Hello Ed and TC,

Being new to this list, and having not used one prior, I was unfamiliar with protocol regarding replying to all. Thanks for straightening me out on this! This reply is to all.

Regarding the Smart Test results from the Konsole, I notice 5 returns that say "Pre-Fail", and 16 that say "Old Age". With 5,868 Power-On hours on the laptop's hard disc (all "in use" hours, as I don't leave the computer on when not in use), should I be concerned about imminent disk failure at this point? Do those "Pre-Fail" messages indicate the disc is close to failure? Or should I just keep using this machine, backing up continuously, and get as much mileage out of it as I can? The slow start times with LibreOffice still have me baffled, but I can adapt.

I always use the laptop on hard surfaces and do not block the cooling vents. I have not checked inside regarding dust yet. I am really enjoying the KDE spin of Fedora! I am happy I switched from the Gnome desktop, which I used to love, but has now become too convoluted for me when attempting to manage simple tasks quickly (reminds me of the Apple OSX desktop somewhat, where it requires extra clicks or shortcuts to do simply navigation).

Anyway, thanks again for your quick response to my queries! All I need to know now is if I should get a new laptop with a solid state drive to replace this aging mechanical drive. Take care for now ...

Steve Greene 10 years of Apple 11 years of Microsoft 02 years of Linux (took a while to catch on)

better late than never! see ya'

On 1/10/12, T.C. Hollingsworth tchollingsworth@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Steve!

Please make sure to use Reply All when replying to messages so the list gets a copy. That way other people who have suggestions won't repeat things already said privately, and other people experiencing similar issues will be able to find an answer in the archives. Thanks!

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 7:21 PM, Steve Greene wildernessrogue@gmail.com wrote:

...

Hello TC,

Thank you so much for your responses! I have pasted the Konsole output to your su -c 'smartctl -A /dev/sda/' command at the end of this short email. Regarding the font file, I am attempting to delete it from the Dophin file manager, as it won't even open in the font manager (computer tells me the font file does not exist). Regarding the rpmfusion update with the problem, I figured that one out on my own (I'm so proud, ha ha) ... In the Konsole, I instructed yum to update, it found the file, and I requested the update with yum. Amazingly, yum carried out successfully the update, and now that rpmfusion file is no longer in my update folder.

Okay, here is the feedback from the Konsole regarding your requested input:

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   117   080   006    Pre-fail Always       -       129286921  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   095   094   000    Pre-fail Always       -       0  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   098   098   020    Old_age Always       -       2428  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail Always       -       0  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   081   060   030    Pre-fail Always       -       163795690  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   094   094   000    Old_age Always       -       5868  10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   034    Pre-fail Always       -       0  12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   098   098   020    Old_age Always       -       2360 187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   001   001   000    Old_age Always       -       1086 189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   048   048   000    Old_age Always       -       52 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   055   042   045    Old_age Always   In_the_past 45 (0 21 51 20 0) 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age Always       -       1465 193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   008   008   000    Old_age Always       -       184575 194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   045   058   000    Old_age Always       -       45 (0 10 0 0 0) 195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   064   048   000    Old_age Always       -       118173405 197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   001   001   000    Old_age Always       -       4294967295 198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   001   001   000    Old_age Offline      -       4294967295 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age Always       -       0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age Offline      -       0 202 Data_Address_Mark_Errs  0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age Always       -       0

This indicates that you have zero bad sectors. I have no idea why Disk Utility thought you did; perhaps it's a bug.

It does indicate the temperature of your drive did go above the recommended safe limit at some point in the past. If you have a desktop machine, you should make sure that all fans are working and are properly ventilated and that the inside of your computer isn't excessively dusty. If it's a laptop, take care to not block any vents when using your computer.

However, you shouldn't be concerned about it unless it happens frequently, and it should not cause the other problems you describe.

HTH, T.C.