The smartctl program allows for you to view and test SMART attributes of a drive. You can quickly check the overall health of a drive by using: Code: smartctl -H /dev/sda smartctl can also be used to initiate long and short tests for the drive. These should be run periodically to do quick, or full, self-tests of the drive: Code: # smartctl --test=short /dev/sda # smartctl --test=long /dev/sda # smartctl -a /dev/sda The above will first perform a short test of the /dev/sda device. This usually takes about a minute to perform, and the smartctl output will tell you when you can check the results. Next, the long test: this one can take quite a bit longer. Finally, use the -a option to view the results.
