error - ad2: FAILURE

[Lowell Gilbert]

Mike Jeays <mike.jeays at rogers.com> writes:

> On September 1, 2010 10:29:42 pm Xihong Yin wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I received the following error when I try to access files in some of the
>> directories in /usr and when the computer boots. ad2s1f is mounted on
>> /usr.
>> 
>> ad2: FAILURE - READ_DMA status=51<READY,DSC,ERROR> error=40<UNCORRECTABLE>
>> LBA=37370159 g_vfs_done():ad2s1f[READ(offset=15415558144,
>> length=16384)]error = 5
>> 
>> Is this a sign of hard drive failure? Can I fix the error or do I have to
>> replace the hard drive?

> I would think it is a hardware error, and the disk has run out of replacement 
> sectors. If possible, it should be replaced, and any valuable data copied to 
> somewhere safe, as soon as possible.

Not necessarily.  This is a read error, so replacement sectors wouldn't
help anyway.  The problematic files might get fixed by the disk if they
were rewritten.  A SMART report (e.g., from sysutils/smartmontools)
might give more information about the condition of the drive.

None of which is to say that it isn't worrying, or that backing up
valuable data isn't called for (even more so than usual).  Make sure you
have good backups before you do anything else.