[smartmontools-support] smartd mails different from smartctl results

[Christian Franke]

Hi,

Nicola Urbinati wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a problem with a Crucial ssd.
> I am receiving e-mails almost once every hour with the same advice: 1
> pending block.

If a problem persists, reminder emails would never be sent each hour 
unless the new directive '-M always' is specified.
Please check syslog for messages like:
"Device /dev/... No more Currently unreadable (pending) sectors, warning 
condition reset after 1 email"

This suggests that the pending block count flips between 0 and 1. This 
is a known issue with Crucial MX500:
https://www.smartmontools.org/ticket/1227


> If I do a smartctl test, 197 and 198 IDs (are they for bad/pending
> blocks?) say 0 blocks.

If you do a smartctl test very often, you will occasionally see 1 as raw 
value of attribute 197.

Please update the drive database:
https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Download#Updatethedrivedatabase

Attribute 197 should then be named "Current_Pending_ECC_Cnt". This also 
suppresses the smartd warning EMails.
If this is not the case, see:
https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/FAQ#MyATASATAdriveisnotinthesmartctlsmartddatabase

You could also suppress the emails in smartd.conf with '-C 0' and enable 
syslog monitoring of the raw value with '-R 197', see 'man smartd.conf' 
for details.

Regards,
Christian