Hard Disk Identity Crisis: How do you easily tell which disk your computer is talking about?

OS: Linux Mint 20.2 x86_64
Host: HP 505B Microtower PC
Kernel: 5.11.0-37-generic
DE: Cinnamon
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 645 (4) @ 3.100GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 OEM
Memory: 4153MiB / 7958MiB

Hello, I’m trying to solve for x here. When I rebooted my computer this week I got a super helpful message from BIOS:

“WL1000GSA3273C :Hard disk failure is imminent. Please back up your hard disk and have it replaced!”

Since I have two model WL1000GSA3273C hard disks in the box, that leaves me a bit in the wilderness. One of these is my data/documents drive and the other is the first copy of that drive (I have two additional copies). I’m ordering a 4Tb drive to swap in after I figure out which drive is dying.

I am running smartctl on the disks as I write. But: For some reason Gsmartcontrol won’t run. It just flashes the gui on the screen and dies. When I start it in terminal it just throws a bunch of GTK errors that don’t seem to lead me anywhere useful. Uninstall/purge/reinstall didn’t change anything, so I am on the CLI with smartctl. Hopefully, I will even be able to figure out what the output of smartctl is telling me.

T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶i̶t̶u̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶p̶e̶t̶ ̶p̶e̶e̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶I̶D̶:̶ ̶ ̶E̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶g̶r̶a̶m̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶a̶n̶d̶o̶m̶l̶y̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶I̶D̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶s̶.̶ ̶ ̶

̶A̶T̶A̶,̶ ̶s̶d̶x̶,̶ ̶U̶U̶I̶D̶,̶ ̶M̶o̶d̶e̶l̶ ̶N̶u̶m̶b̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶S̶e̶r̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶N̶u̶m̶b̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶L̶a̶b̶e̶l̶.̶ ̶ ̶S̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶s̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶f̶u̶l̶,̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶u̶n̶i̶q̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶.̶ ̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶n̶u̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶o̶d̶e̶l̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶h̶y̶s̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶d̶e̶n̶t̶i̶f̶y̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶n̶.̶ ̶

̶I̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶s̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶I̶D̶s̶,̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶i̶m̶a̶g̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶r̶p̶o̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶v̶i̶r̶o̶n̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶5̶0̶0̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶k̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶o̶d̶e̶l̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶l̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶"̶T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶"̶.̶ ̶ ̶

̶M̶y̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶:̶ ̶ ̶I̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶u̶t̶i̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶s̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶̶a̶l̶l̶̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶y̶s̶t̶e̶m̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶a̶l̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶c̶r̶o̶s̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶d̶i̶v̶i̶d̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶g̶r̶a̶m̶s̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶p̶u̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶?̶

ETA: Ignore my rant, I was digging through my CLI cheat sheet and found showtools which give you the directory of names for all your disks. My memory sucks. Obviously.

Thanks

For those wanting to help with my Gsmartcontrol issue, here is the output from running gsmartcontrol in terminal:

:~$ gsmartcontrol
<error> [gtk] _g_io_module_get_default: Found default implementation gvfs (GDaemonVfs) for ‘gio-vfs’
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<warn>  [app] SmartctlParser::parse_full(): No ATA sections could be parsed. Returning.
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<warn>  [app] SmartctlParser::parse_full(): No ATA sections could be parsed. Returning.
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<warn>  [app] SmartctlParser::parse_full(): No ATA sections could be parsed. Returning.
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<warn>  [app] SmartctlParser::parse_full(): No ATA sections could be parsed. Returning.
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<warn>  [app] SmartctlParser::parse_full(): No ATA sections could be parsed. Returning.
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<warn>  [app] SmartctlParser::parse_full(): No ATA sections could be parsed. Returning.
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<error> [gtk] posix_spawn avoided (workdir specified) (fd close requested) 
<error> [gtk] setenv()/putenv() are not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
<warn>  [hz] Warning: exit: Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.
<warn>  [app] SmartctlParser::parse_full(): No ATA sections could be parsed. Returning.
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

And my tests have concluded. Neither drive is showing any horrific issues. The most recent error on the one showing any errors look like they are from years ago.

Anyone want to give these a gander?

Drive F
Drive G

Thanks.

1 Like

I am not really an expert on this topic but where do you see exactly that message from BIOS? Is it a Cinnamon notification?

The message came up during POST. I had to press F2 to bypass it and get to GRUB.

The message hasn’t returned, so it may have been a glitch. I just don’t know.