Seagate Ultra 160, Ultra 320 manual S.M.A.R.T. system, Self-test operations, Default self-test

8.0Drive features

8.1S.M.A.R.T. system

Some drive families mentioned in Section 1.1 implement what is called in the industry the S.M.A.R.T. system. S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. The intent of the S.M.A.R.T. system is to recognize conditions that indicate imminent drive failure and provide sufficient warning to the host system of impending failure. The host system may use the information provided to trigger it to perform diagnos- tic, preventative, and/or protective functions (e.g., data backup).

The initiator sets up the parameters for S.M.A.R.T. operation using MODE SELECT Informational Exceptions Control page 1Ch. The drive reports information about S.M.A.R.T. operation using REQUEST SENSE Addi- tional Sense Code 5D 00 and MODE SENSE data page 1Ch. Refer to Seagate SCSI Command Reference Manual, Part number 100293068 for the description of the MODE SELECT/MODE SENSE commands and for more details on the Informational Exceptions Control page. Refer to the individual drive’s Product Manual, to determine the extent of its implementation of the S.M.A.R.T. system.

8.2Self-test operations

8.2.1Default self-test

The default self-test is mandatory for all device types that support the SEND DIAGNOSTICs command. The response is simply a GOOD status if the test is successful or a CHECK CONDITION status if the test fails.

8.2.2The short and extended self-tests

There are two optional types of self-test that may be invoked using the Self-Test Code field in the SEND DIAG- NOSTICs command: a short self-test and an extended self-test. The goal of the short self-test is to quickly identify if the logical unit is faulty. A goal of the extended self-test routine is to simplify factory testing during integration by having logical units perform more comprehensive testing without application client intervention. A second goal of the extended self-test is to provide a more comprehensive test to validate the results of a short self-test, if its results are judged by the application client to be inconclusive.

The criteria for the short self-test are that it has one or more segments and completes in two minutes or less. The criteria for the extended self-test are that it is has one or more segments and that the completion time is vendor-specific. Any tests performed in the segments are vendor-specific.

The following are examples of segments:

a.An electrical segment wherein the logical unit tests its own electronics. The tests in this segment are vendor-specific, but some examples of tests that might be included are: a read/write circuitry test and/or a test of the read/write head elements;

b.A seek/servo segment wherein a device tests it capability to find and servo on data tracks; and

c.A read/verify scan segment wherein a device performs read scanning of some or all of the medium sur- face.

Parallel SCSI Interface Product Manual, Rev. A 151