Linux hhd notifications before failure

Disk info can be read by:
# smartctl -a /dev/sda
sda   sda2  sda5  sda6  sda7  sda8  sdb   sdb1  sdb2  sdb3 
root@debian:/home/rolandas# smartctl -a /dev/sda
smartctl 5.40 2010-07-12 r3124 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 family
Device Model:     ST3750528AS
Serial Number:    9VP3P00T
Firmware Version: CC44
User Capacity:    750,156,374,016 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is:    Mon Feb 25 13:52:23 2013 EET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82)    Offline data collection activity
                    was completed without error.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)    The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever
                    been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:          ( 625) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:              (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)    Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)    Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:      (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:      ( 174) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:      (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities:            (0x103f)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

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   112   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       48739835
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   094   094   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       785
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   073   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       12957032809
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       5754
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       785
183 Runtime_Bad_Block       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   092   000    Old_age   Always       -       716
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   069   066   045    Old_age   Always       -       31 (Lifetime Min/Max 31/31)
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   031   040   000    Old_age   Always       -       31 (0 19 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   056   041   000    Old_age   Always       -       48739835
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       178490250895066
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1548794144
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2626206228

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.


Or graphical tool can be used for that (in terminal "palimpsest",program title "Disk Utility",under "SMART data"):








I don't know way it says "Good"?
There is definitely nothing good about that!
It generally means - make a backup fast!

Unfortunately I unable to find applet or tool to notify about this type of errors.
I have to periodically check my self.
In the future I will fix this inconvenience!

Linux Wine: Setting Windows/DOS environment variables & running bat files

Example how to add environment variable "PATH"

Example of running *.bat:

Content of bash for starting *.bat file:
--------------------------------------
#!/bin/bash
wine start ./dir.bat
--------------------------------------

Content of "dir.bat":
--------------------------------------
DIR
PAUSE
--------------------------------------

Linux Mint - Firefox do way I like it!

Hiding new tab page & making Firefox open homepage on new tab:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-tab-page-show-hide-and-customize-top-sites#w_how-do-i-turn-the-new-tab-page-off


Adding google search engine:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-default/?src=search

Set search engine for url bar:

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/search-web-address-bar#w_changing-the-internet-keyword-service

Summary:
about:config
keyword.URL = http://www.google.lt/search?q=
keyword.enabled = true

ISO file integrity check with md5sum

How often do you check *.iso files with md5sum.
All Linux binary images submitted with md5sum next to download link.
I never done that before, because I had believed that corruption is very rare!
One time I caught my eye on md5sum and made the check, and it unexpectedly FAIL!
I download *.iso again, now it PASS. 

So I guess it is not so rare!
Remainder for my self! Check *.iso files before using it!

To create checksum file:
$ md5sum ./linuxmint-14.1-mate-dvd-32bit.iso > ./md5sum.txt


File content:
$ cat ./md5sum.txt
9793c1e9c443241d156aace0446894dd *./linuxmint-14.1-mate-dvd-32bit.iso

You can create text file and copy file name and MD5 from the web page to check *.iso integrity.

To check integrity
$ md5sum -c ./md5sum.txt
./linuxmint-14.1-mate-dvd-32bit.iso: OK

I made Bootable USB stick from corrupted *.iso ,before the check and it works!
I wonder what consequences may be... corruption may hit only some application..? Can I expect crashes? How contraption can effect live Linux disk? 
Is this really the right way to distribute a binary image?

I'm not complaining! I'm just asking..? :)

md5sum check is fast and easy, bud maybe it's not for a user to thing about...
In a perfect World I would want notification about corrupted file after download is completed...  


I did couple tests with flash drive created from corrupted *.iso.
It depends on the part where the damage is done. It may boot up on one machine and make no problems;
O other machine it can freeze during boot with no explanation;
Also it may boot up, and throw "Installer crashed" during instalation;
So don't waste Your time, check *.iso integrity!

UBUNTU VS MINT!

I use Debian squeeze by default.
Form time to time I search for brand new Linux distro with latest packege versions,
for Multimedia or gameing (using wine).

Ubuntu is closest to Debian cause it's Debian underneath!
There is a lot of good things on Ubuntu... 
Bud I rely struggle with Ubuntu... I did not like new Gnome style, it's clearly made for touch screens.
I use simple Desktop PC so I don't need that.
I tried to use "Ubuntu classic (no effects)" - my opinion: it's broken! 
Nautilus on sartup thinking too much...
Auto login is non functional yet... 
Somehow disappearing notification area...
Even on default apprentice of Ubuntu - a lot of buggy Gnome configuration...

Recently i got tip from a Friend - "Try Linux Mint"!
Mint is Ubuntu underneath... Repositories are the same...
Bud the result is amazingly different!!!
Performance is great! Strangely it's much faster than Ubuntu!
I came to conclusion, that the graphical interface is what dragged down Ubuntu...

There is all types of graphical interfaces for LINUX MINT.
I tied two of them (GNOME based MATE and KDE), both works amazing!

So I switching from UBUNTU to MINT!

 

http://www.linuxmint.com/

For a server I stay with Debian squeeze! :)

http://www.debian.org/

Fastest way to make one of Linux OS (if there is more then one) to be first in grub boot menu

Boot to Your favorite Linux (if there is more then one)!

Mount all Linux OS root file systems, otherwise it may not be visible and it will not be added to grub menu (Windows visible always, despite partition mounted or not).

I want Debian 6.0.6 bigmem to be the first one (default boot OS)!

So,  open root terminal and:
# update-grub
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found background image: /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem
Found Debian GNU/Linux (6.0.6) on /dev/sda2
Found Ubuntu 12.10 (12.10) on /dev/sdc2
Found Microsoft Windows XP Professional on /dev/sdc3
Found Linux Mint 14 Nadia (14) on /dev/sdc6
done

# grub-install /dev/sdc --recheck
Installation finished. No error reported.






Done!