-4019-A2DB-DBA4D46FE312@freebsd.org>
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On Wed, 17 Jul 2019 19:37:25 -0700 Ravi Pokala <rpokala@freebsd.org> wrote: > Hi Domagoj >=20 > The "captive" test is blocking -- meaning the drive won't indicate > command completion for multiple hours in the case of modern large > HDDs -- so the FreeBSD driver will almost certainly timeout before > completion. That in turn will trigger recovery mechanisms, which will > include a soft-reset, which is where the "Interrupted (host reset)" > comes from. >=20 > You almost always want to do the "off-line" test; that tells the > drive firmware to start the test and run it in the background. It > will indicate command completion in a second or two, but the test > will still take the same amount of time. But in the case of the > "off-line" test, the drive is responsive to the host even while the > test runs. When the drive receives a command from the host, it will > pause the test, service the host request, and then resume the test. Thanks. I knew that part. It was a captive test that was a riddle. > I work at a storage company, I've been running ATA self-test for 15+ > years, and I've never understood why the "captive" test even exists. > *Maybe* there were dedicated drive test systems that had huge > timeouts, back in the PATA days? Or even horrible DOS stuff that > didn't even have a timeout, and just waited for the interrupt > forever? <shrug> I can understand devs of smartmontools, like, if code for captive test already exists, why to remove it? But then again, it just sends a test request to drive's firmware, so ... Why are all corporations, which manufacture storage devices, still write drive's firmware with captive test ability? > In any case, I would simply not bother with the "captive" test modes. Now that all is clear and I succeeded in completing a captive test, purely out of curiosity, I won't bother anymore. =20 > -Ravi (rpokala@) <wearing Panasas hat> Domagoj Smol=C4=8Di=C4=87
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