== How to check a disk's health ==

==== SATA Disks ====

To check a SATA Disk (either HDD or SSD) we can use the `smartctl` utility:

 * Install with: `apt install smartmontools`
 * `smartctl -a /dev/sdX` to see all the information about the disk
 * `smartctl -t <short|long> /dev/sdX` to run a short or long test
 * `smartctl -X /dev/sdX` to abort a test

More info on the `smartctl` utility [https://www.thomas-krenn.com/en/wiki/SMART_tests_with_smartctl here]

==== NVMe disks ====

`smartctl` can work for NVMe disks but cannot run any tests like above.

We can use the `nvme` utility to see information about nvme disks.

 * Install with: `apt install nvme-cli`
 * `nvme list` shows the nvme disks on the machine
 * `nvme smart-log /dev/nvmeXnX` shows the SMART information about the disk.

More info on the `nvme` utility [https://nvmexpress.org/open-source-nvme-management-utility-nvme-command-line-interface-nvme-cli/ here]

==== Check disk r/w speed ====

Read speed: `hdparm -tT /dev/sdX` (or `nvmeXnX`)
Write speed: `dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct` (`test` must be on the disk)

==== badblocks ====

We can check for bad blocks through (works with NVMe and SATA):
`badblocks -v -o output_file /dev/sdX`