topic Re: s.m.a.r.t. 'host writes' value overflow in Solid State Drives (NAND)

s.m.a.r.t. 'host writes' value overflow

KMora3 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 03:05:01 GMT

Hi there,

On my Marvell based Intel 510 120GB SSD (latest firmware PPG4) I've noticed unexpected behavior: Host Writes information (E1) would overflow at 4TB value. After reaching 4TB it starts counting from 0 (see attached pictures; before and after). It happened several times before, this time I paid attention and made sure it's really the issue and took screenshots. I didn't see this problem reported before.

Running on laptop machine, Intel i5 processor with HM55 chipset, SATA Gen2 enabled. No other issues with SSD observed.

Re: s.m.a.r.t. 'host writes' value overflow

Jose_H_Intel1 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:35:51 GMT

Hello kmovarec,

This behavior is complete normal; please note the status of the S.M.A.R.T. ID E1 remains green, ready for use.

The E1 attribute reports the total number of sectors written by the host system.

Re: s.m.a.r.t. 'host writes' value overflow

KMora3 — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 02:06:53 GMT

Hi Joe,

Thanks for replying to my question. I'm afraid I wasn't clear enough.

If you look at the first two pictures, it shows 3.99TB written so far. One would expect that later on, it would show 4.00TB, then for instance 4.05TB and so on. But on second two pictures it just shows '44GB,' it basically started to count from zero again (as if it were brand new unit).

Looking at picture with SMART values on different drive, it is counting correctly (and already shows way more than just 4TB):

Re: s.m.a.r.t. 'host writes' value overflow

Jose_H_Intel1 — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:08:58 GMT

I have verified that the engineering department is aware of the issue and is due to be addressed in future firmware releases. The reading should not affect the drive functionality at all. At this moment we do not have a timeframe for this so we recommend staying tuned for updates.

Re: s.m.a.r.t. 'host writes' value overflow

KMora3 — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 03:00:03 GMT

Hi Joe

Thanks for verifying this. I'm glad it is known issue and it doesn't have side effects. Though I doubt Intel would actually provide any firmware update for 510, considering there were no public updates ever since it was released in 2011 (seehttps://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18363 Intel SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool).

Thank you,

Karel