SMART over USB ?

[DEMAINE Benoit-Pierre]

I have a connectland external case, combo USB/FW (oxford) outputs, and internal P-IDE.

Is there a way (preferably under Linux) to read SMART infos over USB without having
to open the box and dismount the drive ?

smartctl does not seem to enjoy very much the usb-storage layer of Linux ... do the
generic USB adapter in the case compleetely mask ATA and prohibe access SMART zone
of disk ?

 

[Rod Speed]

I have a connectland external case, combo
USB/FW (oxford) outputs, and internal P-IDE.

Is there a way (preferably under Linux) to read SMART infos
over USB without having to open the box and dismount the drive ?

Not as far as I know.

smartctl does not seem to enjoy very much the usb-storage
layer of Linux ... do the generic USB adapter in the case
compleetely mask ATA and prohibe access SMART zone of disk ?

Yes, the SMART commands arent supported over USB or FW.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I have a connectland external case, combo USB/FW (oxford) outputs, and internal P-IDE.

Is there a way (preferably under Linux) to read SMART infos over USB
without having to open the box and dismount the drive ?

smartctl does not seem to enjoy very much the usb-storage layer of
Linux ... do the generic USB adapter in the case compleetely mask
ATA and prohibe access SMART zone of disk ?

The problem is that USB uses the SCSI storage command set and there is
no standard for pass-through of ATA commands. (There is one, but it
is very new and not implemented by the current USB->IDE interfaces.
It is used by the software SATA->SCSI converter in libata of kernels

= 2.6.15, but since this is a software conversion, it can be changed.)

So, yes, the adapters only let the storage command set through,
nothing else. I remove my drives in encosures once every few
months and run a a long self-test with surface scan
(smartctl -t long). Maybe this will get better in a few years :-(

Arno

 

[DEMAINE Benoit-Pierre]

The problem is that USB uses the SCSI storage command set and there is

no standard for pass-through of ATA commands.

and ? SCSI does support SMART very well ...
when I am too lame to grab manifacturer or dedicated SCSI tools, SMART usually gives
me enough infos about the disk.

There are SMART specs for SCSI ... question could have been:
- can Oxford chip bridge SCSI to IDE SMART requests ?

but nobody would have understand that if I asked in first place.

So, yes, the adapters only let the storage command set through,
nothing else. I remove my drives in encosures once every few
months and run a a long self-test with surface scan
(smartctl -t long). Maybe this will get better in a few years :-(

.... when specs of generic devices get well thought, and when every device can be
upgraded, AND when manif publish specs AND release upgraded firmwares ...

let say /never/ !

 

[Arno Wagner]

and ? SCSI does support SMART very well ...
when I am too lame to grab manifacturer or dedicated SCSI tools,
SMART usually gives me enough infos about the disk.

SCSI supports SCSI SMART, but not ATA SMART. Also it may be the
reduced SCSI storage command set, that does not support SMART
at all...

There are SMART specs for SCSI ... question could have been:
- can Oxford chip bridge SCSI to IDE SMART requests ?

It would need to be a semantic translation. And no, it can not.

Arno

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

and ?

SCSI does support SMART very well ...

Not really. SCSI has PFA (Predictive Failure Analysis).

when I am too lame to grab manufacturer or dedicated SCSI
tools, SMART usually gives me enough infos about the disk.

There are SMART specs for SCSI

Very limited.
There is one specific requirement for SCSI PFA to be allowed to
use the S.M.A.R.T. moniker.

... question could have been:
- can Oxford chip bridge SCSI to IDE SMART requests ?

but nobody would have understand that if I asked in first place.

The people in the know would have and isn't that what you are after?

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

[snip]

There are SMART specs for SCSI ... question could have been:
- can Oxford chip bridge SCSI to IDE SMART requests ?

It would need to be a semantic translation.

And no, it can not.

Who says.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

The problem is that

USB uses the SCSI storage command set

No it doesn't. That is just one standard for USB storage devices.
And according to one manufacturer most use the SCSI Transparent Command Set

and there is no standard for pass-through of ATA commands.

That's more likely but doesn't mean you can't use a proprietary
extension driver for devices that use a proprietary standard.

(There is one, but it
is very new and not implemented by the current USB->IDE interfaces.
It is used by the software SATA->SCSI converter in libata of kernels
=> 2.6.15, but since this is a software conversion, it can be changed.)

So, yes, the adapters only let the storage command set through, nothing else.

Says who?