Linux Disk Utilities have come along way over the years. Here we will discuss some different disk types and how to manage under some various linux flavors. A primary focus will be on disk health, such as the equivalent to performing a 'scandisk' for Linux users.
UltraATA disks have S.M.A.R.T. technology. These disks perform self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting by internally monitoring their own operation. Older IDE disks required software tools or system tools to perform such operations.
Example 1: Disk Health on Linux Mint system
In this example we are on a Linux Mint 16 "petra" machine with a 160GB SATA drive.
- Goto: Menu, Control Center, Hardware, Disks
- In the Devices pane on the left select the disk
- Click on the "gear" icon in the upper right of the Disks dialog box and a drop down menu appears
- choose "SMART Data & Self-Tests..." from that menu
These instructions should be close to identical on Ubuntu, Debian, and other similar distributions.